ForewordA

QUALITY OF LIFE

Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina
President,
African Development Bank

frica’s population could top
1.6 billion by 2030, with nearly
70% of its people able to work.
The youth population is also growing
rapidly and is expected to double
to more than 830 million by 2050.
For the continent to reap the mostprofitable and plentiful dividend of thisdemographic growth, African youth andwomen must be capable of doing thejobs that will become available; theymust be equipped with employableskills and be trained to master the manydifferent tasks, responsibilities androles that Africa’s modernisation andindustrialisation will engender.

improving the quality of daily life athome, at leisure and at work, such as
electrical and mechanical engineering,plumbing, tiling, roofing, carpentry,
cooking, fashion design, sewing anddressmaking, and various community
activities, interests and hobbies.
The Bank has supported humancapital development priorities for overthree decades. The approach has
been characterised by value for money
in service delivery, high productivity
and sharp competitiveness throughjob creation, modernisation and skills
development. It has also promoted
an enabling regulatory and policy
environment for inclusive growth and,above all, the encouragement of good
governance, peace and stability incommunities and nations.

But skilled and trained people needalso the benefits of social services
and facilities for them to realise
their full potential. They must haveaccess to quality services, especiallyeducation, continuous training, andhave the capacity to afford healthcare
for themselves and their families.
These are essential requirements innational and regional efforts to sustain
infrastructure investments and develop
essential skills for the developmentof the digital economy and otherelements of the fourth industrial
revolution. Many other applied skills
remain relevant and even critical in

Sustainable jobs and good wages,
while essential, are not enough toguarantee a high quality of life for
Africans. A stable, healthy, peaceful
and well-educated society andcommunity are the real guarantors of
the Bank’s most inclusive High 5 andwould be enough to provide the basis
for the private sector-led economictransformation of Africa that we alldesire.

1

https://qz.com/africa/1016790/more-than-half-of-the-worlds-population-growth-will-be-in-africa-by-2050/

2

United Nations, (2017) World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision1

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Human capital for Africa’s transformation

Human capital for Africa’stransformation

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Introduction
When people are able to get quality healthcare, education and jobs, they thriveand can reach their full potential. But this is no easy task. Poverty, inequality, andsocial exclusion have persisted across the African continent, despite two decadesof robust economic growth. Our inability to take advantage of growth risks Africa’s
potential and reduces its collective ambition. Africa must rise above this challengewith determination and courage
The continent’s greatest asset in the coming decade will be its ability to harness its
rapidly increasing reservoir of human capital. 43% of Africa’s 1 billion people today
are below the age of 15. By 2050, most of the continent’s 2.3 billion people are
expected to be youth.
African people, (Africa’s ‘human capital’), are truly at the centre of the African
Development Bank’s inclusive and green growth agenda as well as constituting
the life blood of its High 5 agenda, which includes projects and programmes in
education, employment, skills development, health, water, sanitation, nutrition andyouth entrepreneurship in Africa.
Africa’s human capital is referenced most specifically by the Bank’s fifth and mostinclusive High 5 “Improve the quality of life for African people”. This brings together
the Bank’s investments in a large and rich variety of human capital projects in
Africa to demonstrate the Bank’s insistence that Africa’s human resources andtheir potential are as rich and as valuable as its natural commodities and crops (ifnot more so).

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The Bank’s vision, mission,and approach
The Human Capital Strategy 2014-2018 offers the operational framework forprogrammes and projects, including the flagship Jobs for Youth in Africa Initiative(JfYA), as well as all needed partnerships in this domain.
•

The Bank will play a pivotal role in ensuring that Africa has the human capitalto accelerate inclusive and green growth.
The Bank will be a thought leader in the key areas of human capital, youth
and skills development across the continent.
The Bank will foster strategic partnerships to leverage resources for thehuman and social development sectors.

••

The Bank’s goal as presented in the Human Capital Strategy (2014-2018) is
to harness the potential of 1 billion Africans by building skills and promoting
technologies to provide better jobs, ensure equal opportunities and increase
workforce competitiveness. While the focus is on skills and technology, the vision
supports two enablers of human capital, which are determinants for inclusive
growth, namely, effective service delivery and inclusive financial and social
systems.

