On Friday, February 7, the Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings (AGI) and the Congressional African Staff Association (CASA) hosted a briefing for congressional staffers on youth employment in Africa. Panelists included Louise Fox, visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley who coauthored a recent World Bank report on Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa, and Peter Shiras, executive vice president for business development at the International Youth Foundation. CASA Acting President Moon Yousif Sulfab from the office of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell provided introductory remarks and AGI Visiting Fellow John W. McArthur moderated the discussion.
This event is part of the Africa Policy Dialogue on the Hill, a regular congressional briefing series hosted by AGI and CASA on topical issues relevant to Africa’s growth and security.
South Africa’s issues are very different than Cameroon’s issues, they’re very different than Nigeria’s issues and Kenya’s issues. And as much as we’re here to talk about sub-Saharan Africa, we have to avoid the human tendency to generalize.” -John McArthur
We’ve obviously got to do a lot more on the job creation side. So it begins with building a culture of entrepreneurship and secondary school and vocational training systems. And then test out and support different models for youth going into business startups and growing businesses in the informal sector.” -Peter Shiras
Africa is becoming better educated. The education deficit is being reduced, but the quality of that education, it’s now clear, has been quite low. So we have data from various sources that indicate that, after three years of primary school, in their local language, students can’t read even a single word in a paragraph.” -Louise Fox
Agenda
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February 7
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Participants
Louise Fox Nonresident Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative @LouiseFox_econ -
Opening Remarks
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