From a young age, Leah Francis Basu was fascinated by the mechanics of an aircraft. “I loved aircrafts,” she recalls, describing the moment she first discovered the science of lift. “It was surprising to me to learn the Bernoulli’s principle, where air moving faster over the top of the wing creates lower pressure, while the air beneath the wing remains at higher pressure, forcing the aircraft upward to take off.”
That curiosity evolved into a desire to work in the aviation industry as an aircraft maintenance engineer. Her dream became a reality when she joined the National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Tanzania, where she pursued Aircraft Maintenance Engineering. At NIT, she benefited from a scholarship under the World Bank-funded East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP), which gave her the motivation to excel. “The scholarship gave me the drive to study hard and accomplish my dreams,” she says. “It created a debt in my mind that there are people who have invested financially in me, so I must do my best so they can see the fruits of their investment.”
She is now working with Precision Air, one of the leading Airlines in Tanzania, applying the hands-on technical skills she honed at NIT to ensure aircraft safety and reliability. “It means a lot to me to play a role in passenger safety and to contribute to Tanzania’s growing aviation industry,” she reflects.
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NIT is one of 16 Regional Flagship TVET Institutes supported by EASTRIP. With the project’s support, NIT strengthened industry partnerships, upgraded its curriculum and capacity, and achieved accreditation as an Approved Training Organization (ATO) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), cementing its reputation as a leading aviation training provider in the region. The 16 flagships target low, middle, and high-level technician training in agriculture, construction, energy, tourism, manufacturing and ICT sectors in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
A Generation on the Move
Basu represents a generation of young Africans who, with the right opportunities, can become highly skilled professionals driving national and regional growth. Yet her story unfolds against a broader challenge: every month, around one million young Africans enter the job market, while formal opportunities remain scarce. Nearly 23 percent of youth are not in education, employment, or training, and 86 percent of 10-year-olds cannot read a simple text–a foundational learning crisis that reverberates through the entire skills value chain.
And the aviation is just one example–skill gaps are holding back development goals in several key sectors including energy access, quality healthcare, agriculture, tourism, and value-added manufacturing.
“Our efforts to provide 300 million people in Africa with access to electricity require a skilled workforce across the entire energy supply chain; we need local investments in skilling systems to execute this Mission 300,” said Erik Fernstrom, Director for Infrastructure in East and Southern Africa for the World Bank Group.
Despite the gains in expanding access, challenges persist: women’s participation in some technical fields remains low, while internet and electricity constraints continue to limit the effective use of modern training equipment in many institutions. “I have faculty coming to our manufacturing facility expressing shock, saying they have never seen the machines we operate since they are too advanced,” said Ghanaian fashion entrepreneur Linda Yaa Ampah.
A New Push: The Africa Skills for Jobs Policy Academy
To meet this challenge, the World Bank Group (WBG) launched the Skills for Jobs Policy Academy Practitioner Program to share global evidence, innovations, and practical tools for effective skills development.
The inaugural Academy, organized with the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 29 to October 3, 2025. Over 300 Senior policymakers from about 25 Sub-Saharan African countries and World Bank operational staff participated in an intensive, practice-focused program that combined technical workshops, industry roundtables, site visits to Kenya TVET institutions and youth employment program, and hands-on planning sessions.
“It is gatherings like this Academy that allow us to listen, learn from one another, and strengthen our ability to lead and deliver transformative skills,” said Hon. Felix Mutati, the Minister of Technology and Science, Republic of Zambia.
According to Mamta Murthi, World Bank Vice President for People, who opened the event, the Africa Skills for Jobs Policy Academy marks a turning point in the World Bank’s focus on jobs and workforce development, while sustaining its commitment to early foundational learning.
Ndiamé Diop, Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa at the World Bank also noted that economies cannot move into competitive manufacturing and digital industries without stronger skills systems, and employers must be at the center of these systems in order to for this to happen.
The Academy featured EASTRIP as a case-in-point in taking international best practices for skills development and scaling them up across East Africa. Supported by the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the project has embedded industrial partnerships into over 500 programs, and is rolling out competency-based training to produce low, mid, and high level skilled labor in agriculture, energy, information technology, manufacturing, and tourism sectors. So far, the total enrollment capacity has increased by tenfold and employment rate of its graduates increased from a baseline of 47 percent to 79 percent.
Maynard Mkumbwa, a Captain at Air Tanzania Company Limited and a Member of Industry Advisory Board at NIT, noted the significant improvement from graduates since the implementation of EASTRIP at the institute. “Through EASTRIP, our company has benefited a lot. We are seeing more aviation personnel joining us–aircraft engineers, flight dispatchers–and the quality of graduates is far better than it used to be”.
“Now, with better equipment and training, their hands-on skills are much improved. For aircraft engineers especially, this is a major achievement–we were lacking this capacity in Tanzania,” he said.
Dr. Prosper Mgaya, the Rector of NIT, said, “Industry collaboration has allowed us to enrich our training approach, ensuring our graduates are fit for jobs and ready to meet the demands of the sector”.
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Scaling What Works
The WBG Skills for Jobs Policy Academy Practitioner Program for Africa shared successes, challenges, and practical solutions in skill development across the continent and beyond. Sessions were curated around four enabling foundations underpinning any effective skill development ecosystem, including public private coordinated governance, industry-aligned standards, results-based financing, data and evidence, as well as innovations such as digital technologies, micro-credentials, industrial certificates, and global skills partnerships that help countries train workers for domestic and international markets.
“System-level reforms take time,” said Luis Benveniste, Global Director of Education at the World Bank. “But quick wins–like partnering with firms and providers in priority sectors where there is demand, such as energy, value-added manufacturing, agribusiness, healthcare, and tourism–can deliver impact and momentum.”
From Basu’s determination to excel as an aircraft maintenance engineer to the thousands of graduates entering the workforce across energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and manufacturing, one thing is clear: when governments, industry, and training providers work in partnership–anchored in results and focused on equity–skills training becomes a powerful engine for opportunity and transformation across Africa.
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