Media Advisory: Invitation to Media Representatives

WHAT: 9th African Union (AU) Gender Pre-Summit will be convened under the theme: “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth.”

WHEN: 22nd – 27th January, 2017

WHERE: The African Union Commission – Addis Ababa Ethiopia 

WHO: The African Union Commission (AUC)’s Women, Gender and Development Directorate (WGDD) in collaboration with the Department for Human Resource, Science and Technology (HRST) and the Department of Social Affairs (DSA) in partnership with Civil Society and United Nations Partners.

WHY: This Gender Pre-Summit is an opportunity for young people to engage policymakers to share their concerns and opinions, with a view to influencing policies and decisions that will translate into more strategic investments in young people to harness the demographic dividends in Africa. 

Objectives:               

The overall objective of the 9th Gender Pre-Summit is to identify strategic areas of action for the realization of Pillar 4 of Africa’s Demographic Dividends agenda on “Human Rights, Governance and Youth Empowerment”, with particular emphasis on empowering young people, especially young women for leadership and civic participation.

Specific objectives are to: 

Define critical priority areas of investment in young people, especially young women.

Harness Africa’s demographic dividend through leadership and civic participation.

Identify concrete strategies, including policy interventions, to empower youth, especially young women for leadership and civic participation towards Agenda 2063.

Adopt a “Call for Action” for greater participation of young people, especially equal participation of young woman in leadership and civic life.

Background:

The AU Assembly Decision (Assembly/AU/Dec.591 (XXVI) of January 2016 devoted to the2017 theme to “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth”. In order to deliver on this important assignment, the Commission, together with the above named institutions, undertook a multi-stakeholder consultative process towards the preparation of the 2017 AU Roadmap on “Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in the Youth” which reflects on the inputs and aspirations of a wide range of key stakeholders. The Roadmap adopted by the Executive Council (EX/Dec.921 (XXIX)) focuses on four (4) thematic pillars: Employment and Entrepreneurship; Education and Skills Development; Health and Wellbeing; Rights, Governance and Youth Empowerment.

The 9th Gender Pre-Summit will focus on Pillar 4, i.e. Human Rights, Governance and Youth Empowerment, with particular emphasis on empowering young people, especially young women for leadership and civic participation. This is guided by the results of a recently conducted online survey representing the voices of 2041 young people from across Africa. Young people were requested to complete a questionnaire indicating what they “believe should be the priority for investment in young people in the context of the 2017 African Union theme”. The results indicated that 64.9% of respondents (67.1% male and 32.9% female) recommended the AU to prioritize Pillar 4 of the AU Demographic.

Journalists are invited to cover the Event.

---

---