UNFPA, together with the African Youth and Adolescents Network on Population and Development (AfriYAN) and West and Central Africa and the Regional Civil Society Organizations Coalition for Family Planning (CROSCPF), will be hosting a high-level event on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women. 

This event will focus on creating strategic and sustainable partnerships to empower young people, with the overall objective of helping to achieve a demographic dividend.

The global population of young people is higher than it has ever been, with 1.2 billion people aged 15 to 24 years old in 2015. The youngest population is in Africa, where almost half of all people are below age 15. Seven out of 10 people are under 25. This population dynamic is a real asset and, if properly utilized, offers huge potential. But significant investment is required to realize this potential, especially in the health and education sectors, and above all, to create decent and sustainable jobs.

This high-level event will showcase successful initiatives and good practices relating to child marriage, adolescent pregnancy, gender-based violence and, above all, the empowerment of young girls, and will make concrete proposals for scaling these up.