Save the Children’s view on the EU-Africa Partnership

Africa is the continent with the youngest population in the world. This demographic dividend needs to be at the heart of the new EU-AU Partnership.  

The EU-Africa mini summit is the precursor to the EU Africa Summit due to take place in 2021. It offers a golden opportunity to plan how the European and the African Unions can work in partnership to deliver for children in health, child rights, and migration. Save the Children welcomes the focus on investment in people and the planet. However, we regret the focus is on investing in youth for growth and jobs, not in children.  Children make up to 50% of the population in many African countries. Children are the demographic with the biggest potential to transform lives, societies and economies. 

Children and COVID 

Save the Children estimates the knock-on effect of the COVID-19 pandemic will push an additional 33 million children into poverty in Africa. This could reverse much of the progress in child health made in the last decade. Save the Children recommends the EU-Africa partnership focuses on strengthening the systems that make a difference to children: from health, nutrition, WASH, and education to social protection. 

Save the Children has the following six key recommendations for the EU-Africa Partnership: 

• EU-Africa Health Partnership  
•  e45 
• Early Years investment
• Listening to Children 
• A different Perspective on Migration 
• Prioritising Girls 
• Peace and Security in the Sahel