AfDB and ILO Launch Youth Jobs and Skills System to Drive Africa's Future

In a bold and strategic move to harness Africa’s demographic potential, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have launched a groundbreaking system designed to embed youth employment, skills development, and entrepreneurship across the Bank’s entire investment portfolio. Dubbed the Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System, the initiative marks a transformative step toward making youth empowerment a measurable and integrated outcome of all AfDB-funded projects.

The system was unveiled as part of the Bank’s operational alignment with its Ten-Year Strategy (2024–2033), which puts Africa’s burgeoning youth population at the heart of the continent’s development agenda.

Tackling a Structural Youth Jobs Crisis

Each year, 10 to 12 million young Africans enter the labour force, yet only three million formal jobs are available—leaving millions either unemployed or trapped in low-productivity, informal employment. This structural mismatch poses a serious threat to economic stability and social cohesion across the continent.

Recognizing this urgency, the AfDB's new Marker System aims to mainstream youth-oriented components into all development sectors—ranging from agriculture and energy to education, transport, water, and beyond. The system represents a paradigm shift from ad-hoc youth programs to systemic inclusion of youth outcomes as a core objective of development investments.

“This is about ensuring Africa’s young people have a real say and active role in building sustainable economies—not as passive recipients, but as drivers of change,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, AfDB Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. “This transformation of Bank practices is a critical step toward ensuring every dollar we invest brings tangible benefits to young women and men.”

A Three-Pronged Focus: Youth, Skills, and Jobs

The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System is structured around three interconnected pillars:

1. Youth: Promotes and funds youth-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by embedding entrepreneurship support into project design and execution. Targeted investments will also enhance access to finance, incubation services, and market entry for young innovators.

2. Skills: Focuses on expanding access to market-driven, industry-relevant training, apprenticeships, and certification programs. The system will promote education that aligns with real labour market needs and priority value chains, ensuring youth are job-ready.

3. Jobs: Ensures that all AfDB-supported projects deliver measurable and sustainable employment outcomes, with a particular focus on youth employability. Projects will be assessed for their job creation potential, with employment impact considered at the planning, implementation, and evaluation stages.

A Data-Driven System Inspired by Gender Equality Success

Modelled after the Bank’s successful Gender Marker System, the Youth Marker introduces a real-time digital dashboard that tracks, rates, and reports on each project’s contribution to youth outcomes. This digital tool enables Bank staff, consultants, and stakeholders to access live data to inform:

• Country strategy papers

• Project design and appraisal

• Mid-term reviews and supervision missions

• Annual reports and performance assessments

By categorizing and scoring projects based on youth relevance, the Bank can ensure its strategies consistently align with Sustainable Development Goal SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.

“This initiative is very important because it allows us to significantly contribute to SDG 8, while also influencing the Bank’s lending to support sustainable job creation,” said Peter van Rooij, Director of Multilateral Partnerships and Development Cooperation at the ILO.

The ILO played a central role in the system’s design, offering technical expertise, while funding came from the Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi Donor Trust Fund—an initiative dedicated to accelerating youth-led growth across Africa.

A Global First in Development Finance

The AfDB’s Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System is the first integrated youth mainstreaming mechanism ever developed by a multilateral development finance institution. By making youth empowerment a cross-cutting priority, the Bank is setting a global benchmark for how institutions can drive inclusive growth through intentional, data-driven investments.

The initiative also reflects the growing recognition that demographics must be transformed into dividends, not liabilities. With over 60% of Africa’s population under 25, the continent’s future depends heavily on how institutions support the transition from education to employment, and from informality to innovation.

Looking Ahead: Youth at the Center of Africa’s Development

The launch of the Marker System signifies a shift from promises to measurable progress. Over the coming decade, the Bank plans to mobilize more private sector partnerships to scale industry-relevant training and create youth employment at scale, especially in green growth, agribusiness, digital economy, and infrastructure sectors.

By integrating youth considerations into its entire investment lifecycle, the AfDB is not only investing in projects—it is investing in people. The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System lays the groundwork for Africa’s largest and youngest generation to become the architects of its economic transformation.