By Jonathan Adengo
Kampala — The African Development Bank (AfDB) has laid out a new strategy which seeks to create 25 million jobs and positively impact a total of 50 million youth over the next decade.
The Jobs for Youth in Africa (JfYA) Strategy (2016-2025) highlights Integration, Innovation and Investment as the key strategic areas.
Through the implementation of the Innovation pillar of the JfYA Strategy, AfDB will create roll-out flagship programs in agriculture, industrialiation and ICT as well as an innovation lab that will test, assess, and scale promising solutions to accelerate job creation in Africa.
To facilitate macroeconomic policies that are conducive to jobs for youth, an Enabling Youth Employment Index for Africa is being developed. Mr Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group said through Integration, the bank will equip itself (projects, staff and systems) and regional member countries by means of financial support and policy dialogues to become engines for job creation.
“We are integrating youth employment and entrepreneurship components into new Bank projects, and are working very closely with regional member countries to develop policies that promote decent jobs for youth,” he said
In its first year of JfYA implementation, AfDB organised five Regional Ministerial Conferences on Jobs for Youth in Africa with more than 1,000 high-level representatives joining forces, including 140 Ministers and Government Officials as well as private sector executives, youth group leaders, civil society organizations and development partners.
These platforms paved the way for re-emphasised country dialogues to tailor the jobs-rich growth solutions to the country contexts, thereby taking advantage of the demographic dividend on the African continent.
Other initiatives such as Empowering Novel Agri-Business-Led Employment (ENABLE) Youth, and the African Youth Agripreneurs Forum (AYAF), are projects through which AfDB is equipping young people with the relevant skills for business and employment.
Success stories from ENABLE Youth are evident across Africa. In Uganda, Mr Sam Turyatunga saw an opportunity in scaling-up his production of his own brand of banana juice.
Supported by AfDB, Mr Turyatunga now produces 1,500 litres of banana juice daily and sells its product in three other countries in East Africa.
His firm also supports about 500 banana farmers.