Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: UNFPA Liaison Office to the AU and ECA Participated in the  1st and 2nd meeting of the steering committee on harnessing the demographic dividend through investments in youth at the African Union Commission.  Sequel to the launch of the theme of the year, the AUC (HRST Department) has engaged member states and various partners in a process of developing a Continental Demographic Dividend Work Plan for the implementation of the theme. Representatives of the Republic of Chad, as Champion of the Demographic Dividend designated by the Chair of the AU, and the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire, as host country of the EU-AU Summit on Demographic Dividend to take place in November, were present.  Also present at the meeting were ECA, UNESCO, EU Commission to AU, GIZ, the African Development Bank, PYU, FHI 360, IPPF, Embassy of the German Republic, One, and AUC departments (HRST, Social Affairs, AGA).

The Roadmap on the 2017 theme calls for the creation of an AUC Steering Committee that will advance the African Demographic Dividend Agenda through key milestone and deliverables. While sharing the DD kits with all participants, UNFPA was recognized as a key partner by Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo, Ag. Director of Human Resources; Science and Technology.  In addition to the steering committee, attendees were informed of the other coordination mechanism for the theme of the year handling the political aspects, headed by the President of Chad, who has already began their plans on how best to implement the theme. The EU-AU Youth Pre-Summit was briefly discussed, the organization of which will be headed up by the EU-Youth forum in collaboration with the Pan-African Youth Union.