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What African youth want from human capital summit
What you need to know:
- African Heads of States Summit on human capital will focus on the importance of investing in people as a core driver of productivity, resilience and growth
Dar es Salaam. The youth from different African countries yesterday called on governments to advocate issues of innovative educational solutions, promote gender equality and social innovation for inclusion.
They also urged governments to promote climate sensitive employment, engagement in healthcare outreach and awareness, data and research, strengthening financing as well as advocating and engagement in policy formulation.
The youth made the call at Tanzania’s business capital-Dar es Salam ahead of the African Heads of State Summit on human capital commencing today.
The summit is organised by the Government of Tanzania and the World Bank.
“Being the passionate and determined youth of Africa, we call upon your leadership to address critical issues, where we see boundless opportunities for positive change and progress on our continent,” said Kenya’s Epuka Ugaidi CEO, Ms Mary Ododa.
Ms Ododa was addressing journalists and the African youth during the African Heads of State Summit youth and human capital side event.
Speaking during the event, a representative from Zambia Media Network and Children and Development, Mr Like Musowe said the youth in the continent were facing similar challenges.
He said that raises the importance of collaborations to foster networking and partnerships that will create platforms for the youth to actively participate in regional and international networks.
“We are asking for your support in connecting the African youth with our peers worldwide in order to share experiences, best practices, and collectively advance human capital development,” he said.
He noted that advocating for data and research as well as emphasising the importance of data-driven decision-making in shaping policies and programs that will strengthen the youth and human capital.
Mr Musowe said investing in data collection, analysis, and dissemination will empower evidence-based policymaking, enabling targeted and effective interventions to address pressing challenges.
World Bank country director Nathan Belete said the summit will focus on the importance of investing in people as a core driver of productivity, resilience and growth as well as raising awareness of the potential opportunities from the changing demographics in the region.
He noted that there is an urgent need to focus on learning and skills as key drivers of productivity that will generate demographic dividend and position human capital development as a sector priority.
“We anticipate the Summit will also elicit commitments to two to three tangible financial and policy measures and prioritize investments in people from each participating country,” he said.
“It will reinforce ownership of the human capital agenda by the region as one of the priority areas of sustainable development under the Agenda 2063 of the African Union,” he added.
Save the Children country director, Ms Angela Kauleni, said the organization concurs with the voice of the youth to African leaders to commit to human capital investment.
This entails increased financial resources, robust policy frameworks, prioritizing on education, health, youth empowerment and partnerships that foster collaboration, resource mobilization, knowledge sharing and technical support, according to her.
“We urge for the implementation of inclusive policies that promote education, health, and employment opportunities for all, particularly marginalized and vulnerable populations,” she said.
Furthermore, she said youth engagement and participation in decision-making processes should be at the forefront, as their voices are indispensable in shaping Africa’s trajectory.
The summit started yesterday with the first session that brought together experts to discuss the need to draw attention to the role of human capital in economic growth and elevate the discussion on the importance of investing in people.
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Finance, Dr Natu Mwamba, said until yesterday, leaders of 30 countries have confirmed participation including presidents, vice presidents, prime ministers, deputy prime ministers and ministers.
She said a total of 80 ministers had confirmed to participate in the meeting that will be concluded tomorrow.
“We have determined to invest in human capital. We need to be competitive in the labour market. And for this to happen, we must have in place enabling policies,” said Dr Mwamba.
She said out of 1.2 billion people in Africa, 60 percent are youth of age 25, noting that for them to be productive, they are supposed to be healthy, and prerequisite skills.
