By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK With an estimated 60 percent of the country’s population made up of the youth, Namibia’s window of opportunity for young people will remain open well beyond 2050. For a developing country, which has a larger base of young people and a smaller segment of the elderly, chances are that young people are more likely to benefit from the “demographic window of opportunity” available to them today, due to the falling dependency rates. This analogy is contained in a recently released World Bank report titled “2007 World Development Report (WDR)” that focuses on the youth under the title “Development and the Next Generation”. The theme is aimed at highlighting to policy makers, governments and institutions the importance of safeguarding and developing young people, as the key to sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The report was launched in the capital yesterday by the Permanent Secretary in the National Planning Commission (NPC), Mocks Shivute, who represented NPC’s Director General Helmut Angula. Addressing the audience, which consisted of development planners, researchers and population analysts from various institutions, Shivute said since the majority of the population consists of the 12 to 24 years age group, this should be regarded as an important asset for sustainable development in the country’s future growth. “Once equipped with the necessary education, skills and know-how, these young people will escape being victims of circumstance by engaging themselves in risky behaviours such as becoming thieves and criminals, prostitutes, exposed to untimely death from HIV/Aids and drug abuse,” said Shivute. However, in order to achieve that, the youth should be supported throughout the transitional period to adulthood in order to cope with the numerous challenges and economic demands of today. Presenting the report, Emmanuel Jimenez from the Philippines said that investing in young people today is a much higher basis upon which any country can look forward to growth. “There is many young people in developing countries today than before and there is something called the youth bulge. This means that for countries like Namibia, there is a window that will remain open for young people way beyond 2050,” said Jimenez. The World Bank report states that there has never been a better time to invest in young people in developing countries as is presently. “They are, on average, more educated and healthier than generations before them. They represent a potentially stronger base on which to build in a world that is increasingly demanding more than basic skills,” reads the report. With a high youth population and a smaller aging group, the report encourages developing countries like Namibia to seize this window of opportunity to invest in the future before the ageing process closes in. Jimenez described the present as the opportune time to invest in young people through government policies that are more geared towards the youth of today in such aspects as health, work opportunities and education. “The concern is, while there are opportunities, young people are entering adulthood poorly prepared. It’s time in Namibia to focus on the quality of what these young people are learning and not just the quantity,” added Jimenez before calling for programmes that are more youth oriented. Nevertheless, the World Bank report notes that not only are government policies central in expanding opportunities to young people to boost human capital, but also in helping the youth recover from the consequences of poor decisions and circumstances. Country Director of the World Bank, Ritva Reinikka said plans are underway to launch a Development Information Centre in partnership with the Polytechnic of Namibia and the United Nations. Such centres, which contain data and information on development issues from the World Bank, are found in countries like Botswana and Lesotho.