Demographic Dividend Programming Guide

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A country’s ‘demographic dividend’, the economic benefits that it reaps from its age pyramid, often accrues when an increase in the proportion of a country’s working-age population is accompanied by public authorities’ and private organisation’s effective investments in health, women’s empowerment, education and employment. A number of African countries have entered (or are in the process of entering) this phase of demographic transition. This could represent an estimated benefit of yearly up to US$500 billion over 30 years, boosting economies and enabling hundreds of thousands of people to escape from poverty. However, the demographic dividend isn’t automatic; capturing it requires immediate multisectoral and targeted investments.
The project's objective was to support the UNFPA in setting the path towards achieving and harnessing the demographic dividend for Western Africa and beyond, as well as to disseminate the results in the six Sahel countries. ICON-INSTITUT drafted a Programming Guide with recommendations on the nine political steps for African governments to achieve and harness the demographic dividend, based on regional examples in Western Africa, and on the work by the West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) and the Centre for Applied Economic Research of Thies (CREFAT). ICON conducted a regional training on the Guide, incl. working groups to develop national action plans adapting the recommendations of the Guide to the situation of seven countries in West Africa and also devloped a regional roadmap on the demographic dividend .

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