News

The Africa Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) will hold a seminar on ‘moving the demographic dividend from ideas to actions’ from 14th to 15th December at the Best Western Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.

Launched in December 2012, the aim of the Africa Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) is to exchange and coordinate action in support of the ICPD beyond 2014 and to ensure parliaments assist in implementing the ICPD Agenda 2014 and Beyond by adopting initiatives in population policies and harmonisation of African legislation on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.

At the Abidjan General Assembly meeting in 2014, the Africa Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development reaffirmed its purpose, as a regional body, to drive the agenda on population and development at both the national and regional levels. Allies and strategic partners of the FPA have confirmed their commitment to work with this continental body.

The ICPD beyond 2014 and the post-2015 development agenda are of outmost importance for African development over the coming 15 years. Parliamentarian’s role in promoting these interlinked agenda and the Common African Position on Sustainable Development Goals at national level is hence crucial for the attainment of sustainable development, especially when the continent is experiencing a youth bulge – an increase in the population of the youth relative to other age groups.

What the seminar seeks to achieve

The overall objective of the capacity building seminar is to enable participants to have a common understanding of the concept of the demographic dividend and role of parliamentarians in moving related agenda forward.

Specifically, the seminar aims to:

• Establish a common and harmonised understanding of the concept of the demographic dividend;
• Define parliamentarians’ level of engagement in moving forward the demographic dividend agenda;
• Develop generic parliamentarian roadmap for moving the demographic dividend agenda forward.

At the end of the capacity building seminar the following results will be expected:

• A common understanding of the concept of the demographic dividend is demonstrated;
• The level of engagement of parliamentarians in moving the demographic dividend agenda forward is agreed upon;
• A proposed generic roadmap for parliamentarians is made available.

Current initiatives launched all over the continent such as the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) Project and the Mano River Youth Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (MR – YE4DD) initiative will serve as illustration throughout the capacity building seminar.

The capacity building seminar will be facilitated by a team comprising experts from UNFPA West and Central Regional Office (WCARO) as well as UNFPA Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and AFIDEP.

The capacity building seminar will gather 19 MPs from the FPA Executive Committee, the Mano River countries, SWEDD Project countries, Lake Chad Basin countries, and FPA focused countries including representatives from Benin, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.