Asia-Africa Cooperation in Human Resource Development

Sub Saharan Africa is gifted with a young population underthe age of 25 years; they are two-thirds of its population. Such a young workforce along with opportunities in industry and modern services can enable the structural transformation of African economies. However, in the absence of capacity development of youth at least up to the level of secondary education or Vocational Education and Training (VET), this goal of structural transformation cannot be realized. There has been a mismatch between the current education system and the skill requirements of labour market in Africa. While most of the African countries face shortage of labour, many university graduates have remained unemployed. In that sense, the focus of the Asia Africa Growth Corridor should be to invest inskill enhancement apart from creating jobs through investment in corridor projects. India has been providing training and education through ITEC and tele-education services. Likewise, Japan has been supporting human resource development through JICA. Such initiatives for providing training and vocational education have to be leveraged to create the centres of excellence and pre-employment training institutions in African countries which, in turn, would address the skill gap in the region.