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The African Development Bank (AfDB), in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), has launched a new framework to ensure every investment across sectors in the continent, contributes to enhancing market-relevant skills, employment and entrepreneurship for youths.
The framework, called the Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System aligns with the AfDB’s newly unveiled Ten-Year Strategy, and places Africa’s growing youth population at the heart of its development agenda.
It stipulates that investments across agriculture, transport, energy, water, or education, must contribute to empowering the youths, which makes it the first time a development finance institution has introduced a dedicated tool to systematically integrate youth employment and skills development into its core operations.
This move is set to foster industry-relevant training and job creation over the next decade.
Jose Manuel Romero, an economist with the World Bank’s Jobs Group, emphasised the importance of viewing major development interventions, such as roads, infrastructure, electricity, and access to finance through the lens of job creation.
He noted that incorporating this perspective could significantly enhance the impact of such projects, particularly given the scale at which they are being implemented.
“If you introduce a jobs marker, it may be very helpful to zoom in on this topic better and also to maximise the jobs impact of the operations that you’re supporting”, he said.
AfDB rationale to prioritise youth entrepreneurship, is stemmed from the fact that an estimated 10 to 12 million young Africans are entering the labour market annually against a backdrop of just three million formal job opening.
Dr. Beth Dunford, vice president for agriculture, human and social development at the bank, remarked, “This is about giving Africa’s youth a genuine voice and role in shaping sustainable economies not merely as beneficiaries of programmes, but as active participants and drivers of change.”
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Three pillars of impact
The integrated system focuses on three core areas which are:
Youth: Supporting youth-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises through targeted investment and operational integration.
Skills: Broadening access to practical, market-driven training and apprenticeships to improve career readiness.
Jobs: Ensuring that AfDB-funded projects generate sustainable employment, particularly by developing skills aligned with priority value chains and promoting youth-led businesses.
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Digital tools and data-driven decision making
The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System, which is modelled on the success of the Bank’s Gender Marker System, will include an online dashboard designed to give staff and consultants access to real-time data. This digital platform will support the preparation of country strategy papers, mid-term reviews, annual reports, and project supervision, while also monitoring outcomes related to youth employment, skills development, and entrepreneurship.
In addition, the system is expected to improve data collection, provide more accurate estimates of youth skills attainment and employment, and strengthen labour market information systems. In turn, this will enable policymakers to make evidence-based decisions that lead to meaningful and lasting change.
A pilot version of the system has already been introduced, with full implementation planned for 2026.#
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Expert perspectives on youth employment and skills development in Africa
The initiative highlights the urgent need to address labour market challenges across Africa, and the potential of targeted, large-scale interventions to drive meaningful change.
Key figures at ILO have underscored the importance of aligning development finance with job creation, to the need for clear indicators and harmonised approaches. They have highlighted the transformative potential of integrating a youth employment lens into infrastructure, finance, and policy planning.
According to Peter van Rooji, director of multilateral partnerships and development cooperation, ILO, “The skills and job market that the ILO is developing with the ADB is very important for two reasons. One, it allows us at scale to significantly contribute to the achievement of the United Nations sustainable development goal number 8, that includes decent work for all. Two, it allows us to influence their work, to make sure their lending is geared towards more job creation and better jobs in a sustainable way”.
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