Preparing youth for the future

 By : Abdelmonem Fawzi

The problem is that over the next few decades young Africans will play a critical role in social and economic development in the continent.

Africa is now the youngest continent. It will continue to be so for many decades to come.

By 2100, almost half of the world’s young people will be Africa. The continent’s efforts to educate its youth will have vast implications for its economic development, stability and prosperity.

Africa can seize the opportunity offered by the demographic shift by investing in human capital development, particularly at the secondary education level, in which youth gain the skills and knowledge needed to be productive citizens.

To this end, the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) organises a high-level annual policy dialogue forum to bring key stakeholders together to showcase, share and discuss comprehensive and innovative education and training models and programmes that aim to develop leadership skills and equip youth with the necessary knowledge, tools and know-how for employability.

The main theme of the first ADEA High-Level Annual Policy Dialogue Forum was ‘Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing Youth for the Future of Work’.

The second forum was organised this year, adopting the theme ‘Elevating foundational learning as a pathway to skills development and lifelong learning’.

ADEA promotes knowledge and experience-sharing around practical and innovative solutions to address the challenges facing education across Africa.

“We all need to look at how to move from research to implementation, shape policy change in secondary education and embed the findings and recommendations in country level priorities and practices,” ADEA Executive Secretary, Albert Nsengiyumva, said.

Meanwhile, Director of Regional Programmes at Mastercard Foundation, Kimberley Kerr, said secondary education is and will continue to be an important platform for young people to secure or create their own work.

“We look forward to a productive dialogue on how we can all ensure young people are prepared for the future,” he added.

South African Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, said current debates about Africa were influenced by the need to tackle the continent’s glaring inequalities and the legacy of colonialism.

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has not been given sufficient recognition by African countries, despite their declared commitment and some consequential progress.

Various characteristics point to that direction.

TVET suffers insufficient funding and educational facilities are generally of a poor quality.

Facilities for females and vulnerable and disabled people are inadequate. There is a lack of competent trainers, a lack of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for trainers and the management of training institutions. There is also a lack of training capacity, and outdated curricula.

In brief, the TVET system in many African countries has been operating generally on a supply mode designed for the previous generation.

In addition, the East-Asian model that focuses on labour-intensive and export-oriented manufacturing to capitalise on labour-abundance and labour-cost advantage is rapidly losing ground to the current disruptive technological changes and their impacts on global production and trade.

However, development, education, and public-private partnerships are the key to successful job creation in Africa.

This is the reason why the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and NKC African Economics (an Oxford Economics company) launched a joint report, titled ‘Best Practices in Job Creation: Lessons from Africa’.

The report is the first result of collaboration between the ECA Office for North Africa and NKC African Economics.

“Through this document, we are sharing successful job-creation policies with the hope that they will provide insights and learning for other countries across the region,” said Amal el-Beshbishi, economic affairs officer in charge of employment at the ECA’s Office for North Africa.

The new report reveals that a focus on skill development and education does not only improve employability, but also provides youth with the tools needed to be successful in entrepreneurship.

Meanwhile, fiscal pressures have intensified because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It will become increasingly important for governments to partner with the private sector to implement employment creation initiatives,” Cobus de Hart, consulting head at NKC African Economics, said.

Key findings from the report include the importance of improving youth employability and female labour participation.

Such policies allowed countries to target the root of unemployment as an issue, since youths account for a significant portion of Africa’s unemployed.

Aligning public sector employment objectives and private sector business objectives is a key success factor.

Leveraging private sector resources by providing training incentives or collaborating in public-private partnerships in formulating and implementing employment initiatives markedly boosts the chances of success as well.

However, agriculture and education remain a key focus of job-creation initiatives carried out across Africa.

The agricultural sector still offers immense potential if informal and artisanal activities can be upgraded and commercialised.