One billion people - One billion opportunities
boosting human capital in Africa
The African Development Bank offers a unique proposition for leading the battle
to improve the quality of life of Africans. It has a pan-African reach but a global
network of influence in policy, regulation and investment. It has an integrated
approach: presenting human capital development in both its social and economic
dimensions across the interlinked sub-sectors of education, skills development,
health, nutrition and social protection. This consists of a comprehensive solution
for human capital development to increase the potential for Africa to benefit
from the demographic dividend; and a strong technical and financial expertise in
assisting regional member countries and regional economic communities.
“Human capital is the acquisition and deployment of skills, talent,knowledge, and experiences of individuals and populations and theirvalue to organizations, economies and society.” (World Economic Forum)

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Our key results
Human capital development in numbers

Young people, especially women, are more likely to be in informal work. Africa
has the highest rate of informality in the world, estimated to be around 72% of
non-agricultural work. Work in the informal sector is insecure, with low wages andproductivity—a fact that makes eradicating poverty more challenging.
In most countries, women’s labour force participation is lower than men’s.

What does Quality of Life consist of and how has the African
Development Bank helped with its human capital strategy in 2018?
In 2018, our projects provided 1.2 million people with jobs and 8.2 million people
with improved access to water and sanitation.

Providing productive jobs for the continent’s growing population
Africa’s working age population is growing rapidly, intensifying pressure for decent
jobs. In 2018, the youth unemployment rate was 14%, compared with a rate of
8.3% for the total population. The unemployment rate for young women is 15%.
Women face additional barriers to work and have a lower participation rate thanmen. Even so, countries like Rwanda, Madagascar and Mozambique have madegreat strides in increasing female participation in the labour force.
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Initiatives and projects to support jobs for youth
Under the Bank’s Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (2016-2025), we are scaling
up support for employment and entrepreneurialism. Over the next 10 years we
aim to create 25 million jobs and benefit 50 million youth by equipping them withthe right skills. We are funding programmes to support this strategy and creating
partnerships to enhance opportunities for young people across the continent.
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Our Coding for Employment programme will create 130 centres for excellence
and train 234,000 young people by 2020. Our collaborations with Rockefeller,
Microsoft, Facebook and Safaricom will deliver demand-driven ICT training to
women and young people. The Bank is also working with the African Institute ofMathematics and Sciences to build an industry-led research institution in Africa.
Our partnership with the Ford Foundation will deliver training to 100 SMEs toimprove business linkages for women and youth in the oil and gas sector in
Uganda and Kenya.
We are working to make agriculture more attractive to young people, reversing
skills flight across the continent. Since 2016, we have invested over $800 million
to support young entrepreneurs in agriculture in more than 15 countries. Overthe next 10 years we expect to galvanise over $1.5 billion annually in support ofagripreneurs.

The Bank’s impact in providing employment and access toservices
The Bank’s portfolio of projects creates new employment opportunities andreduces poverty across Africa. In 2018, we exceeded our employment targets,creating 1.2 million direct jobs, of which half were for women. New jobs are also
created indirectly or induced from our operations.
At the Africa Innovation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, we launched the Jobs for
Youth Africa Innovation Lab. Its aim is to promote skills and learning and create
linkages among the organisations that support the creation of high-potential
businesses in Africa. In collaboration with the Fund for Private Sector Assistance,
an e-platform is being piloted as a one-stop continent-wide marketplace forincubators, accelerators and entrepreneurs.
The Bank hosted the third Africa Forum on Science and Technology Innovation in
Egypt, a policy dialogue that resulted in a ministerial declaration highlighting theneed for an African Education Fund. We also provided support in West Africa toimprove higher education and promote the harmonisation of systems for greater
integration across the region.
The Bank’s support for the health and sanitation sectors has been catalytic. In
West Africa our support for training health workers and the construction of healthfacilities helped stop the transmission of Ebola and strengthen public healthsystems. In Uganda, improvements to public sanitation facilities in the Kawempe
division of Kampala reduced the incidence of typhoid, cholera and diarrhea,
benefiting more than 165,000 people. In Ghana, 89,200 people benefited
from projects to improve sanitation and waste management in urban slum
communities.

