{"id":33474,"date":"2017-10-26T17:04:23","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T17:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/?p=33474"},"modified":"2018-04-22T11:49:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-22T15:49:42","slug":"imagine-the-potential-of-one-billion-children-unicef-urges-investment-as-africas-youth-population-surges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/blog\/2017\/10\/imagine-the-potential-of-one-billion-children-unicef-urges-investment-as-africas-youth-population-surges\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Imagine the potential of one billion children;\u2019 UNICEF urges investment as Africa\u2019s youth population surges"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Africa is to keep pace with an unprecedented demographic transition \u2013 African\u2019s under-18 population will reach 750 million by 2030 \u2013 scaled-up investment in health, education and women\u2019s protection and empowerment will be needed or the continent will face a \u2018bleak\u2019 future, the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF<\/a>) reported Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvesting in health, protection, and education must become an\u00a0absolute priority<\/a>\u00a0for Africa between now and 2030,\u201d said Leila Pakkala, UN Children Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.<\/p>\n

According to UNICEF\u2019s report\u00a0Generation 2030 Africa 2.0<\/a>, some 11 million education and health personnel will be needed to keep pace with the projected unprecedented population growth of children in Africa \u2013 an increase of 170 million children between now and 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are at the most critical juncture for Africa\u2019s children,\u201d Ms. Pakkala underscored. \u201cGet it right, and we set the foundation for a demographic dividend, which could lift hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty, and contribute to enhanced prosperity, stability, and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report identifies three key issues for investment: health care, education and the protection and empowerment of women and girls. Concretely, to meet minimum international standards in health care and best practice targets in education, Africa will have to add 5.6 million new health workers and 5.8 million new teachers by 2030.<\/p>\n

According to the report, almost half of the continent\u2019s population is under 18 years old \u2013 and the majority of the population in around one-third of the 55 African Union member States is children. Current projections foresee the number of Africa\u2019s children topping one billion by 2055.<\/p>\n

\u2018Imagine the potential of one billion children\u2019<\/em><\/h5>\n

\u201cImagine the potential of one billion children,\u201d said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF\u2019s Regional Director for West and Central Africa. \u201cIf Africa steps up its investments in children and youth now, transforms its education systems and empowers women and girls to participate fully in community, workplace and political life, it will be able to reap faster, deeper and longer dividends from its demographic transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conversely, if investments do not occur in Africa\u2019s youth and children, the once-in-a-generation opportunity of a demographic dividend may be replaced by a demographic disaster, characterized by unemployment and instability.<\/p>\n

UNICEF recommends three policy actions to create the socio-economic conditions for Africa\u2019s coming generations.<\/p>\n

The first is to improve health, social welfare, and protection services to meet international standards; or beyond, in countries close to attaining them.<\/p>\n

Secondly, it recommends Africa’s educational skills and vocational learning system be adapted through curricula reform and access to technology to meet the needs of a twenty-first century labour market.<\/p>\n

The report also prescribes that Africa secures and ensures the right to protection from violence, exploitation, child marriage and abuse; removes barriers preventing women and girls from participating fully in community, workplace and political life; and enhances access to reproductive health services.<\/p>\n

Via UN News Centre<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Africa is to keep pace with an unprecedented demographic transition \u2013 African\u2019s under-18 population will reach 750 million by 2030 \u2013 scaled-up investment in health, education and women\u2019s protection and empowerment will be needed or the continent will face a \u2018bleak\u2019 future, the United Nations Children\u2019s Fund (UNICEF) reported Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":33478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5591],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sustainabledevelopment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}