News

AFIDEP embarks on high-level Senegal mission on demographic dividend

6 June 2016

Author: Bernard Onyango

The African Renaissance Monument: the symbol of Dakar. The AFIDEP team is currently in Senegal to meet various stakeholders for discussions on harnessing the country's demographic dividend (DD). Picture courtesy of Jeff Attaway/Flickr

A team from AFIDEP headed by Executive Director Dr Eliya Zulu and supported by Dr Bernard Onyango and Dr Ousmane Faye is in Senegal for various engagements with stakeholders to explore the policy actions that the country can implement to maximize its opportunity to harness the demographic dividend (DD).

The week-long mission will run between June 6 and 10, 2016. The AFIDEP team will meet for deliberations with high-level personnel from key ministries including those responsible for education and skills development, youth affairs, health, economic planning and development. The team will also meet officials from various United Nations agencies whose work centres on youth and women in Senegal.

The deliberations will focus on the findings of the Senegal Demographic Dividend Study that was commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning in 2015 and has been supported by UNFPA with AFIDEP providing the technical leadership in the implementation of the study. The planned engagements with DD stakeholders in the country will contribute to refining the draft report for publication and dissemination.

If Senegal makes strategic sectoral investments, it can tap into the full potential of its youthful population and use this to accelerate the achievement of its long-term socio-economic development plan, the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) 2035.

The planned engagements with DD stakeholders in the country will contribute to refining the draft report for publication and dissemination. The mission will culminate in a one-day workshop on the 10^th of June 2016, to be held at the King Fahd Palace Hotel, Dakar. During the workshop, results from the study will be presented followed by working sessions at which participants will discuss and come up with recommendations of high-impact policy actions that can support the country to harness the DD and achieve the goals of the PSE. These recommendations will be included in the final study report for dissemination and action.

The meeting to be hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning, brings together stakeholders from government ministries, bilateral partners, the civil society and the media. High-level representation from the various ministries with a stake in the DD is expected and the gathering will also serve as an initial phase at which the development of the country DD road map will be established.