AfDB Partnerships Forum 2012

1. AfDB Partnerships Forum 2012 Youth Employment in Africa A Brief Overview and the ADB’s Response Stijn Broecke, EDRE2 Amadou B. DIALLO, OSHD1

2. By 2030, nearly a quarter of young people in the world will be African. Source: AfDB calculations based on United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2011). World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, CD-ROM Edition.

3. Although the young constitute around two fifths of the continent’s working age population, they make up three fifths of the total unemployed. Source: AfDB computations

4. Youthunemployment in NorthAfricais the highest in the world. Source: AfDB computations

5. And labour force participation rates in NorthAfrica are among the lowest in the world. Source: AfDB computations

6. Women are particularlydisadvantaged. Source: AfDB computations

7. Female unemployment rates vary considerably across the continent. Source: AfDB computations

8. Low unemployment rates and high participation rates in Sub-Saharan Africa are not necessarily a good news story. Source: AfDB computations

9. Young people in Africa have very low educational attainment compared to other regions in the world. Source: Authors’ calculations based on World Development Indicators 2011.

10. Yet education does not appear to act as an insurance against unemployment. Youth unemployment by level of education (%) Source: AfDB computations

11. Higher education expansion – The case of Tunisia

12. Graduate unemployment – the case of Tunisia

13. Key Findings (i) • There is considerable heterogeneity and complexity in African labour markets, and therefore there is no one-size-fits-all solution to employment issues in African countries. • That said, the young are particularly disadvantaged and deserve special attention. Youth unemployment rates are double adult unemployment rates in most African countries and, in some countries (e.g. South Africa), as many as one in two young people are unemployed. • North Africa and higher income Sub-Saharan African countries have particularly high youth unemployment rates – far exceeding the world average. • In many other African countries, youth unemployment rates appear relatively low by international standards. However, this frequently disguises high rates of vulnerable employment and working poverty.

14. Key Findings (ii) • Women are also disadvantaged. In North Africa, women face higher inactivity and unemployment rates than men. In Sub-Saharan Africa, gender inequalities manifest themselves primarily in the much higher share of women in vulnerable employment and working poverty. • Africa has a very low educational attainment compared to the rest of the world. Unlike in OECD countries, however, education does not appear to act as an insurance against unemployment. Although more research is needed in this area, the evidence points to a segmented labour market and skills mismatches.

15. The Joint Initiative to PromoteYouthEmployment in Africa • Historical Background • The African Development Bank (AfDB), African Union (AU), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the International Labor Organization (ILO) have put in place a joint initiative to boost youth employment in Africa and provide a response to some of the above-mentioned challenges. • The initiative originated from the AfDB’s Board of Directors’ decision at its 2010 Annual Meetings to tackle the growing youth unemployment crisis in the continent. • It is also in line with the commitment made by the African Heads of State at the 17th Ordinary Session of the African Union (Malabo, July 2011), and with the UN Agenda of promoting decent and productive work for young women and men. • Finally, it is aligned with the framework of the Declaration on Employment Promotion and Poverty Alleviation resulting from the African Heads of State Extraordinary Summit (Ouagadougou, September 2004).

16. Rationale for the Joint Initiative • Each of the four partners partaking in the Joint Youth Employment Initiative will focus on areas of intervention in which they have the greatest comparative advantage. • (i) AU has the political legitimization role in line with the Ouagadougou Action Plan, • (ii) AfDB has a mandate of promoting the social and economic development of Africa through technical and financial leverage and strength in preparing and implementing operational interventions, • (iii) ECA has expertise in youth employment policy advocacy within the framework of sound macroeconomic analysis • (iv) ILO has specific mandate, expertise and experience promoting decent work through labor, employment and social protection issues as described in the Decent Work Agenda.

17. Vision, Scope and Coverage • Scope • The Initiative is a long-term partnership (2011-2050) with sub-division into phases (every 5 years), each to be reviewed/ evaluated.   • Objectives • Development objective: Creation of jobs (quantity, quality, sustainability)/reduction of youth unemployment and under employment, benefiting from the demographic dividend. • Immediate objective: About increased efficiency and effectiveness of youth employment efforts, facilitating implementation of existing plans. • Coverage • The whole African continent. However, for the beginning, 10 pilot countries will be selected for the next 3 to 5 years.

