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 speedy investments in younger individuals to unlock the demographic dividend and speed up sustainable improvement 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 have to be on the middle of nationwide insurance policies to make sure that fast inhabitants progress interprets into financial prosperity somewhat than a disaster.
“We should take deliberate and coordinated measures to harness the demographic dividend by empowering our youth and guaranteeing their energetic participation in financial improvement,” Akson advised 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 improvement objectives.
The occasion additionally drew help from the United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA) and the Japan Belief Fund (JTF), underscoring the urgency of population-centered improvement 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. Specialists argue that if this youthful inhabitants is supplied with high quality training, healthcare, and financial alternatives, it might drive unprecedented financial transformation. Nevertheless, failure to behave might result in social unrest, elevated poverty, and financial stagnation.
Based on UNFPA, 42 % of Africa’s inhabitants is underneath the age of fifty, a determine that presents each a possibility and a problem. Whereas life expectancy has improved and maternal mortality has declined, important 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 stated, has made strides in youth empowerment via initiatives akin to free training from major to secondary college, expanded scholar mortgage schemes, and a nationwide abilities improvement program that equips younger individuals with vocational and technical experience.
“We’ve additionally launched youth entrepreneurship funds to help start-ups and small companies and expanded digital teaching programs to boost ICT proficiency amongst our youth,” Akson stated.
Regardless of such efforts, structural obstacles 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 harassed the significance of investing in sexual and reproductive well being training to make sure younger individuals, significantly ladies, could make knowledgeable decisions about their futures.
“We danger derailing our improvement trajectory if we fail to put money into younger individuals’s sexual and reproductive well being and rights,” she stated.
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 akin to youngster 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 observe to fulfill the SDG goal of 70 deaths per 100,000 stay births by 2030.”
Equally, though extra girls are utilizing trendy contraception voluntarily, hundreds of thousands of adolescent ladies nonetheless lack entry to important reproductive well being providers as a consequence of 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 information and defend 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, have to be prioritized to speed up progress towards common well being protection,” Schreiner stated.
Parliamentarians’ Position in Advancing the Inhabitants Agenda
As policymakers, parliamentarians maintain vital affect over nationwide budgets and legislative reforms that affect inhabitants insurance policies. Akson urged her colleagues to make use of their constitutional mandates to push for insurance policies that handle 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 obstacles that hinder younger individuals’s improvement,” she stated.
Japan’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Yasushi Misawa, recommended lawmakers for his or her dedication to addressing inhabitants challenges, stating, “Any answer on inhabitants points have to be primarily based on an understanding of every particular person. The function of parliamentarians, subsequently, as representatives of their residents, is critically vital.”
Joseph Komwihangiro, Nation Director for Pathfinder Worldwide, a world civil society group offering sexual and reproductive well being providers, echoed this sentiment.
“Inhabitants information is on the coronary heart of all the pieces we do. It helps policymakers enhance service supply and handle probably the most urgent challenges dealing with communities,” he stated.
He urged parliamentarians to make sure that inhabitants information interprets into inclusive insurance policies that prioritize the wants of weak teams, together with girls, ladies, and marginalized communities.
World Crises Threatening Progress
The assembly additionally highlighted how world crises—together with armed conflicts, local weather change, and rising well being threats—are disproportionately affecting weak populations and threatening the belief of sustainable improvement objectives.
“It’s profoundly regarding that escalating world crises akin to excessive climate situations and rising well being challenges are disproportionately affecting weak populations and derailing improvement efforts,” Akson stated.
She cited the phrases of Tanzania’s founding father, Julius Nyerere: “The aim of improvement is the individuals. You can not develop issues; you develop individuals.”
Akson emphasised that true and significant improvement have to 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 realize the 2030 Agenda, UN Secretary-Basic António Guterres has referred to as for “a surge in implementation, huge funding, and more practical partnerships” to drive progress throughout key SDGs, together with well being, training, gender equality, and financial improvement.
Akson echoed this name, stressing that gender equality have to be on the core of all improvement efforts.
“We can not count on to realize the SDGs with out dismantling gender obstacles and empowering all girls and ladies,” she stated.
The Dar es Salaam Monday assembly concluded with a name for strengthened worldwide cooperation to maximise progress, significantly in reforming the outdated world monetary structure that has left many creating nations battling debt and underfunded social packages.
Because the assembly’s consequence 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 stated, closing the convention with an optimistic tone.
For a lot of African and Asian nations, the long run 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 shall be important in shaping a sustainable and equitable future.
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