From November 6 to 11, Rwanda is hosting the YouthConnekt Africa Summit 2024 under the theme, ‘Jobs for Youth through Innovative Skilling.’
This event seeks to deepen engagement in advancing youth employment opportunities by exploring strategies for equipping young people with future-ready skills and examining how scalable skilling initiatives can be implemented across the continent.
The summit will spotlight several core areas, including:
Digital Skilling and Technology Innovation
The role of digital skills and technology in empowering African youth, fostering innovation, and creating new job opportunities in sectors such as ICT, ecommerce, and digital entrepreneurship.
Education-to-Employment Transitions
Exploring solutions to the challenges of bridging the gap between education and employment in Africa, including reforms in the education system, promoting lifelong learning, and strengthening partnerships between educational institutions and the private sector.
Also important to engage in the need for innovative and market-relevant vocational training and apprenticeship programs to equip young people with practical skills and competencies for employment in key sectors such as manufacturing, construction, and agribusiness.
Reimagining Africa’s Creative Economy and Sports Industries
A recent report by UNCTAD revealed that Africa’s share of the global creative economy is around 1.5%, generating 2 million jobs – 5% of global cultural and creative industries jobs.
Africa is ranked as 5th marketplace, or consumer of the global creative economy. Further to this – The export of creative goods from Africa increased by 4% between 2010 and 2020.
Entrepreneurship, Small Business Development and Access to Finance
African markets are significantly driven by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises. Recent data estimates that 300 million Africans are employed in the informal sector, and we can count up to 44 million MSMES in Sub-Saharan Africa. To grow from informal to formal, from MSME to Enterprises requires intentional investments targeted at these African-led businesses.
Under this track, we seek to engage the potential of entrepreneurship as a driver of economic growth and job creation in Africa, with a focus on supporting youth-led start-ups, fostering an enabling business environment, and promoting access to finance and markets. We will hold a Buy from Africa Marketplace showcasing products and services of youth-led enterprises from across the continent.
Youth in Agri-food Systems
Agriculture continues to be a key economic sector on the continent, however, it is significantly characterised by smallholder subsistence production. Given the lack of opportunities for growth in the sector, studies indicate that agriculture has been left to the older generation – the average age of a farmer being 65.
How can we leverage technology and the right set of support – incentives and subsidies to transform agriculture into a productive and attractive prospect for youth?
Youth Mental, Sexual and Reproductive Health
Africa is home to over 500 million young people aged between 18 – 35 years. This dividend has exerted demand for growth in health services addressing the demographic.
YouthConnekt Africa continues to champion open conversations on how we can deliver better services, leveraging technology, youth-led initiatives to bridge the gap in ensuring youth in Africa can make empowering choices for mental and sexual and reproductive health.