A delegation from the OAFLA Secretariat joined the UNFPA Liaison Office on the 22nd February to discuss the joint activities to be implemented in the 2017, the year devoted for the Demographic Dividend. 

Issues raised amongst all are the 19th OAFLA General Assembly Open session to take place at ECA with the intervention of First ladies; the CARMMA Week to be possibly organized in Sudan with the support of the Office of the First Lady of Sudan. OAFLA will also organize a side Event on Demographic Dividend during the ICASA meeting in December. Part of the discussion was also the joint side Event in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the 20th September 2017 under the theme:  “Global partnership towards harnessing the Demographic Dividend”. This side event in line with the 2017 AU roadmap is an advocacy activity aiming at mobilizing partnership and global commitment for demographic dividend. To make it happen, the request have been made to have a steering committee composed of the embassy of OAFLA President in New York, UNFPA and OAFLA.

During the last OAFLA General Assembly in Ethiopia, building on 15 years of commitment to harnessing the demographic dividend of Africa by promoting the needs of adolescents and their access to youth, Malawi First Lady Dr. Gertrude Mutharika, First Lady of the Republic of Malawi, Chair of OAFLA reiterated the advocacy role and support that the First ladies will play in their respective countries. She also insisted on the support needed on maternal, neonatal and child health. 

It is estimated that on average 450 women die every day from pregnancy-related causes. The decision of OAFLA to engage into maternal neonatal and child health has been mainly justified by the dire need implied by the statistical evidence. The meeting was attended by members of the OAFLA Secretariat in Ethiopia as well as UNFPA ELO Staff.