News

The Malawi government, specifically the Ministry of Health (Reproductive Health Directorate) and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, in collaboration with development partners and other stakeholders in family planning, population and development, is hosting a national population and development conference from 6^th to 8^th September 2016 in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Ahead of this landmark event, AFIDEP, in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund ““ Malawi (UNFPA – Malawi), will hold a training workshop for Malawi editors and journalists focusing on the “˜demographic dividend.’ The workshop, which will be held on 2^nd September 2016 at the Sunbird Capital, Lilongwe, Malawi, aims to demystify the demographic dividend concept for the media. The forum targets editors and journalists drawn from leading media houses in Malawi.

The discussions will address the issue of why the demographic dividend matters in Malawi’s development in the context the country’s medium and long-term development goals as well as the global sustainable development goals (SDGs). It is expected that following the training, the editors and journalists will understand their role in keeping the government and other stakeholders accountable in the quest to transform Malawi’s socio-economic landscape.

Further, the workshop participants will undertake a practical session on story development touching on the five demographic dividend “˜wheels’ namely: family planning, education, health, economic reforms and governance.

Overall, the workshop aims to build the capacity of Malawi’s media to engage and interrogate various aspects of the demographic dividend, and also ensure that they can proactively sustain the conversation on the country’s demographic dividend prospects and critical investments needed to transform Malawi.