Accelerating the AfDB's Response to the Youth Unemployment Crisis in Africa

The objective of this framework is to propose a joint AU-AFDB-ECA-ILO initiative to support Regional Member Countries (RMCs) to address the growing youth unemployment crisis in Africa. This framework is being developed to: (i) address the Board’s concerns on high unemployment in the continent, particularly among the youth (ii) provide a framework for the upcoming high-level seminar on “youth unemployment and inclusive growth” at the 2011 annual meetings; (iii) propose actions for integrating job creation issues as per the recent review of the Medium-Term Strategy 2008-2012; (iv) Respond to the immediate crisis in youth unemployment and structural needs of labor markets in Africa in light of the recent uprisings in North Africa; (v) develop the analytical underpinnings for current and future operations; (v) Increase AfDB’s collaboration with governments, development partners and the private sector to build capacity and identify country-specific strategies; and (vi) last but not least, elaborate on how the Bank can assist RMCs in harnessing the demographic dividend as a force for sustainable growth and development. This paper takes stock of the current programs and policy responses to the youth unemployment crisis in Africa and proposes a new initiative to address the immediate needs generated by the crisis in the short term as well as the structural needs of the African labor markets in the mid to longer-term.