NAIROBI, Kenya – The World Bank Group has launched the Africa Skills for Jobs Policy Academy, a new program designed to help African countries tackle youth unemployment by aligning training systems with market demands.
The four-day forum, being held in Nairobi from September 30 to October 3, 2025, brings together over 250 policymakers, educators, and private sector leaders from 25 African countries.
The initiative, developed in partnership with the Government of Kenya, will focus on joint learning, evidence sharing, and strengthening collaboration between employers and training institutions in high-growth sectors.
Africa faces a mounting employment crisis, with more than 12 million young people entering the job market each year but only 3 million formal jobs available.
Globally, nearly 70% of youth remain unemployed or in low-quality jobs. Experts warn that outdated curricula, underfunded training systems, and weak industry linkages are widening the gap between education and labor market needs.
Mary Porter Peschka, Regional Director for IFC Eastern Africa at the World Bank Group, said Nairobi was a fitting host city for the academy, describing it as “a hub of innovation, entrepreneurship, and talent.”
“Solving the jobs challenge requires collaboration between governments, educators, and the private sector,” she said. “Industry-led training programs have the power to transform lives and communities.”
Kenya’s Principal Secretary for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Esther Thaara Muoria, emphasized that skills training is critical for Africa’s industrialization drive.
“Africa needs to transform its TVET system and make it more responsive, agile, and aligned with the demands of the modern market economy,” she said.
Ndiamé Diop, the World Bank’s Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, said stronger skills systems will determine whether Africa’s growing youth population becomes a driver of prosperity or a source of instability.
“Skills are the bridge to transformation,” he noted. “Economies cannot move from subsistence farming to competitive manufacturing and digital industries without stronger skills systems.”
The academy will convene leaders from ministries of finance, TVET agencies, agribusiness, energy, health, manufacturing, and tourism, alongside World Bank experts in education, social protection, and labor.
It will also explore ways to mobilize financing, scale effective training models, and forge durable public-private partnerships.
