Comprehensive Sexuality Education and Other Keys to Achieving the Demographic Dividend
FPNN Community Reporter Innocent Grant met with Nafissatou Jocelyne Diop, Director of the Sahel Women’s Empowerment Program and the Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) at the UNFPA West and Central Africa Regional Office, after the plenary session they both participated in at the ninth African Population Conference titled, “Harnessing Africa's Demographic Dividend - a Myth or Reality?”
The term “demographic dividend” refers to the economic growth potential that arises from shifts in a country’s population age structure, primarily when the working-age population is larger than the non-working-age population. Nafissatou highlighted that this concept, first observed in Asia, resulted from substantial investments in young people's education, health, and empowerment enabling them to contribute significantly to economic growth.
When it comes to Africa, Nafissatou said we will “not achieve the development and the demographic dividend that we want if we are not also investing massively into young people’s economic empowerment, education, and well-being in general.”
Key Strategies for Africa
To unlock the demographic dividend, Nafissatou and Innocent reviewed several necessary strategic interventions—all involving youth:
Robust Education
Increased focus on education in general equips individuals with essential knowledge and skills for workforce participation, fostering innovation and productivity.
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE), known by several different names around the world, is vital for empowering young people especially with critical knowledge about their sexual and reproductive health. It promotes gender equality, helps reduce fertility rates, and ensures that youth are well-informed and healthy.
Notably, Nafissatou explained that in many African countries, one working individual often supports several dependents, limiting their ability to save and invest. Lowering dependency ratios through CSE can alleviate this burden, allowing more people to contribute to, and benefit from, economic growth.
Health Services
Ensuring people are all-around healthy is crucial for economic development. Working-age individuals need to be able to fully participate in the workforce for demographic dividends to be realized.
Importantly, this includes providing adequate mental health services to everyone. This attention to mental health helps develop young people’s self esteem and agency. These health investments will enable the working-age population to be more productive and economically active.
Empowerment Opportunities
Creating job opportunities for the youth is essential. This includes promoting entrepreneurship and ensuring that young people have access to capital and markets. Uplifting young people in their careers now sets the entire population up for a more fruitful future.
Initiatives like SWEDD, funded by the World Bank, are making significant strides in empowering young people by involving them in decision-making processes and creating opportunities for their growth and development. However, adjustments and further initiatives are needed across the board.
Ultimately, Nafissatou emphasized the need for policies supporting the above strategies that ensure young people are educated, healthy, and economically empowered. She said the African Union’s 2017 Roadmap for Harnessing the Demographic Dividend by Investing in Youth is a step in the right direction. However, country-specific challenges like climate change, terrorism attacks, military governments, and various levels of crime have affected the efficacy of many existing policies and programs. Revisiting existing structures to address new and emerging environmental factors can help improve their outputs and create a path to a more sustainable Africa.
Timestamps of Key Moments:
0:36 - QUESTION: What is the Demographic Dividend? What is the African Union's Roadmap for Harnessing the Demographic Dividend?
5:06 - QUESTION: Do you think we are doing enough to empower young people in harnessing the demographic dividend?
7:56 - QUESTION: How can we integrate mental health considerations into our efforts to bolster young people's agency in the field?
10:39 - QUESTION: What is the lifetime approach to achieving the demographic dividend?
Watch the full conversation between Innocent and Nafissatou below!