Genesis dedicates decade to future of young Africans

Many see this youth wave as a crisis; we believe that misses the point. This is a historic opportunity. The demographic dividend is a once-in-a-century opportunity to dramatically raise living standards and change the course of the region. For this demographic dividend to work, we need a sharp reduction in fertility following the youth bulge and to effectively absorb young people in productive employment to build human capital and upgrade the climate for business.

We have dedicated this decade to the future of young Africans who will build their lives in a hyper-technical world while managing the impact of climate change. Mindful of that, we have adopted a framework for understanding the youth-development ecosystem in Africa, which will guide our thinking and work over the next 10 years.

Young people must be equipped to engage in, and benefit from, a fast-changing world of work through human capital development. This starts at the inception of a young person’s life with family planning, maternal and child health, and early childhood development over the child’s first one thousand days. It extends to a young person’s journey into the world of work with the cognitive skills acquired through basic education and the applied skills acquired through secondary, tertiary or technical and vocational education. Cutting across all of this is a young person's access to social capital and agency to support them through this journey.

It is critical that this improvement in human capital development be matched by an increased demand for young people’s labour through job creation. In most African markets, agriculture will continue to be the main employer of young people, followed by informal enterprises and then formal wage labour. All three of these sources of job creation must be supported by two critical factors: trade transmission, the process through which enterprises of all types can access customer markets, and investment drivers that improve the business environment so that African enterprises can grow.

These dual processes of human capital development and job creation do not occur independently. They interact with one another dynamically. There are a number of linkages that can facilitate this interaction. Young people have to navigate the transitions from home or school to the workplace, and the sexual transitions from adolescence to adulthood. The attitudes, values and perceptions of young people have a tangible impact on these transitions. In addition, supporting young people through networking, job matching and mentorship helps to address the information asymmetries that prevent young people and employers from connecting.

All of these processes must be supported by a number of cross-cutting enablers. Sound governance is critical for creating an enabling environment for human capital development, job creation and linkages. Hard infrastructure such as energy, water, telecommunications and transport as well as soft infrastructure such as public service delivery are equally critical enablers. Connectivity and the distribution of information are necessary in the digital age. Finance is required across all elements to fund activities and mitigate risk. Social cohesion is essential for stable societies to function peacefully. And across all of these, addressing the persistent gender gap in Africa is necessary for these factors to have meaning in the lives of young women.

In addition to the cross-cutting enablers, there are also disruptors that reshape this ecosystem radically. These disruptors present both challenges and opportunities that need to be managed carefully. Climate change places additional pressure on healthcare and impacts production in every source of job creation. It shapes new types of policy and regulation, and reprioritises optimal infrastructure options.

The fourth industrial revolution is ushering in a new era of technological innovation that is radically transforming how goods and services are produced and consumed. This offers new pathways for inclusive growth, but requires carefully considered policy and financing to ensure that everyone can access the digital economy. And conflict presents a unique set of risks and constraints in fragile states and countries prone to terrorism, with significant implications on forcibly displaced people.

Youth wave meets tech revolution. And Africa writes a new chapter