The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has launched a new Demographic Resilience Programme to strengthen the capacity of countries in Europe and Central Asia to respond to the profound demographic shifts the region is experiencing. The programme helps foster demographically secure societies that understand and anticipate the population dynamics they are experiencing, and ensure they have the skills, tools, political will and public support to manage them. In this way, countries can mitigate potentially negative effects for individuals, societies, economies and the environment, and harness the opportunities that come with demographic change for people, prosperity and the planet.
Carried out in partnership with governmental, non-governmental and private-sector stakeholders, the Programme offers a suite of support services that can be tailored to country needs and specifications. It focuses on three priorities:
Demographic intelligence — Supporting countries in building a solid evidence base and analysing complex demographic processes and their impact on relevant policy areas through utilizing an array of data, tools and studies.
Convening stakeholders and knowledge exchange — Bringing together the expertise and resources of a wide range of actors from academia, governments, the private sector, the United Nations system, civil society and local communities, and using UNFPA’s convening power to create synergies to capitalize on the comparative advantages of various stakeholders and facilitate peer exchange and sharing of research, experiences and good practices.
Population policy design — Assisting with the design, implementation and impact assessment of comprehensive population and social policies to address demographic change and ensure sustainable development.
Ensuring that societies can thrive in a world of rapid demographic change means moving beyond narrow quick-fix approaches focused on population numbers towards comprehensive population and social policies aimed at ensuring prosperity and well-being for all. For more than 50 years, UNFPA has been advising governments around the world on how to address demographic change by analysing population dynamics, understanding their implications and developing policy responses that are based on evidence and human rights. The programme builds on this experience by working to improve the capacity of countries in Europe and Central Asia to develop population and social policies and programmes that respond to demographic change, strengthen human capital and shape a prosperous future.
Read the brochure on the programme here.
See the full press release here.
This article has been adapted from the UNFPA website with many thanks.