AfDB to hold dialogue on Africa’s youth employment

A high level policy dialogue seminar on youth employment in Africa will be held in Lusaka, Zambia this July, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group said in a press statement June 26, 2012.

The seminar will focus on the challenges and opportunities faced by countries in the Southern Africa region – Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Zambia, according to the Bank.

The AfDB said together with the African Union (AU), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the International Labour Organization (ILO), it recently set up a joint initiative to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of youth employment efforts and facilitate the implementation of existing plans, with the long-term objective of boosting youth employment in Africa and providing a response to these challenges.

Africa has the youngest population in the world and, by 2030 nearly one in four young people will be African which according to the AfDB presents the continent with an enormous opportunity “but it could also present a significant risk and substantial threat to social cohesion and political stability if policymakers fail to create sustainable livelihoods for this group”.

By Pascal Kelvin Kudiabor