From Kemi Yesufu, Addis Ababa

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Tuesday, called on African heads of government to prioritise the implementation of the United Nations (UN) demographic dividend policy as it presents the continent an opportunity to tackle unemployment and poverty.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 28th AU summit held at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia headquarters of apex continental body, UNFPA Representative to the AU, Constant-Serge Bounda, stated that though demographic dividend is better implemented in countries with youthful population, many of which are found in Africa, the intervention will only be useful young people on the continent when their governments “take ownership” of the policy.

Bounda who spoke on behalf of the other UN partners maintained that the demographic dividend agenda has the potential of lifting millions of families out of poverty, adding that it would also reduce conflicts on the continent with young people fully engaged in profitable businesses.

“What do we expect from ministers here and Heads of Government? First is ownership of making investments needed to achieve demographic dividend”, he said.

The 28th AU Summit has its theme: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investments in Youth: Empowering Young People, Empowering Young Women”.

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Demographic dividend occurs when as the benefit that can arise when a country has a relatively large population of working age population, due to declining fertility and effectively invests in invests in their health, empowerment, employment and education, through government and private sector collaboration.

Also speaking at the ceremony, the president of the Pan-African Youth Union, Francine Muyumba Furaha, said with youths constituting  60 percent of the unemployed on the continent, African leaders must expedite action of funding youth empowerment programmes in their countries.

Furaha demanded that Heads of Government institute a youth empowerment fund to be managed within the AU framework. This is even as she argued that African leaders must show seriousness by matching words with action with regard to empowering youths in their domains.

“I would say, the creation of the youth empowerment fund is a priority for us at the Pan-African Youth Union. If we can establish the fund now, when we meet in June, we can kick-start the implementation of the fund.

“For this summit, we must concentrate on reaching a concrete decision on youths. If we don’t do this, we would have betrayed the youths”,  she stressed.