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The technologies associated withthe “fourth industrial revolution” (4IR)– such as ICT, artificial intelligence,robotics and machine learning – bringboth opportunities and challenges for
Africa. The 4IR has the potential toaccelerate development and unleash
the entrepreneurial potential of thecontinent’s youth. 4IR technologies
can increase productivity and support
transformation in industries such as
agriculture, services, manufacturing
and infrastructure. However, the 4IR will
also fundamentally change the nature ofwork, making traditional manufacturingled growth less viable. Taking advantageof the opportunities associated withthe 4IR will depend on Africa’s levelof preparedness and the availability of
relevant skills in science and technology.

Education
Education systems need to keep
pace with changing skill requirements.
Lack and mismatch of skills is a major
constraint on African business. Many
graduates possess skills that are not
relevant to the needs of the jobs market.
Only 2% of African college graduates
have science, technology, engineeringand mathematics (STEM) degrees. Yet
the STEM skills are crucial requirements
in a 4IR world. And too few of Africa’s
scientists work in sectors that drive
economic transformation.
Africa’s education system will require
adequate support through innovative
financing mechanisms, including
domestic resource mobilisation andpublic participation, to enhance its
efficiency and effectiveness. Estimatesshow that Africa will require an additional$40 billion to achieve the SDGs foreducation by 2030.
In 2018, our projects resulted in 270,000
people benefiting from better accessto education, of which 120,000 were
women. We also provided technicaland vocational training across Africa:
178,000 people, of whom 89,000 were

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women, were trained through Bank
operations.
To further promote education acrossthe continent and close the financing
gap, we spearheaded the developmentof the African Education Fund (AEF). In
2018, we worked with the Association
for the Development of Education in
Africa to produce a feasibility study forthe fund. The study found that the AEF
is feasible and there is strong interest
from African governments and othereducation stakeholders. Revitalisingand transforming education systems to
support inclusive growth and sustainable
development is a key commitment ofAfrican ministers and development
partners.
Through our work in 22 countries
across the continent, we supported
the use of ICT to provide educationand training. For instance, our African
Virtual University project enrolled 23,095
students in Open Distance e-learning
centres across the countries.
In 2018, about 500 young people in fivecountries benefited from training throughour Coding for Employment programme.
In Malawi, our projects are helping to
improve the quality and relevance of
science, technology and industrial skills
for job creation and employability ofgraduates (see Box 28). In Equatorial
Guinea, we supported innovativetechnical and vocational training for
middle and senior managers.

Migration
Migration has a direct impact onskills availability in Africa. In addition
to conflict-driven migration, young
professionals emigrate to other African
nations and beyond in search of betterjob prospects and quality of life. Poverty
is a driver of both. However, with theright policies in place, intra-regionalmigration can contribute to poverty
reduction.

Access to basic services
Access to basic services is essential
for quality of life. Yet access to safe
drinking water and sanitation in Africa
is characterised by wide disparities
between and within countries. Only
72% of the population has access tosafely managed drinking water, and only
40% has access to safely managed
sanitation facilities. Overall, access ishigher in North Africa than in the rest of
the continent. Inter-country variations foraccess to safe drinking water range from
100% of the population in Mauritius to
19% of the population in Eritrea.
There are still major gaps between
access rates in urban and ruralcommunities. Climate change is leading
to increased incidence of drought andfloods, creating further challenges to theprovision of basic services. Africa needs
natural resource governance reforms
and infrastructure investments to ensurethat everyone has access to services. An
estimated $13 billion per year is needed
to meet the SDG targets of universal
access to water supply and sanitation.
We also have a portfolio of projects
designed to improve access to essential
basic services. We finance water andsanitation schemes in both rural andurban areas. In 2018 we exceeded ourtarget, providing 8.2 million people withnew or improved access to water andsanitation, of whom half were women.
Across the continent our projects Acrossthe continent our projects have provided
infrastructure and institutional support
to improve access to safe drinking
water and hygienic sanitation. New
water supply systems and sanitation
infrastructure in Gambia gave 65,000
people (20,000 in rural areas) improved
access to water and sanitation facilities.
The project also included a broad
public health education campaign andinstitutional capacity building.

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in the health sector to achieve universal
coverage. The Bank’s Multi-Sectoral
Nutrition Action Plan (2018-2025)
aims to contribute to a 40% reductionin the number of stunted children on
the continent by 2025. We will make“nutrition-smart” investments in suchsectors as water, sanitation and hygiene(WaSH).

