New-York – USA: On May 19, 2017, the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the United Nations held an African Youth Forum to commemorate the AU’s 2017 theme of “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth. The forum was held in the ECOSOC Chambre of the UN Headquarters in New York and formed part of activities to commemorate the 2017 edition of Africa Day. It was aimed at gathering young people and high officials from different parts of the world to form a cross-sectoral and inter-generational platform that would help garner support for Africa’s efforts towards harnessing the demographic dividend.

It was attended by the AUC Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, Dr. Martial De-Paul Ikonga, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, UNFPA Executive Director, members of the diplomatic corps in New York, Ambassador Tete Antonio, Head of the AU Observer Mission to the UN, young people from across Africa representing different fields (civil society, the private sector, entrepreneurs, students, volunteers and interns,) and members from the United Nations family.

UNFPA’s Executive Director was invited as a guest speaker and he underscored the importance of the efforts towards harnessing the demographic dividend in realizing sustainable development in Africa. He called for concerted efforts of all stakeholders by saying “Only by working together, consistently and relentlessly, with the inputs of all stakeholders, will we be able to make truly sustainable progress. The demographic dividend presents an important pathway for Africa to meet her development objectives and should not be seen as a one-year event.”