'Zimbabwe must boost democratic dividend'

Government should enhance voluntary family planning methods and ensure adolescent girls get comprehensive sexuality education in order to harness the country's Demographic Dividend (DD), Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has said.

"Zimbabwe should, over the next decade, put in place and implement policy measures to boost its demographic dividend," he said during the launch of the DD report.

"The study provides several policy interventions that will enable the country to take full advantage of the DD.

"Reducing fertility through enhancing voluntary family planning services, including ensuring that adolescent girls get sexuality education to curtail teenage pregnancies and actualise their potential will contribute to maximising the DD," Ncube said.

The Finance minister urged stakeholders to join hands and work together to implement the key interventions that will make a difference in the lives of today's young people to prepare them for the transformative role that they are bound to play in the course of Zimbabwe's attainment of its development aspirations.

"Harnessing the DD requires government, civil society and the nation at large to jointly address family planning issues such as keeping adolescents in schools and colleges and creating jobs for them.