CASABLANCA (ILO News) - The Summit of the Social Partners for Employment in Africa organized under the auspices of His Majesty King Mohamed VI on 14 and 15 December 2015 in Casablanca, Morocco, was official launched to address the youth unemployment crisis in the region.
“To advance its economic transformation & create decent jobs, Africa needs to value and promote entrepreneurship”, Aeneas Chuma, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa said at the opening ceremony underlying the fact that from 2015 to 2030, 5 million new jobs will need to be created every year just to keep up with the growth of the labour force.
The Casablanca Conference, initiated by the International Organization of Employers (IOE), the International Labour Office (ILO) and Business Africa, on the proposal of the CGEM, is set to come up with a blueprint on employment in Africa to stimulate decent job creation in the continent.
“Creating decent jobs for Africa’s fast growing population is one of the key challenges of our time”, Chuma emphasized calling for a consensus in “building an entrepreneurial spirit among youth” for Africa’s sustainable development
“We believe in introducing entrepreneurship education in schools for the youth to get the right skills to compete in a complex business world”, Chuma underscored.
The Summit is attended by more than thirty business organizations from Africa and six confederations of trade unions at the continental and sub-regional levels with the aim of promoting a common understanding between employers and workers on how best to develop joint strategies for employment-led growth in Africa.
“Youth entrepreneurship in Africa is confronted with a lack of access to affordable funding, support services, as well as administrative barriers (…), but Africa needs to build a cadre of home-grown business leaders able to access global markets and drive growth in a sustainable and inclusive manner”, the ILO Director for Africa concluded.
