A national seminar was held at Gisenyi, Rwanda, in early 1988 to consider collaboration between the government and Rwanda's nongovernmental organizations in the area of family health and population. The participants were charged with developing coherent programs of population and family health that would assure optimal use of local resources. Participating organizations were to exchange experiences, identify priority sectors in which they could effectively intervene, and determine the level of their resource needs. Representatives of government organizations gave talks on population policy, directives for family planning services, national family health and family planning policies, and social mobilization and information, education, and communication programs in the areas of population and family planning. The nongovernmental organizations were unanimous in recognizing the urgency of the population problem. The Rwanda Association for Family Welfare, Family Action, the Central Syndicate of Rwandan Workers, the Association for Promotion of Urban Families, and the Rwandan Red Cross all identified areas in which they could intensify or geographically extend existing programs or undertake new programs of population education or service delivery. Most of the nongovernmental organizations represented had no concrete plans, either because they had not yet prepared them or because they felt their organizations lacked the resources to undertake them. A survey of funds available in the areas of population and family planning was undertaken before the end of the seminar. Organizations were encouraged to make their plans more concrete, and a follow-up meeting was arranged to take place within a few months. Recommendations of the seminar were that the positions of the Catholic Church and the government concerning population and family planning be brought into greater agreement and that the Catholic Church be urged to adapt its teachings to the Rwandan context; that a program of family life education be undertaken within the context of traditional Rwandan education to encourage responsible parenthood; and that male partners be encouraged to participate in family planning and contraceptive use. The Catholic Church should be encouraged to extend its program of natural family planning, but should discontinue its counterprogram against modern methods of family planning. Health workers who are unable for reasons of conscience to prescribe certain methods should not try to prevent others from doing so. Young people should be included in family planning programs.