Newly approved projects
In 2018, we approved $96 million
in Morocco to improve access to
the labour market for young people
and women. This includes support
to improve the quality of jobs and toestablish training centres for vocational
skills. In Senegal we are providing
support for agricultural supply chains aswell as investing in energy, water andtransport infrastructure, benefiting an
expected 3 million people. In Malawi,
we are providing a $15 million grant toprovide jobs and boost the livelihoods ofnearly 300,000 people.
Working with the Working with the
French Development Agency (AFD)in the Dosso and Tillaberi regions ofNiger, we provided 265,000 people
with improved water and sanitation.
This included the construction of 266
new boreholes and more than 4,000
latrines. The project also established
new drinking water network systems
and trained construction workers, female
outreach workers and teachers.
Our support has also helped respondto emergencies. In Côte d’Ivoire, we
responded to flooding by funding theconstruction and rehabilitation of priority
flood-regulation infrastructure, including
reservoirs and public toilet blocks, andmanagement and treatment of solid
waste. In Sudan, we improved access towater for more than 750,000 in supportof recovery and peace. Many of our
projects also include capacity building,investment planning and public healthawareness training.
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Social sector initiatives andprojects
The Bank will continue to support
initiatives and projects to achieve better
health and improve the quality of social
services. We will use our position asa trusted partner and our convening
power to strengthen collaboration
across sectors and will use smart
technologies to address the challengesof low water and sanitation access.
With the African Water Facility, we
signed a financing agreement worth$14.5 million with the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation to help address thechallenge of sanitation, especially forthe urban poor. In addition to preparing
projects for follow-on investments along
the sanitation value chain, we will assess
the feasibility of establishing an Africa
Urban Sanitation Investment Fund toenhance investments in sanitation.
We have called for increased investment

In DRC, our $84 million support willcontribute to responsible cobalt ore
supply chains and help 6,250 people
back into the agriculture sector. This
project will also help children who are
excluded from the school system andat risk of social exclusion, vulnerable
to exploitation and exposed to armed
conflict.
In the water and sanitation sector,
we will provide $62 million to financeUganda’s Strategic Towns Water Supply
and Sanitation project, covering 10
towns over five years. It will help thegovernment achieve sustainable safe
water and sanitation for 390,000 people,
improving their health and productivity.
In Gabon, our support of $86 million will
help reduce the drinking water deficit

in Grand Libreville, benefiting 920,000
people. In Eswatini, we approved a $52
million loan for water and sanitation
services that will improve the lives ofmore than 67,000 people.
Working with the EIB and the OPEC
Fund for International Development, we
will provide $130 million in additional
financing for the Sustainable Water
Supply and Sanitation Programme
to help 1.5 million people in Rwanda
access improved water supply services.
In Tunisia, we will provide $88 million
to support cities with under 10,000
inhabitants in improving their sanitation
systems and providing jobs for young
people. And in Morocco we approved a$132 million loan to finance investments
in water treatment that will improve thedrinking water supply for 2.5 million
people.
In Kenya, our loans worth $267
million will support the completion of
construction work on Thwake dam,enabling the storage of 681 million m3
of water, which will be used for electricity
production, irrigation and human use.
We are also co-investing $71 million in
sewage improvements in the Nairobi
River basin that will benefit 500,000
people.
In Ethiopia, the Bank approved a $123
million grant to strengthen transparency
and accountability in the delivery ofbasic services and improve citizen
engagement in service delivery.
Under our Jobs for Youth in Africa
strategy, we will continue to help young
Africans gain the skills they need tosucceed in jobs and enterprise. We
will also scale up our work to support
universal access to water and sanitation.
Together, our strategies and investments
will enable millions to find jobs, improvetheir livelihoods and reduce poverty.

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Human capitaldevelopment in action
Human capital andinfrastructure
Togo
Status: Completed (2015-2017)
Bank contribution : $988,000
including $817,000 from the Fund for
African Private Sector Assistance and$171,000 from the African Development
Fund)

-

Senegal

710 km of rural roads and 76 solar
power stations built;
1,023 km of medium and low
voltage networks and 190 H61
sub-stations installed;
70 equipped health posts built.

