African Development Bank Launches Transformative System for Mainstreaming Youth Employment and Skills Development

The African Development Bank has partnered with the International Labour Organization to launch a groundbreaking system to prioritize youth employment, skills development, and entrepreneurship across its investments. The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System is an integral part of the Bank's Ten-Year Strategy, which places Africa's young people at the center of development efforts to maximize the impact of every dollar invested. The system aims to ensure that Bank-funded projects systematically incorporate components that enhance youth employability, foster entrepreneurship, and build market-relevant skills.

Key Takeaways:

• The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System has three focus areas: Youth, Skills, and Jobs, with a focus on supporting youth-led businesses, expanding access to market-driven training and apprenticeships, and creating sustainable job opportunities.
• The system is designed to track data on youth-related skills, businesses, and jobs outcomes, improving estimates of youth skills attainment and employment, and strengthening labor market information systems.
• The Bank will prioritize youth entrepreneurship and mobilize private sector partnerships to strengthen industry-oriented skills training and job creation over the coming decade.
• The system is modeled on the success of the Bank's Gender Marker System and its online dashboard, which categorize Bank projects based on their contribution to gender equality and women's empowerment.
• The Bank has launched a pilot version of the Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System, which will be implemented in full in 2026 with technical support from the International Labour Organization and financial support from the Bank's Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
• The system is expected to enhance data tracking, improve estimates of youth skills attainment and employment, strengthen labor market information systems, and support policymakers in making evidence-based decisions.

Statistics:

• 10-12 million young Africans enter the labor market annually, with only 3 million formal jobs available annually.
• The Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System will prioritize youth entrepreneurship and mobilize private sector partnerships to strengthen industry-oriented skills training and job creation over the coming decade.
• The system is modeled on the success of the Bank's Gender Marker System, which has been used to categorize Bank projects based on their contribution to gender equality and women's empowerment.

Sources:

• African Development Bank. (n.d.). Youth, Jobs and Skills Marker System. Retrieved from
• International Labour Organization. (n.d.). Multilateral Partnerships and Development Cooperation. Retrieved from