Blog of the First Session
The following session was titled the African Economic Forum.
This session focused on...
The last few years have witnessed a population explosion the world over. This burgeoning population growth is more alarming in developing countries of which the African continent has its fair share. With the highest birth rate of any continent, Africa’s population is projected to grow to two billion by 2050 with majority of the population aged between 15-24 years. Currently, over half of Africa’s population are under 25 years and 36% of the working-age population are made up of young people between the ages of 15-24 years in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Because of the youth Bulge in Africa, the number of young people looking for work and other life supporting opportunities such as quality education, good health, proper housing among others is expected to increase by 28 percent in the next 15 years, equivalent to about 30 million people. This therefore puts enormous pressure on policy makers to develop policies that can take advantage of this youth bulge to propel the development of the continent.
Failure to address youth employment issues will have serious consequences for Africa’s economies and societies. Without opportunities for young people to earn a living, inter-generational cycles of poverty will persist, further affecting a continent already made vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, food insecurity and violence.
Continue reading "Cont. of Day 1 at the African Youth and Governance Conference (AYG)"
