9th African Population Conference

Lilongwe, Malawi, 20-24 May 2024

The Union for African Population Studies (UAPS) held its 9th African Population Conference on the theme, “Road to 2030: Leveraging Africa’s Human Capital to Achieve Transformation in a World of Uncertainty” in Lilongwe, Malawi, from 20 to 24 May 2024 at the Bingu Wa Mutharika International Convention Centre (BICC). The conference was hosted by the Government of Malawi, with support from the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other partners.

Approximately 600 researchers, scientists, policymakers, government officials, youth leaders, civil society practitioners, and private sector leaders gathered in Lilongwe to consider transformative policies and actions to help revitalize Africa’s human capital and learn from over 350 oral presentations and 300 posters listed on the program.

The opening ceremony welcoming addresses by the President of the Republic Malawi, Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, the Prime Minister of Iceland, Mr Bjarni Benediktsson, and UAPS President, Donatien Beguy evoked the conference theme. With 40% of Africa’s population projected to be under the age of 15 by 2030*, Bjarni Benediktsson, noted that Africa’s youth will shape the future of the continent and likely the world. The President of Malawi reminded the participants that Africa’s youthful and enterprising population is a resource to harness and urged conference delegates to focus on constructive recommendations to “leverage Africa’s demographic dividend by nurturing, empowering, and deploying our people.” On a more somber note, the President of UAPS, Dr Donatien Beguy noted that Africa is off track in achieving 16 out of the 17 SDGs due to underinvestment in human capital, gender inequality and poor governance across the continent. Climate crises, armed conflict, and COVID had further hampered progress towards achieving sustainable development. The conference was an opportunity for researchers to engage with policy makers and discuss evidenced-based recommendations for achieving sustainability.

For the 9th edition of the African Population Conference, the organizers included a Population and Development Parliamentary and Policy Forum that brought ministers, parliamentarians, and other policymakers from 15 African nations to engage with population researchers and scientists. Parliamentarians participated in the session, plenary debates and round tables. Particular issues discussed in the sessions included sustainable financing for family planning; the interconnectedness of population dynamics, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic development; and advancements in health management systems and vital statistics.

The highlights of the conference included a lively debate on "Should African Countries Pursue Replacement Level Fertility?" and a panel discussion on "Population and Development in Africa: 30 years after ICPD What is the progress globally and in Africa?". UAPS members elected a new Council during the Conference. The new council was introduced at the closing ceremony where the current UAPS President Donatien Beguy transferred the UAPS presidency to Nyovani Madise, who will serve as UAPS' first female president alongside the incoming UAPS Council officers and members elected during the General Assembly in Malawi – Jacques Emina (Vice-President, President Elect), Naa Dodoo (Secretary General), Madeleine Wayack-Pambé (Treasurer) and UAPS council members Alia Amer (Egypt), John Mushomi (Uganda), Charles Mouté (Cameroon), Lutendo Malisha (South Africa) and Akanni Akinyemi (Nigeria) (who also serves on the IUSSP Council). Congratulations!

New UAPS Council.

The IUSSP Panel on Rethinking Family Planning Measurement with a Reproductive Justice and Rights Lens co-organized a side session on Thursday, May 23 on "Family Planning (FP) Measurement Reimagined" in collaboration with the AFIDEP Team-Up research project on traditional methods. The session was chaired by Naa Dodoo (AFIDEP), who with Nurudeen Alhassan (AFIDEP) presented the results of their research project on traditional methods. The presentation provided useful background to the report on deliberations from the IUSSP Panel’s March Mombasa meeting to develop new, more person-centered FP measures, which were presented by Jamaica Corker, Abdoul Moumouni Nouhou (Panel Member), Tosin Oni, and Mahesh Karra. Approximately 30 conference delegates attended the session including sexual reproductive health researchers, people working on FP programming, policy makers, and parliamentarians from the region. The attendees were especially interested in the new FP measures and posed many questions. There was also enthusiasm expressed during the Q&A about adding new and different measures in the DHS and other surveys.

The IUSSP Scientific Panel on Digital and Computational Demography organized workshop on “Exploring Migration Patterns Using Digital Trace Data” led by Carolina Coimbra Vieira and Ebru Şanlıtürk. The 2-hour workshop introduced the fundamentals of data collection and analysis of digital trace data, utilizing Google Trends and Wikipedia to 16 participants. The workshop covered the concept of digital trace data and their significance in migration studies, exploring how online platforms like Google Trends and Wikipedia capture and reflect real-world migration trends, and examined how researchers have utilized these insights in academic research. The workshop also discussed the ethical implications of using digital trace data for migration studies. At the end of the session, participants engaged in a Q&A discussion on the ethics of using digital trace data and potential challenges and advantages of using digital trace data in the African context. The workshop slides and examples of code can be found here.

IUSSP was present with an exhibit booth to advertise the IPC2025 Conference and distribute copies of the call for papers. IUSSP Executive Director Mary Ellen Zuppan met many conference participants, especially students, many of whom joined IUSSP as student members during the conference. Several IUSSP current Council members – Akanni Akinyemi, Nkechi Owoo, and Geraldine Duthé – were in attendance and spent time at the booth, encouraging their students and colleagues to become members and submit an abstract for IPC 2025.

From left to right: Mariam Bougma, IUSSP Council members Geraldine Duthé and Nkechi Owoo, and IUSSP Executive Director Mary Ellen Zuppan.

UAPS and the Conference organizers should be congratulated on organizing a successful conference that brought in parliamentarians and policymakers from across the continent to engage with researchers in many of the sessions. The only regret was the absence of many of the presenters listed on the programme who were unable to travel to Lilongwe. We look forward to the next African Population Conference.

For more information about the 9th African Population Conference:

*2022 United Nations. DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2022 (Sub-Saharan Africa - Percentage of population under 15 years of age)