One million youth will be supported through skilling and reskilling.
The All4Youth Regional Alliance CEO & Youth Connect initiative aims to support one million young people to find work and plan their transition to the digital economy between now and 2022.
The Covid-19 pandemic has created an economic crisis, forcing tens of millions of people out of work. As economies continue with the reopening journey, some jobs may not come back, yet we continue to see a rise in the number of youth joining the job market.
Ghada Khalifa, director for Microsoft Philanthropies for Middle East and Africa, said. “We have therefore put the best of our resources to support this recovery, including using data to understand the most in-demand roles, supporting with skilling and reskilling needs for job seekers and job creators. Partnerships such as this will play a critical role and will support us to scale us to more youth and increase the impact across the African continent.”
The collaborative intervention is being led by various multinational companies dedicated to reducing youth unemployment across sub-Saharan Africa. Senior leaders from the alliance will meet on 8 November 2021 to discuss skills of the future required in their organisations as well as share programmes, training, and initiatives designed to prepare youth for the digital era.
Bruno Olierhoek, chairman and managing director at Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region, said, “We are driven by our inspiring purpose that is so relevant in our East and Southern Africa Region (ESAR) and we want to do good by addressing societal challenges such as climate change, sustainability and youth unemployment. To help contribute to these major challenges, we realise the need to work in an ecosystem that is entrenched around long-term thinking, with immediate actions.”
Dr John Wentzel, Adcorp Group CEO, added, “The youth of today are the builders and leaders of tomorrow. As Adcorp we know that enabling agility, focus and skill in the youth of today is the key to unlocking their potential for tomorrow.”
In the last two years, alliance partners have reached more than 150,000 young people, and empowered more than 3,000 young people through employability and mentorship programmes, giving high potential young talent access to a network of high-performing industry professionals that accelerate opportunities, career and personal development goals.
The Regional Alliance for Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa is an expansion of the Alliance for YOUth, which was founded in 2014. It currently has a presence in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
