OUR ISSUES
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS
OUR ISSUES
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS
Overview
Africa’s youth population is growing rapidly, and it is expected that by 2050, the majority of young people in the world will live on the continent. However, even today, there are not enough decent jobs to absorb the up to 20 million young Africans entering the labor market each year. Three-quarters of entrants to the labor market are self-employed or work in microenterprises, and less than 5% will find a formal wage-paying job. Equipping young Africans with the skills required to meet the growing and fast-evolving demands of the labor market is crucial. Secondary education, in particular, will be critical in preparing young Africans to earn a decent living.
Our Youth Employment and Skills (YES) programs, initiatives, and research projects help African countries create an enabling environment for developing youth skills to meet current and future job demands. Our work supports governments in identifying sectors with the capacity for rapid job creation and helps them to improve the ease of doing business to attract more investment. We also engage African youth on economic policy by facilitating dialogues between young people and policymakers in partnership with youth organizations.
Key Contacts
Mona Iddrisu
Programs
YES Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT) Chapter
The YES PACT Chapter will help countries across Africa identify common problems and challenges faced in Youth Employment and Skills and identify examples of best practices in one or more countries to be shared.
Featured Reports & Studies
Two studies of young women’s employment challenges in Ghana and Senegal conducted by ACET in 2020 map the barriers and enabling factors faced by young women in the world of […]
Senegal has made the empowerment of women an essential pillar of the Plan Senegal Emergent, the unifying framework of public policy. The study covers three sectors: agriculture, tourism and hospitality, and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Young women in Ghana face significant barriers in the world of work due to social prejudices, a lack of access to the right education and resources, limited opportunities for career advancement, unfavorable workplace conditions, and ineffective government policies. This study maps employment challenges through the life stories from childhood, education history, and career paths of young...
This multi-country study Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Ready Workforce builds on findings of the Mastercard Foundation report Secondary Education in Africa: Preparing the Youth for the Future of Work to map progress in strengthening secondary education systems to deliver a workforce prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Featured Insights & Ideas
Upcoming Events
Past Events
Policy Learning Event: Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Ready Workforce
Policy Learning Event: Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Ready Workforce
The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) is hosting a policy learning forum as part of the Youth, Employment and Skills (YES) Program, which is supported by the Mastercard Foundation.
Validation Workshop – YES: Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Ready Workforce , Niger country report
Validation Workshop – YES: Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Ready Workforce , Niger country report
The African Center for Economic Transformation will hold a country validation workshop in Niger on November 10. The workshop will bring together over 50 key stakeholders to discuss ACET's ongoing study on "Strengthening Education and Learning Systems to Deliver a 4IR-Re...
Commentary
Education must be a crisis priority, not an afterthought
Rather than overlooking education in recovery spending, governments should be targeting education, particularly secondary education, to tackle lingering challenges that predate the pandemic but pose significant long-term implications for the continent.
COVID-19 Secondary Education