AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA Statement By Khabele Matlosa Director for Political Affairs African Union Commission At the Occasion of the High-Level Meeting On The New Urban Agenda and Demographic Dividend: Investments for Africa s Youth Co-organised by The UN Office of Special Adviser on Africa, the African Union Commission, UN Economic Commission for Africa, and UN Habitat King Fahd Palace Hotel Dakar, Senegal Page 1 of 6 Saturday, 25 March 2017
1.0. The New Urban Agenda Africa s long-term development blue-print, Agenda 2063-The Africa We Want, identifies sustainable urbanisation and human settlements as one of the major challenges facing Africa s socio-economic development and structural transformation. Aspiration 1 of Agenda 2063 envisions A prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development. This is an Africa in which, inter alia, cities and human settlements will be hubs of cultural and economic activities, with modernized infrastructure, and people have access to affordable and decent housing including housing finance together with all basic necessities of life such as water, sanitation, energy, public transport and ICT. Currently, urban areas contribute 55% of Africa s gross domestic product (GDP). The Common African Position on Habitat III adopted by the African Ministers of Housing and Urban Development in Abuja, Nigeria on 24 February 2016 reinforces the centrality of urban development and human settlements to Africa s structural transformation as articulated in Agenda 2063. The CAP on Habitat III recognises the urgent need to harness the transformative potential of urbanization in its various facets to facilitate the eradication of poverty in all its forms and address inequality with a view to achieving an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena. The CAP-H3 represented Africa s collective and common voice during the third UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) held on 17-20 October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador. Building on Habitat I held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976 and Habitat II held in Istanbul, Turkey Page 2 of 6
in 1996, Habitat III adopted the New Urban Agenda. The Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All adopted during Habitat III identifies persistent poverty, growing inequality and environmental degradation as major obstacles to sustainable urban development and human settlements. The Quito Declaration presents a shared vision of cities for all, which means the equal use and enjoyment of cities and human settlements seeking to promote inclusivity and to ensure that all inhabitants, including present and future generations, without discrimination, are able to inhabit and produce just, safe, healthy, accessible, affordable, resilient and sustainable settlements to foster prosperity and quality of life for all. This vision resonates with the Sustainable Development Goal no.11 aimed at making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. 2.0. The Demographic Dividend: Investments in Africa s Youth One of the seven pillars of the Common African Position on Habitat III is the enhancement of a people-centered urban and human settlements development. This pillar of the CAP-H3 aims to ensure that the agenda of sustainable urbanisation and human settlements is participatory, allinclusive and equitable. It is meant to ensure accessibility to housing and urban services for all, including people in vulnerable situations such as people with disabilities, children, women, youth and the elderly. Focusing on youth for sustainable urban development and human settlements is a critical policy imperative for Africa. Africa is a youthful Page 3 of 6
continent. Africa s population today stands at 1.2 billion. It is projected to grow to about 1.7 billion by 2030 and to almost double to about 3 billion by 2063 (UNFPA, 2015). Today, the total population of Africa s youth (ages 15-35) is more than 60% of Africa s population. The youth, therefore, is a critical social group for Africa s socio-economic development and structural transformation. It is not surprising that Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063 envisions An Africa whose development is people-driven, relying on the potential of African people, especially its women and youth, and caring for children. If Africa s youth are not mobilised positively to become an asset for Africa s development, they are bound to become a liability. The AU aspires to empower African youth so that they become assets rather liabilities to the continent s development agenda. This explains in part why the AU declared 2017 as the Africa Year of Harnessing the Demographic Dividend through Investments in Youth. This decision by the AU Policy Organs is inspired by the 2006 African Youth Charter. In celebrating this year of the youth (2017), focus of various AU programmes will be on four main intervention areas: Employment and Entrepreneurship Education and Skills Development Health and Wellbeing Rights, Governance and Youth Empowerment The New Urban Agenda has a great potential to advance youth empowerment across the above four intervention areas. The 2016 Quito Declaration proclaims the need to harness the urban demographic dividend Page 4 of 6
and to promote access for youth to education, skills development and employment to achieve increased productivity and shared prosperity in cities and human settlements. This is the meeting point between the New Urban Agenda (the urban dividend) and the African youth agenda (the demographic dividend). Both dividends, if not well exploited through prudent policy interventions, can become Africa s development deficits. In order to exploit these dividends, Africa s the sustainable urbanisation and human settlement agenda should mainstream youth empowerment and gender equality. 3.0. Recommendations 3.1. The New Urban Agenda has to aim to effectively eradicate poverty, inequality, unemployment and exclusion, given that the most hardest hit social groups by these social ills include young African men and women; 3.2. The New Urban Agenda has to facilitate acquisition of relevant education and requisite skills by young African men and women. Such education and skills should answer to the development needs of the African continent so that African youth become employment creators and not jobseekers; 3.3. The New Urban Agenda should aim to foster sustainable investments in health systems with the aim of enhancing access to quality and affordable health services for the wellbeing of all young African men and women; Page 5 of 6
3.4. The New Urban Agenda ought to advance the human rights of all young African men and women. This should include abolition of all city laws, rules and procedures that discriminate against the youth. Sustainable urban development and human settlements ought to encourage greater participation and representation of young people in the decision-making structures at national, sub-national and local government levels. Finally, let us allow young men and women to become agents of this change that will see the New Urban Agenda become youth-friendly while also being responsive to the interests of the elderly. Page 6 of 6