Equipping Zambia’s youth with employability skills

UNICEF Zambia, alongside the Zambian government, partnered with Genesis to undertake a thorough landscape analysis focused on skills development and career education geared towards employability and entrepreneurship for the nation’s youth.

Equipping young people with employability skills has the potential to not only uplift individuals but also propel entire nations towards their development goals. This belief aligns with Zambia’s Vision 2030, which hinges on the cultivation of quality human capital to drive sustainable development.

Zambia stands at a critical juncture characterised by a significant “youth bulge”. However, this demographic potential remains largely untapped due to critical gaps in access to secondary education and relevant skills training. These gaps hamper young Zambians’ ability to achieve personal goals and contribute meaningfully to society.

Our methodology combined robust desktop research with dynamic qualitative inputs from key informant interviews and focus group discussions involving the youth themselves. This mixed-method approach ensured a holistic view of the existing educational and skills development landscape. By engaging directly with young people and stakeholders, we gained first-hand insights into the challenges, triumphs and aspirations unique to Zambia's youth. This inclusive strategy helped to identify effective partnerships and initiatives, highlight significant progress, and pinpoint critical areas where interventions need strengthening or scaling up.

The insights derived from our analysis were not merely academic; they were practical, actionable and tailored to align closely with both the labour market’s evolving demands and the aspirations of young people. The ultimate goal was to inform the development of a national framework that guides the implementation of initiatives and programmes that are not only responsive but also sustainable. This framework aims to be a blueprint for strategic action, designed to integrate educational outcomes with labour market needs, thereby ensuring that Zambia’s youth are equipped, empowered and motivated to take on the world.