Status: Ongoing (2018-2022)
Bank contribution: $60 million out of
total cost of $162 million-

The Kara and Lomé market
reconstruction and traders’support project

Emergency Community
Development Programme
support project

RwandaIn January 2013, fires destroyed thecentral building in the Lomé mainmarket as well as the Kara market in
the north of the country. After the fires,the government assessed the damage
and proposed solutions. According to
information obtained, 3,106 persons(about 90% of them women) wereaffected: 2,225 in Lomé and 881 inKara. The project aimed to revitalise andmodernise the Lomé and Kara markets
following the fires that destroyed them.

The Government of Senegal’s strategy,
the Emerging Senegal Plan, and theEmergency Community Development
Programme which seek to improveaccess to basic social services forthe rural population. Phase 1 has
been finalised, and Phase 2 will be
implemented over the next four years,
covering several parts of the country,
and affecting 3 million people. The
vulnerable population will be the main
beneficiaries, particularly in access todrinking water, rural electrification andhealth infrastructure. The developmentof agricultural activities will help reduce
the poverty rate from 67% to 54%, thechild mortality rate from 51 to 25%,
and the chronic malnutrition rate from
21% to 8%.

Results :- 2,500 Lomé and Kara market
traders sensitised on the need toformalise and insure their activities- Creation of 64 jobs for young
graduates;- 40 women entrepreneurs trained on
how to grow their business;- 20 micro-finance credit officers
trained in SME risk assessment,bank risk management, design ofSME-customised products, andgender mainstreaming introduced in
SME financing.
- 20 associations of women
entrepreneurs trained in associationrelated matters and how to improve
services offered to members
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Human capital andagriculture

Expected results: by the end of the
project- 109 rural agricultural societies and
109 farming areas will be created,
including irrigation equipment (5-10hectares);- 105 boreholes and drinking watersupply infrastructure built;- 799 processing machines for
women and young people
purchased;

Human capital and energy

Status: Completed (2013-2014)
Bank contribution (100%):$800,000

Skills development in theenergy sector
The African Development Bank
provided technical assistancethrough its private and public
sector windows Rwanda Country
Strategy (2012 -2016) contributing to
improved energy production, access,affordability, and reliability; enhanced
competitiveness in the energy sector
and the sustainability of existing
infrastructure in energy generationtransmission and distribution. A
private sector senior loan of $25
million supported the constructionof a methane gas extraction plant in
Kibuye District. The skills shortage
risks identified provided insights
for establishing a coherent andsustainable mechanism for skills
development in the energy sector as
mitigation.
Results:• Increased rated of customers/
household using energy (electricity)from baseline to 50% (2015/16);
70% (2017/18)
Improve the quality of life 15• Increased availability of critical skills
for service and industrial sectors
by increasing the number of new
graduates hired (minimum 200 in2017 of which 25% women) in theenergy sector and linked sectors(manufacturing, construction,transportation)• Increased integration of hydropower and geo-thermal skills andcompetencies

Human capital and transport
Cabo Verde
Status: Ongoing (2018-2021)
Bank contribution: $17.87 million (50%of total cost)

Porto Ingles and Porto Palmeiramodernisation and expansion
project
The development of maritime transport
is crucial for Cabo Verde, which has
suffered from its inability to realise thetourism potential of Maio Island. The
expected outcomes of the €17.9 million
project will boost the tourism industry,
which accounts for 47% of goods andservices exports. It will increase port
traffic; reduce port transit times; improve
community living conditions and increase
product processing on Maio Island. It isalso consistent with the current strategy
for the promotion of the blue economy
and with the master plan for Palmeira
Port.
Results:- At least 150 young people trainedin various trades, including
communication in foreign languages towelcome tourists; awareness-raisingconducted for 1000 people (50% ofwhom are women)- 726 direct jobs created or maintained.
- Adding around 7% to GDP growth- 4,419,050 tons of goods transiting
through the ports- 1,527,098 tourists per year
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African Development Bank Group

Communication and External Relations Department
Rue Joseph Anoma 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01 (Côte d’Ivoire)Tel: +225 20 26 16 42 • Fax +225 20 21 31 00 • Web: www.afdb.org
2019

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Communication and External Relations Department@2019