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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
05 Jun, 2023, 12:37 ET

COTONOU, Benin, 01 June 2023 / PRN Africa / -- The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), through its Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, in collaboration with the Regional Consortium for Research in Generational Economics (CREG) is organizing a regional workshop on Budgeting Sensitive to Demographic Dividend (BSDD) in Cotonou, Benin from May 22 to 26, 2023.

The main objective of the workshop is to build the capacity of the Member States on Retropolation and Connexion of the Demographic Dividend Monitoring Index (DDMI), the latter being the 3rd step of the BSDD process.

This workshop is indeed a continuation of the BSDD activities which commenced in 2022 where countries developed their BSDD roadmaps and performed the two first steps of the BSDD process, namely the countries’ demographic dynamics profiles and the transformation of the classical budget into the functional budget focusing on the demographic dynamics dimensions.

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the workshop, the Deputy Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of State in charge of Development and Coordination of Government Action, Mr. Yacoubou Amadou, expressed his satisfaction with the organization of this workshop.

"The theme of this workshop is of special importance for our societies. The demographic dividend, a concept that highlights the economic and social potential offered by a well-educated population, is an opportunity that we find. And to take advantage of this dividend, it is necessary to adopt a Demographic Dividend Budgeting approach. This approach consists of allocating resources strategically in order to maximize the benefits," explained Mr. Yacoubou Amadou.

The Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, Ngone Diop, stated that there are obvious reasons to implement this program: "The 15 ECOWAS countries alone have a population estimated at about 410 million inhabitants in 2021 with an average annual growth rate of 2.4. This represents 30% of the African population and 5% of the world population.

In addition to this, Ngone Diop continues, "the population of the subregion is predominantly young, with more than 60% of young people under the age of 25. West Africa also has a high fertility rate with a regional average of 4.5 births.

"The demographic profile of West Africa has consequences for wealth creation and the inclusive and sustainable development of our countries. Reversing this trend is more than a priority, it is an imperative. It is an emergency," concluded the Director of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa.

The Coordinator of the United Nations System in Benin, Salvator Niyonzima, appreciating the technical support of the ECA, stated that "We have come to this workshop which aims to equip these five West African countries. I know that the ECA supported a seminar on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and it is still here to support the integration of demographic dynamics into sectoral policies and development plans to capture the dividends”.

For the Coordinator of CREG, Professor Latif Dramani, "this workshop is a relevant case to inform all decision makers and civil society.

In this case, added Professor Latif Dramani, "Budgeting for the demographic dividend is the completion of development programming in an environment of significant constraints, scarcity of resources.

The meeting was attended by 25 experts from Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

SOURCE United Nations Economic Commission for Africa