Abstract

Africa has the youngest population in the world, but few countries have deliberate pathways to identify, train and absorb young statisticians, demographers and data scientists into public systems. As AI, machine learning and big data reshape how evidence is generated and used, this gap is a human capital challenge at the heart of Africa’s digital transformation and its demographic dividend. Youth empowerment programmes have built skills and enthusiasm, but they are not a substitute for workforce policy. The question for this session is what role practitioners can play in making that shift.
I will address it from the perspective of the Young African Statisticians Association (YASA), an independent, registered, volunteer-run association that grew out of the ISIbalo young statisticians’ initiative, which began at the 2009 ISI session in Durban with young statisticians from 43 African countries. Our members include students, early-career professionals inside and outside National Statistics Offices, and demographers. Through training, webinars and our collaboration with partners such as UNFPA ESARO, YASA has worked at the point where empowerment efforts meet institutional reality.
From that experience, I will address the following questions:
1. How can we make the pipeline visible?
2. What works? I will share what we have learned, including what has fallen short, so that policy builds on practice and does not repeat gaps.
3. How might we connect the actors
4. How can Young African Statisticians and Demographers stay at the table?
Anchored in the African Union’s demographic dividend roadmap, this session makes the case that investing in young African statisticians is a development and modernisation imperative, not only a youth agenda. I shall invite the international statistical community to consider what practical support, solidarity and shared learning can look like in practice.