DAR ES SALAAM, Mar 03 (IPS) – Speaker of the Tanzanian Parliament and President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Tulia Akson, has referred to as for daring and quick investments in younger individuals to unlock the demographic dividend and speed up sustainable growth throughout Africa and Asia.
Talking on the African and Asian Parliamentarians’ Assembly on Inhabitants and Improvement in Dar es Salaam on Monday, February 24, Akson emphasised that youth empowerment should be on the middle of nationwide insurance policies to make sure that speedy inhabitants development interprets into financial prosperity fairly than a disaster.
“We should take deliberate and coordinated measures to harness the demographic dividend by empowering our youth and making certain their lively participation in financial growth,” Akson instructed parliamentarians gathered from throughout Africa and Asia.
The convention, organized by the Asian Inhabitants and Improvement Affiliation (APDA) in collaboration with the African Discussion board of Parliamentarians on Inhabitants and Improvement (FPA) and Tanzania’s Parliamentary Affiliation on Inhabitants and Improvement (TPAPD), supplied a platform for legislators to debate legislative and coverage reforms wanted to advance inhabitants and growth targets.
The occasion additionally drew assist from the United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA) and the Japan Belief Fund (JTF), underscoring the urgency of population-centered growth methods.
A Demographic Window of Alternative
Africa’s inhabitants is projected to double to 2 billion by 2050, with younger individuals making up the bulk. Consultants argue that if this youthful inhabitants is provided with high quality training, healthcare, and financial alternatives, it might drive unprecedented financial transformation. Nonetheless, failure to behave might result in social unrest, elevated poverty, and financial stagnation.
Based on UNFPA, 42 p.c of Africa’s inhabitants is beneath the age of fifty, a determine that presents each a possibility and a problem. Whereas life expectancy has improved and maternal mortality has declined, essential gaps stay in entry to training, employment, and reproductive well being providers.
“Younger individuals represent a major proportion of our inhabitants, and their neglect is a ticking time bomb that might hinder progress,” Akson warned.
Tanzania, she mentioned, has made strides in youth empowerment by way of initiatives equivalent to free training from main to secondary faculty, expanded scholar mortgage schemes, and a nationwide expertise growth program that equips younger individuals with vocational and technical experience.
“We have now additionally launched youth entrepreneurship funds to assist start-ups and small companies and expanded digital education schemes to boost ICT proficiency amongst our youth,” Akson mentioned.
Regardless of such efforts, structural boundaries persist, limiting younger individuals’s entry to high quality jobs and financial alternatives.
Sexual and Reproductive Well being: A Key Pillar of Improvement
Akson additionally pressured the significance of investing in sexual and reproductive well being training to make sure younger individuals, significantly women, could make knowledgeable decisions about their futures.
“We danger derailing our growth trajectory if we fail to spend money on younger individuals’s sexual and reproductive well being and rights,” she mentioned.
The UNFPA has persistently underscored that entry to reproductive well being providers is crucial for financial and social progress. Whereas contraceptive use has elevated in lots of nations, adolescent pregnancies, gender-based violence, and dangerous practices equivalent to little one marriage and feminine genital mutilation (FGM) stay widespread.
UNFPA Tanzania Nation Consultant Mark Schreiner famous that regardless of progress, “maternal mortality charges stay unacceptably excessive, with just a few African nations on monitor to fulfill the SDG goal of 70 deaths per 100,000 stay births by 2030.”
Equally, though extra girls are utilizing fashionable contraception voluntarily, hundreds of thousands of adolescent women nonetheless lack entry to essential reproductive well being providers resulting from social stigma, coverage gaps, and insufficient funding.
Schreiner referred to as for pressing investments in complete sexuality training (CSE) and youth-friendly well being providers to empower younger individuals with data and shield them from unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and dangerous cultural practices.
“Complete sexuality training and funding in younger individuals’s well being, together with sexual and reproductive well being, should be prioritized to speed up progress towards common well being protection,” Schreiner mentioned.
Parliamentarians’ Position in Advancing the Inhabitants Agenda
As policymakers, parliamentarians maintain important affect over nationwide budgets and legislative reforms that impression inhabitants insurance policies. Akson urged her colleagues to make use of their constitutional mandates to push for insurance policies that tackle youth unemployment, gender-based violence, and reproductive well being entry.
“With the deadline for the SDGs quick approaching, we should act swiftly and decisively to take away the boundaries that hinder younger individuals’s growth,” she mentioned.
Japan’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Yasushi Misawa, recommended lawmakers for his or her dedication to addressing inhabitants challenges, stating, “Any answer on inhabitants points should be primarily based on an understanding of every particular person. The function of parliamentarians, due to this fact, as representatives of their residents, is critically necessary.”
Joseph Komwihangiro, Nation Director for Pathfinder Worldwide, a worldwide civil society group offering sexual and reproductive well being providers, echoed this sentiment.
“Inhabitants information is on the coronary heart of every part we do. It helps policymakers enhance service supply and tackle probably the most urgent challenges dealing with communities,” he mentioned.
He urged parliamentarians to make sure that inhabitants information interprets into inclusive insurance policies that prioritize the wants of susceptible teams, together with girls, women, and marginalized communities.
World Crises Threatening Progress
The assembly additionally highlighted how international crises—together with armed conflicts, local weather change, and rising well being threats—are disproportionately affecting susceptible populations and threatening the belief of sustainable growth targets.
“It’s profoundly regarding that escalating international crises equivalent to excessive climate situations and rising well being challenges are disproportionately affecting susceptible populations and derailing growth efforts,” Akson mentioned.
She cited the phrases of Tanzania’s founding father, Julius Nyerere: “The aim of growth is the individuals. You can’t develop issues; you develop individuals.”
Akson emphasised that true and significant growth should be people-centered, urging lawmakers to craft insurance policies that align with their residents’ distinctive realities, cultures, and aspirations.
Strengthening Partnerships for Improvement
With simply 5 years left to attain the 2030 Agenda, UN Secretary-Common António Guterres has referred to as for “a surge in implementation, large funding, and more practical partnerships” to drive progress throughout key SDGs, together with well being, training, gender equality, and financial growth.
Akson echoed this name, stressing that gender equality should be on the core of all growth efforts.
“We can not count on to attain the SDGs with out dismantling gender boundaries and empowering all girls and women,” she mentioned.
The Dar es Salaam Monday assembly concluded with a name for strengthened worldwide cooperation to maximise progress, significantly in reforming the outdated international monetary structure that has left many creating nations scuffling with debt and underfunded social packages.
Because the assembly’s end result doc is ready for submission to the upcoming TICAD9 summit in Japan in August 2025, lawmakers pledged to champion legislative and coverage reforms that can speed up the belief of the ICPD Programme of Motion and the Addis Ababa Declaration on Inhabitants and Improvement.
“Let’s be hopeful concerning the future that our empowered youths can create,” Akson mentioned, closing the convention with an optimistic tone.
For a lot of African and Asian nations, the longer term is blight with challenges. However as Akson and fellow parliamentarians have underscored, investing in youth, advancing reproductive well being rights, and enacting inclusive insurance policies might be essential in shaping a sustainable and equitable future.
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