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The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have inaugurated a digital platform to track the implementation of Africa’s demographic dividend roadmap.
The platform was unveiled during a three-day technical workshop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, according to an ECA statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
The initiative was developed by the ECA and UNFPA in collaboration with Côte d’Ivoire’s Ministry of Planning and Development through the National Population Office.
The platform is designed to provide member states with a common tool to track progress, identify gaps, strengthen accountability and support evidence-based decision-making.
Platform tracks four areas of AU roadmap
The digital platform supports implementation of the African Union Roadmap on Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth, which was inaugurated in 2017.
- The roadmap focuses on four areas: health and well-being, education and skills development, employment and entrepreneurship, and governance and youth empowerment.
- The platform includes indicators covering all four dimensions of the roadmap.
- The workshop brought together representatives from eight pilot countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Representatives from United Nations agencies in Côte d’Ivoire and senior officials from the country’s Ministry of Planning and Development also participated.
The ECA Director of its Sub-regional Office for West Africa, Ngone Diop, participated in the opening ceremony alongside other senior officials.
Pilot countries test platform
During the workshop, participants tested the platform’s functionalities, strengthened their technical capacities and made recommendations for finalising its updated version, the ECA said.
- Dr 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 investment 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 better monitor and document interventions across sectors contributing to the demographic dividend.
The pilot phase represents a step towards establishing a stronger regional mechanism for monitoring implementation of the African Union roadmap.
The initiative is ultimately expected to strengthen countries’ capacity to transform demographic change into investments, opportunities and tangible development outcomes for African populations.
Africa’s growing workforce
Africa’s rapidly growing and youthful population is increasing the need for countries to convert demographic growth into productive employment, skills, and economic opportunities.
- Nairametrics reported in September that Africa is expected to supply 75% of new workers globally by 2050, highlighting the scale of the continent’s future labour-force expansion.
- A January report on the sub-Saharan African labour force found that the region’s labour force grew by 15.4 million in 2025, while education and skills gaps continued to constrain youth employment outcomes.
Nairametrics also reported in July that Nigeria’s population reached an estimated 242.4 million in 2026, with a median age of 18, underscoring the country’s youthful demographic profile.
