Status Quo
1.
The World Health Organization defines young people as between 10 and 24 years old. Out of approximately 1.1 billion people in Africa, 3 out of 10 (350 million) are young people aged 10-24 years and this population is projected to almost triple (906 million) by 2100.
2.
Most of the illiterate adults live in South Asia, West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. Of all of the illiterate adults in the world, nearly two-thirds are female.
3.
Educational attainment is a major determinant of the quality of human capital of a country.
4.
There is need to expand access to tertiary education to meet the growing demand for this level of education as well as to address the discrepancy between university curricula and job market demands, which consequently reduces the employability of graduates.
5.
Young people are at an increased risk of poor sexual and reproductive health outcomes including sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, unintended pregnancy and illness or death associated with unsafe abortion
6.
Most people living with HIV are in low- and middle- income countries, with an estimated 68% living in sub-Saharan Africa. Among this group 20.6 million are living in East and Southern Africa
7.
Youth unemployment undermines economic productivity and innovation since young people can be instrumental agents of socioeconomic change and technological innovation
8.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the youth unemployment rate is double the total unemployment rate of the region
9.
If the continent does not consciously invest in education, skill development, sexual and reproductive health, and job creation for young people, the continent’s big youthful population will be wasted and the continent is likely to experience social unrest
10.
The continent’s development prospects can be hugely enhanced if smart investments are made to turn the big youthful population into quality human capital made of well educated, skilled, innovative, healthy and gainfully employed young people.
11.
Women tend to spend around 2.5 times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men.
12.
It is estimated that if women’s unpaid work were assigned a monetary value, it would constitute between 10 per cent and 39 per cent of GDP
13.
Women and girls suffer most from the dearth of safely managed water and sanitation
14.
Women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend about 40 billion hours a year collecting water. Per week, women in Guinea collect water for 5.7 hours, compared to 2.3 hours for men; in Sierra Leone women spend 7.3 compared to 4.5 hours for men; and in Malawi this figure is 9.1 compared to 1.1 hours. This significantly impacts women's employment opportunities.
15.
785 million people living without access to safe water.
16.
Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease.
