By Mary Mwendwa
African Development Bank plans to invest in 420 million youth who are unemployed by tapping into their human capital through various interventions that are geared towards skilled labour development.
In Kenya, for example, thousands of youth graduate every year from various universities both public and private ready to venture into the job market which has shrunk over time.
Paul Kimani is a graduate of environmental science from one of the public universities in Nairobi.He narrates his odeal after five years of hunting for a job without any success.
“I graduated from campus five year s ago with high expectations to get a job in any of the environmental institutions in Kenya. I have sent so many applications until I have lost count of how many I have sent. Iam living with a brother here in Nairobi who runs a shop so I help him with his business. Life is not easy because even my age mates are in the same problems. It is just difficult to get formal employment right now. We hope things will change or otherwise young people like me are set to languish in poverty.
Paul is just one example of how things look like for young graduates in many of the African countries. Their parents struggle to educate them and after graduation the sad reality hits them. No jobs and if they are there , somehow connections of who is known in power take their place.
According to Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina, President, African Development Bank,”Youth unemployment is one of the biggest challenges facing African nations in the recent years despite economic growth trends being experienced in some countries.
One out of six young people in Africa are in wage employment some of which are in very vulnerable types of employment. As a Bank we have come up with five major areas of support that would see the bank inject 15 billion dollars in Africa in the next five years. Areas of support among youth which we will be targeting are ICT and agriculture. These areas have opportunities for youth , they just need proper systems and financing to make them lucrative for the youth to benefit in terms of employment.”
Through Innovation, the Bank will create new flagship programs in agriculture, industrialization and ICT as well as an innovation lab that will test, assess, and scale promising solutions to accelerate job creation in Africa. These projects are geared towards addressing youth employment and the Bank will provide financial support to enable retail Management systems (RMCs) to pursue policies and regulatory actions favorable to youth employment and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Akinwumi was speaking during the sixth TICAD side event where he emphasized these areas of support ;Light up and power Africa,Feed Africa, industrialize Africa,intergrate Africa and improve quality of life. He further noted that Africa had huge potential in oil and green energy projects that if well utilized will transform the continent at large.
Climate change is one of the threats facing many African nations due its effects and therefore the bank will look in areas where farmers would be helped in coping with the shocks that come as a result.
It is said that on average Africa’s industry generates merely 700 USD of GDP per capita where this industrial GDP influences the overall as industrial productivity drives productivity in other sectors.
