Youth in Mombasa, Kenya register for vocational training. The AfDB fund aims to create 25 million jobs in the next decade. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
AfDB’s Strategy for Jobs for Youth in Africa 2016-2025, approved by the board in Abidjan, encapsulates the institution’s High 5 priorities, especially the fifth: To
The African Development Bank (AfDB) last week launched the $5 billion African Youth Jobs Initiative with the aim of creating 25 million jobs for youth on the continent as well as equipping an additional 50 million in the next decade.
AfDB’s Strategy for Jobs for Youth in Africa 2016-2025, approved by the board in Abidjan, encapsulates the institution’s High 5 priorities, especially the fifth: To improve the living conditions of Africans by turning the continent’s surging population, often described as a “time bomb,” into an opportunity for inclusive growth.
The programme’s initial focus on the high-priority sectors of agriculture, industry, and ICT, will include an index to measure youth employment outcomes and enabling policies at the country level, and provide information on the evolution of the labour market’s performance over time.
African governments risk facing political instability, social unrest and mass emigration unless they meet the demands of the region’s rapidly expanding young population for quality jobs.
High unemployment rates
Figures by the AfDB show that despite fast growing economies, job generation has generally lagged behind, with the majority of the 420 million youth aged 15 to 35 in Africa today unemployed, discouraged or only vulnerably employed.
Worse still, the youth face roughly double the unemployment rates of adults. As a result, African governments need to step up investment in skills development and promotion of entrepreneurship to create jobs for young people.
Available data shows that although between 10 and 12 million young Africans enter the work force each year, only three million formal jobs are created annually. Besides, the youth often lack the skills required by employers, despite gains in access to education over the past decades.
“We need a sense of urgency in tackling the issue of unemployment. I cannot emphasise it enough” said Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB president, at the annual meetings of the Bank in Lusaka, Zambia.
For Africa, the gains of employment would be phenomenal. For instance, it would propel incomes, offer higher standards of living and better health and education access. It has been estimated that reducing Africa’s youth unemployment rate to that of adults would translate into a 10 per cent to 20 per cent increase in the continent’s GDP.
