AFRICA’S GREATEST ASSET: OUR YOUNG PEOPLE



Young people indisputably play a key role in nation building. Africa’s population is predominantly a young one, with 6 out of 10 people under the age of 25, which confers the continent with a potential significant competitive advantage when it comes to global workforce in comparison with more developed, and aging, parts of the world.

However, young people on the continent are not being put in a position to actively participate in sustainable development. Lack of access to education and high unemployment rates still hinder young people’s ability to turn their dreams into reality. These very issues are at the root cause of the brain drain phenomenon, which has been dispossessing the continent of its young and brightest.

The time has come, and is long overdue, to not only think practically about how best to empower young people across the continent, but also to implement solutions to endemic issues they are facing. Here again, public and private actors must work in tandem to ensure that tangible initiatives are put in place and that they produce the desired results.

Young people must be an integral part of the regional strategy to drive about sustainable socio-economic development that the continent is in dire need of. Because living in Africa today is different to what it was for older generations, we need younger voices to express the needs and aspirations of this up and coming generation – and their voices must be heard and taken into account.

In my latest blog, I discuss the importance of putting young people at the centre of Africa’s development strategy. I examine the challenges young people face when it comes to achieving their dreams and what can be done to remedy them. To find out more, please visit: https://dryayamoussa.medium.com/africas-greatest-asset-our-young-people-37683b4291ef

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