Actualités

The KfW (Kreditanstalt Für Wiederaufbau) German Development Bank is bringing together various stakeholders for a discussion on how growing populations affect the realisation of global sustainable development goals. The lunch-event tagged ‘Africa’s Demographic challenge‘ takes place on 5 November 2019 in Berlin, Germany.

The event will kick off with a gallery walk to actively engage the participants on the topic and set the stage for a panel discussion. The panel consists of representatives from government, civil society, scientific community, partner countries and the United Nations (UNFPA). The event aims to raise awareness of the importance of population dynamics among participants. Discussions will revolve around how growing populations impact development cooperation and the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Africa, the focus of the event, will constitute a point of reference throughout the event.

In sub-Saharan Africa, population continues to grow even as other parts of the world record declining numbers. This population growth is due largely to high fertility rates – the average number of children a woman has over her lifetime. According to recent UN projections, sub-Saharan Africa’s population will almost double by 2050 from the current 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion. This population increase is likely to bring challenges on basic infrastructure (schools, health stations, drinking water, energy, etc.) which are already strained as well as put pressure on available resources.

Focus will therefore be on the challenges African countries are likely to face due to growing populations and how such population dynamics will affect the realisation of global development goals. Participants and panellists will share experiences and exchange ideas about possible interventions and approaches to counter these challenges. Particularly, discussions will explore what short, medium and long-term solutions already exists, what has been prioritised and what more needs to be done.

AFIDEP’s Dr Eliya Zulu will provide perspectives on harnessing Africa’s demographic dividend from AFIDEP’s work in engaging African governments to adopt the development framework. He will be alongside four other panellists: Renate Bahr (Executive Director, DSW), Michael Herrmann (Senior Adviser, Economics and Demography, UNFPA), Dr Norbert Kloppenburg (Treasurer, Plan International Germany), and Dr Annette van Edig (Head of Department, Health, Population Policy, Social Security, BMZ).