Addis Ababa, 28 January 2021 - According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), the youth account for 60% of all unemployed Africans. As gloomy as the situation may look, it seems there is hope at the end of the tunnel through the game-changing African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The pact has ignited hope that this statistic can be altered and skewed positively towards the economic progression of the young people on the continent.
To better understand the extent of the challenge of unemployment on the continent, the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) launched the PIDA Job Creation Toolkit during the 5th PIDA Week held in Egypt, Cairo, in 2019. The PIDA Job Creation Toolkit is an innovative tool for tracking the impact of regional infrastructure development projects on the African labour market.
AUDA-NEPAD has since published two PIDA Jobs Outlook reports, with the latest report launched during the just-ended virtual 6th PIDA Week during a plenary session titled “Shining the spotlight on job creation through Corridor development”. Honorable Ebrahim Patel, South Africa’s Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, led the discourse by placing emphasis on the interdependence between infrastructure development and regional economic development to enable and facilitate the AfCFTA. In his opening address, Minister Patel cited that “trade and infrastructure development are dependent on infrastructure investment. Economic activities such as driving the production of more goods, require infrastructure. Particularly the ‘big four’, namely electricity, transport and logistics, communication technology and water…Infrastructure development is critical for the future of the continent.”
Following the minister’s address, Dr. Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Economic Integration Division, AUDA-NEPAD; Dr. Bernice MacLean, Industrialization Division, AUDA-NEPAD and Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song, ILO took center stage for the panel discussion, deliberating the 2nd PIDA Jobs Outlook, Industrialization and Job Creation, Optimizing employment outcomes from infrastructure investment, respectively.
Providing an overview of the Job Creation toolkit, Dr. Nyirenda-Jere noted that the tool has the following functionalities:
- Estimating the number of jobs created by the infrastructure project during its life cycle from project preparation to commissioning;
- Maximising jobs by suggesting steps to be taken such as skills developments and policy inclusivity to create secondary jobs resulting from anticipated improved infrastructure services;
- Building scenarios for job creation in infrastructure projects through features such as suggesting female suppliers for procurement needs in the supply chain in support of SDG 5- Gender, as Africa has a female entrepreneurship rate of only 27% and;
- Providing Case studies to serve as a reference for users for the toolkit.
While there has been a slow pace in the implementation of infrastructure projects on the continent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the toolkit continues to offer relevant and valuable information to assist in determining the potential number of direct and indirect jobs that infrastructure projects would generate in their lifecycle. This toolkit could also be used by governments in estimating jobs to be created to stimulate their economies post- COVID-19.
Alluding to the strong interdependence between infrastructure and regional economic development to enable and facilitate regional trade, Dr. Nyirenda-Jere said; “Infrastructure should be developed to act as a catalyst for other economic opportunities such as the AfCFTA.”
Weighing in on the discussion, Dr. MacLean further articulated the importance of the interdependence between AfCTA and industrialization on the continent. According to Dr. MacLean, “An integrated multi-sectoral approach is needed with targeted investment in skills development and training to catalyze the African expertise and know-how that will boost entrepreneurship and employment opportunities and local industrialization and trade over the long-term.” Concluding her remarks, Dr. MacLean said; “By 2020, Africa will have the largest workforce in the world. Our youth possess the resilience, innovation and tech-savviness required to drive the implementation of Africa’s ambitions leveraging from the digital age.”
Wrapping up the panel discussion, Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song, cited the significant uses of the PIDA Jobs Toolkit, and the role it can play in the AUDA-NEPAD and ILO partnership in collaborating to deliver the ILO Employment Impact Assessments. According to Lieuw-Kie-Song “Employment Impact Assessments, can provide important qualitative dimensions such as the average wage, which is a ratio of wage to national average or national median or construction sector average.” Lieuw-Kie-Song concluded by concretizing that job creation remains an imperative in Africa and optimistically articulating ILO’s support of the PIDA strategy to stimulate investment in infrastructure on the continent.