From Sani Gazas Chinade Damaturu
The five-day capacity-building workshop on Human Capital Development and Demographic Dividend (HCD–DD), supported by the Lafiya UK Project, was convened in Damaturu.
The HCD–DD framework, chaired by the State Deputy Governor, brought together representatives of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), alongside development partners and data institutions, to strengthen the use of demographic data in advancing the state’s HCD–DD agenda.
During the workshop deliberations, participants observed several challenges hindering effective demographic data management and utilisation in the state.
The challenges discussed during the workshop includes, Low technical capacity of data managers across many MDAs, and discrepancies and inconsistencies in data generated from different sources, Projected population figures that do not reflect current realities, leading to inaccuracies in data generation among others.
The resolution achieved at the end of the workshop are, to seek the support of the Deputy Governor for the formation of an effective Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team comprising competent and qualified members.
That all data to be generated and presented must be updated, realistic, and aligned with achievable targets, adapted from the national framework among others.
At the end the Participants reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening collaboration between state and national data institutions, enhancing institutional capacity, and embedding data-driven approaches within the HCD–DD framework to accelerate progress toward realizing the demographic dividend respectively.