There has been renewed interest by development practitioners in Africa in the role of population dynamics in development. This is partly a result of studies conducted to examine the potential of the demographic dividend to accelerate socio-economic development in individual countries and in the continent in general in light of their large youthful population. Mainly, investments in family planning in conjunction with investments to develop human capital, create decent jobs for young people and promote good governance and accountability, have been touted as the cornerstones to harness the demographic dividend. However, the role of environmental and climate change, key pillars that interact with population dynamics in socioeconomic development, is noticeably missing from this discourse. This link needs to be articulated in a holistic framework aimed at harnessing the demographic dividend. In this document, such a framework is advanced, taking advantage of the interest by development practitioners in the demographic dividend and the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Building on work on the demographic dividend with governments in the African Great Lakes region, existing evidence on the nexus between population, health and environment (PHE), and on the SDGs, the authors have developed a holistic framework for investments in the demographic dividend that articulates these relationships and incorporates environmental and climate change. They anticipate that the framework can act as a guide for countries and regional economic communities to make an investment case for harnessing the dividend and by extension accelerate efforts towards achieving sustainable development in the region.
Resource Type
Geography