Young People and the Change Africa Wants

A Demographic dividend is an accelerated growth that may result from a decline in a country’s mortality and fertility and subsequent change in age population. It can also indicate or occur when the proportion of working people in the total population is high and gives an indication that more people have the potential to contribute to growth of the economy.

The United Nations Population Fund defines Demographic Dividend as, “the economic growth potential that can result from shifts in a population’s age structure mainly when the share of the working age is larger than the non-working age share”. This then alludes to the fact that there is a higher likelihood of a boost in the economic productivity that occurs when there are growing numbers of people in the workforce relative to the number of dependents.

An African Union (AU) Assembly decision in January 2016 established the theme for 2017 as “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend Through Investments in Youth. AU heads of states and governments recognize a country-level demographic dividend as central to the continent’s economic transformation in the context of AU Agenda 2063 the AU’s global strategy for socioeconomic transformation within the next 50 years.

Young people constitute a large and rapidly growing proportion of the population in most countries of Africa and in many parts of the world as a whole. These young people live in a rapidly changing world, faced with many pressures. Young people on the whole experience discomforting confusion, disquieting irritations and perplexities, and adjustment problems as a result of rapid social change. The current socioeconomic conditions in Africa block the progress of the Africa youth where our youth is forced into unemployment educated or the same alike, where the system and its policies has been crafted in such a way of who do you know. This is what the ILO (2016) had to say about Africa’s unemployment status, “Africa the world’s youngest region continues to be confronted with high levels of unemployment, vulnerable employment and working poverty with little signs of potential recovery in 2017.” Trends for youth report by the ILO showed that unemployment for youth is set to rise this year to reach 71 million the first such increase in 3 years.

Maybe it is high time we have an African continent that lets its youth take charge of its own future where we are active participants of development in all its facets rather than passive recipients.

Is it to much to demand peace, the absence of violence in all its form for our youth? No rather its our right we demand peace for our fellow youth. My favorite statement says it in a nutshell…We should prepare the future for our youth, rather our youth for the future. That my friends means let young people participate meaningfully in matters of peace and defvelopment