Addis Ababa — United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has called on Africa to move “from policy design to delivery of scale” and from “promising pilots to measurable impact.”
In her message at the Africa Development Impact Forum (ADIF) in Addis Ababa today, she said that while the African continent is rich in ideas and strategies on what works, the central challenge is implementation.
According to Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Pact for the Future require more than commitments.
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The Deputy Secretary-General emphasized that strategies must be matched with delivery if they are to improve people’s daily lives.
Moreover, Mohammed pointed out the urgency of delivering opportunities for Africa’s young people, describing youth as the continent’s greatest asset while calling for investment in sustainable, inclusive, and decent work.
She also pointed to the need for exploiting the potential of digital transformation to expand access to services, open new markets, and increase productivity.
Noting that successful models already exist across sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, services, the digital economy, green jobs, creative industries, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, the Deputy Secretary-General said too often these efforts remain fragmented, are not replicated, and fail to evolve from pilots into long-term transformation.
She urged governments to lead with vision, the private sector to drive innovation and investment, development partners to align behind regional and national priorities, researchers and think tanks to keep policy evidence-based, and young innovators to be central to designing future solutions.
On his part, UN Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary, Claver Gatete, said Africa’s future will increasingly hinge on its ability to mobilize domestic resources, attract investment, build competitive industries, and generate sustainable employment for its rapidly growing population.
The Executive Secretary noted that artificial intelligence is reshaping industries and labor markets, while declining development assistance and tighter financing conditions mean governments can no longer assume the scale of support relied upon in previous years.
For him, the challenge is substantial but the opportunity is equally significant because Africa’s most important strategic asset is its people.
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More than 60 percent of Africans are under the age of 25, making the continent the youngest globally; and that by 2035 Africa is expected to have the world’s largest workforce.
Gatete, however, cautioned that demographic advantage will not automatically translate into prosperity.
More than 15 million young Africans enter the labor market each year seeking opportunity, while ILO data show that 53 million young people were not in employment, education, or training in 2023, he added.
According to him, many of those who do find work remain concentrated in informal and low-productivity jobs.
Yet, Africa has key ingredients for economic transformation, including entrepreneurial talent, renewable energy resources, critical minerals vital to the global energy transition, expanding digital ecosystems, growing urban markets, and opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The Executive Secretary says he believes AfCFTA could raise intra-African trade by up to 45 percent by 2045. This would open avenues for industrialization, regional value chains, and millions of jobs.
Gatete thus underscored the need for leveraging AfCFTA to develop regional value chains and expand markets, and strengthening implementation capacity and accountability to ensure policies produce measurable results.
He further outlined the priorities to strengthen inclusive and job-rich growth, including investing in skills and capabilities aligned with a changing economy, shifting focus from start-ups to scaling enterprises that grow, innovate, compete, and create jobs, and accelerating industrialization and value addition.