African Leadership Forum
On the Theme: Realising Sustainable Development Goals
in Africa – Progress and the Way Forward
Opening Remarks by
Mr. Antonio Pedro
Deputy Executive Secretary (Programme Support)
7 April 2025
Kampala, Uganda
Your Excellencies,
Former Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished Leaders and Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour to join you at this year’s African Leadership Forum. I bring warm greetings on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Claver Gatete.
As we gather today, our task is both urgent and clear. We are called not merely to reflect on the Sustainable Development Goals, but to reassert Africa’s leadership in delivering them. And at the core of this ambition lies a simple, resolute truth: Africa’s future depends on our ability to generate sustainable and inclusive growth that creates decent jobs for all.
With over 10 to 12 million young Africans entering the workforce annually, but only around 3 million formal jobs created each year, the gap is vast and growing. Meanwhile, more than 76 million young people across the continent remain neither in employment, education nor training. These figures speak to a systemic failure—one that demands a systemic response.
Unemployment, particularly among youth, is not merely an economic concern. It is a threat to peace, to social cohesion, and ultimately to the legitimacy of our development model. Without jobs, hope fades. Without hope, stability weakens. And without stability, development becomes impossible.
By contrast, when we place jobs at the center of our policy agendas—when we make employment creation not a byproduct of growth but its primary driver—we pave the way for inclusive prosperity, political stability, and economic transformation.
Realising this vision requires leadership—at all levels and across all sectors. Governments must champion policies that expand access to education, infrastructure, digital connectivity, and clean energy—especially for underserved communities. The private sector must invest not only in profit but in purpose. And civil society must be empowered to hold all actors accountable for delivering real, measurable progress.
This moment calls for a new social compact, one rooted in dignity, inclusion, and shared opportunity. We must ensure that women and youth—who are often sidelined—are placed at the heart of labour markets, enterprise development, and policy design. Empowering them is not charity—it is a necessity.
Africa cannot achieve its ambitions by relying solely on the export of raw commodities. Structural transformation must be accelerated. We must shift from resource extraction to value addition, from fragmentation to integration, from vulnerability to resilience.
This is why the work underway between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to establish a transboundary Special Economic Zone for electric vehicle batteries is so critical. It exemplifies how Africa can turn its mineral wealth—cobalt, lithium, manganese—into a source of regional industrialisation and global competitiveness.
Similarly, through the African Continental Free Trade Area, we have an unprecedented opportunity to scale our industries, deepen value chains, and strengthen intra-African trade. ECA analysis shows that reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers within the AfCFTA could boost intra-African trade by 45% by 2045, especially in agro-processing and industrial goods.
Yet integration must not remain an abstract aspiration. It must be operationalised—through investment in transport corridors, harmonisation of standards, and the ratification of pending AfCFTA protocols, particularly on free movement, competition, and investment.
Transformation also depends on people. Yet our education systems too often remain disconnected from the realities of the labour market. Across Africa, over 80% of young students aspire to work in high-skilled sectors—yet only 8% ever do. We must urgently realign education and training with current and future labour market demands.
This includes expanding vocational and technical training, fostering public-private partnerships in science and technology, and embedding entrepreneurship and digital literacy into core curricula. ECA’s work with universities and partners through initiatives like the Origin Research and Innovation Hubs and the Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa aims to catalyse a generation of problem-solvers, inventors, and job creators.
These efforts must be scaled. We need Centres of Excellence in STEM, AI, and cybersecurity across subregions, building on emerging successes in countries like Kenya, Togo, and the Congo.
Emerging technologies—AI, quantum computing, robotics—offer Africa the chance to leapfrog outdated models of development. We must embrace these frontiers not as distant futures, but as urgent priorities. The global AI market alone is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2030, yet Africa currently holds just 1% of that market.
Beyond the digital, we must also recognize the vast, underutilised potential of the care economy. In a world with a rapidly aging population, Africa has a unique comparative advantage: a young, energetic labour force capable of delivering high-impact services in health, early childhood education, and elder care.
Investments in community health systems, early learning centres, and long-term care infrastructure will not only address vital social needs—they will also create millions of jobs, especially for women. Countries like Rwanda and Ghana are already pioneering integrated models that link healthcare delivery with entrepreneurship and skills development.
But as we strive to grow and transform, we must also be clear-eyed about the external constraints we face.
The rise of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks—though well-intentioned—often imposes expectations and costs that do not align with Africa’s development context. Complex certification requirements, inconsistent standards, and North-centric definitions of sustainability risk excluding African producers from global markets.
Indeed, research shows that while ESG improvements can boost growth in high-income countries, the effect is far weaker in nations that rely on natural resources or lack the infrastructure to comply.
Africa needs a recalibrated ESG model—one that promotes energy access, food security, and job creation alongside environmental stewardship. ESG should not be a barrier—it should be an enabler. That means developing African-led sustainability frameworks and carbon credit registries, as ECA has begun to support in countries like Ghana.
Distinguished participants,
We are not short of declarations. What we need now is implementation—with urgency, with scale, and with courage.
Let us deepen partnerships that work. Let us dismantle silos that divide. Let us invest not just in physical infrastructure, but in people—in teachers, nurses, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
We must reimagine the role of leadership—not just as custodians of policy, but as architects of transformation. Leadership that is bold in ambition, grounded in evidence, and relentless in delivery.
Africa does not need charity. Africa needs access—access to technology, finance, fair trade, and opportunity. And it needs leadership committed to unleashing the full potential of its people.
Let this forum be more than a conversation. Let it be a turning point. A moment where we commit to building an Africa that is not only rising—but leading.
I thank you.