18. Fundamental aspects of the approach: • - Place the Joint Initiative within context of existing frameworks, efforts (Ouagadougou 2004, Malabo 2011, CAADP, national policies and institutions, other initiatives by same and other institutions, etc.) • - Coordinate, harmonize, align, create synergies (among all actors) • - Learn from past experience of all actors (evaluations, assessments, etc.) • - Build on complementarity of the four institutions, utilizing comparative advantages • Emphasis on creating evidence base for policies, interventions (statistics, research) • Interventions to be based on thorough diagnostics, analysis, dialogue with all relevant actors (including private sector, youth) in each country, sub-region • Interventions to be well monitored and evaluated

19. Areas of Intervention • Main areas of interventions: • Knowledge production and sharing • Policy-level interventions, advocacy, resource mobilization • Direct interventions (“field-level”), institutional capacity building • Focus on inclusive growth • Organizational issues • Each institution has appointed dedicated person to be full-time working on the joint initiative. The Bank has selected 2 senior economists. • Secretariat • The four partners also agreed on having a permanent joint secretariat for better coordination and synergy. • MOU • The partners will formalize the partnership by signing an MOU • Active engagement of the private sector and youth should be ensured. •  .

20. Achieveme nts to Date (1) • Support for advocacy for the initiative of youth employment – shape the Bank’s Action Plan under the initiative and campaign for broad awareness and supportive incentive from various stakeholders • - respond selectively to requests according to the comparative advantage of the requesting development agencies and the RMCs • - meetings with youths associations • - side-events to international events, • - discussions with Governments during missions, • - link with other initiatives such as the Global Facility for Employment Generation In Fragile and Conflict Affected states (FCS) • - link to the AfDB’s HD strategy (NEMA, HEST, etc.) • - etc.

21. Achieveme nts to Date (2) • Support for knowledge production and knowledge sharing – build knowledge platform for the RMCs by mapping youth employment scenario and intervention tools and instruments. • - Contribute to the research and statistical capacity building in collaboration with EDRE and ESTA • - Co-author of the background paper for the AEO 2012 on youth employment in Africa along with in-depth country analysis (15 countries analyzed) • - Project of a Pan African Observatory on Youth employment

22. Achieveme nts to Date (3) • Collaboration within- and across- institutions based on country need assessment and institutions’ comparative advantage – identify and implement operations with sustainable employment promotion capacity in cross-cutting fields. • The Bank and its partners has identified the following aspects to extend further support for RMCs through policy dialogue, project and program implementation, and resource mobilization to maximize joint effort with various stakeholders: • Assistance for shaping country policies and strategies for promoting employment and job creation; • Entrepreneurship cultivation for the youth; • Enhancing employability of the youth through rebuilding education system and improving education quality to match the gap between demand and supply of skill-set; • Identify and implement job creation projects and programs with Bank-wide efforts; • Coordination and mapping through institutional cooperation with governments and with development partners; • Resource mobilization for supporting the initiative’s strategy development and pilot implementation. • Investment in green jobs and new areas (culture, artisanship, social business, tourism, etc.).

23. Ways forward • The actions proposed in this joint Initiative are meant to provide a framework and guiding principles for an informed and effective support in the design, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs promoting productive and job-rich growth for youth. The expected outcomes are to • (i) Assign centrality to youth employment in national development frameworks through assistance to member countries to implement National Policies of Youth Employment and research and analysis on key issues affecting the integration of youth in labor markets in Africa; (ii) Improve livelihoods and employability of Africa’s youths through matching structures, processes, contents, and approaches of education systems, especially in higher education, with the needs and requirements of labor markets of formal and informal economies; • (iii) Sustainable political leadership and technical capacity established for achieving results on youth employment promotion through upgrading the knowledge base for policy decisions on employment at country and regional levels. 

24. Action Plan • Mainstreaming Youth Employment into the Bank’s strategies and Operations • - Evaluation of Job Creation outcomes of ADB operations  • - Policy Level Intervention • - Pilot Projects and Programmes • Knowledge Production on Youth Employment • - Establishing Labor Market Information Systems • - Economic Sector Work • - Mapping Exercise of Youth Employment Initiatives in Africa • - Regional Observatories on Skills and Employment • - Training • - Pure research for theoretical and evidence-based knowledge.

25. Advocacy   • Website and Blog • Meetings, Conference and Events (side-events, Youth talent day, etc.) • Partnership and Coordination Secretariat • Resource Mobilization  • Communication

26. Budget Budget 2012-2013 (AfDB) 26

27. Persons to Contact • Amadou B. DIALLO, PhD • Senior Economist, OSHD1 • A.b.diallo@afdb.org; +21671101789 • Stijn Broecke

28. Thank you www.afdb.org www.afdb.org/aec www.africaneconomicoutlook.org