The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have inaugurated a digital platform to track implementation of Africa’s demographic dividend roadmap.

The ECA, in a statement on Wednesday, said it inaugurated the platform during a technical workshop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. ECA and UNFPA developed the initiative in collaboration with Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Planning and Development through the National Population Office.

It aims to provide member states with a common tool to track progress, identify gaps, strengthen accountability and support evidence-based decision-making. According to the statement, the platform supports implementation of the African Union Roadmap on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth.

“Inaugurated by the African Union in 2017, the roadmap focuses on health and well-being, education and skills development, and employment and entrepreneurship. Its fourth pillar is governance and youth empowerment, with the digital platform covering indicators across all four dimensions.

“The workshop brought together representatives of eight pilot countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Other participants included UN agencies in Côte d’Ivoire and senior officials from the country’s Ministry of Planning and Development,” it said.

The ECA director of its sub-regional office for West Africa, Ngone Diop, participated in the opening ceremony alongside other senior officials.

The statement said that during the three-day workshop, participants tested the platform’s functionalities, strengthened technical capacities and made recommendations for finalising its updated version. It said the platform was expected to support wider deployment by providing countries with a harmonised framework for monitoring demographic dividend indicators.

Kouakou Kunibouo, a Côte d’Ivoire official, said the platform would strengthen the country’s national demographic dividend monitoring system. He said the indicators would strengthen national technical capacities, improve monitoring and identify gaps requiring investments in health, education, employment and human capital.

In Niger, Douramane Mariama, director of population at the Ministry of Population, Social Action and National Solidarity, highlighted challenges involving data availability, reporting and preservation. She said the platform would improve indicator traceability, simplify reporting and strengthen monitoring of results.

For Benin, Houemenou Dominique said the platform addressed a long-standing need to monitor actions supporting the realisation of the demographic dividend. He said the tool would enable Benin to monitor better and document interventions across sectors contributing to the demographic dividend.

“The pilot phase represents a step toward establishing a stronger regional mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the African Union roadmap. It is ultimately expected to strengthen countries’ capacity to transform demographic change into investments, opportunities and tangible development outcomes for African populations,” the statement said.

(NAN)