About SKY Project (Skills and Knowledge for Youth)
産業人材技能評価プロジェクト

21st Century Sub-Saharan Africa: The Required Skill Sets
 Adefolake Adeniyi

 　Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the home of the world’s ten youngest countries, has been attracting both attention and expectation from the international community. SSA’s continent, Africa, is regarded as the 'biggest frontier of the 21st century' . The African continent is second-largest in the world, both in population and area. The growing working-age population of SSA not only creates a significant opportunity to tackle poverty, but it also provides an avenue to increase shared prosperity. However, the region's workforce remains the least developed in the world, thereby limiting economic prospects.

　Over the past two decades, SSA countries have recorded significant growth. The region has experienced a reduced rate of poverty as well as increased access to education. The completion rate of both primary and lower-secondary education has significantly improved, access to tertiary education has begun to expand in several countries, and there has been an increase in public expenditure on education. SSA countries have invested heavily in skills-building. However, learning outcomes for children in school remain persistently poor, and the number of out-of-school students remains high. These continue to create a massive gap in basic cognitive skills, literacy and numeracy skills across all levels – children, youth, and adults - with significant gender gaps. Not only is the region lacking in cognitive skills, but gaps also exist in skills such as socio-emotional skills and technical skills.
　However, it is possible to achieve significant progress in skills building in the region, although the achievement will entail enacting systemwide change. To achieve relevance, efficiency, equitable access and quality in skills building, countries in the region will have to endure trade-offs that will produce distributed impacts and have a major bearing on the region’s development path. SSA receives a significant share of foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign aid. The subcontinent has also entered into many development partnerships with the developed world. However, one question that begs for answers is – how will SSA countries go in genuinely making the region the 'biggest frontier of the 21st century’?

　世界で最も若い10か国があるサブサハラアフリカ（SSA）は、国際社会から、「21世紀の最大のフロンティア」と見なされ、注目されています。アフリカ大陸は、人口と面積の両方で世界で2番目に大きく、労働年齢人口の増加が著しく、繁栄に寄与しています。しかし、この地域の労働力は依然と未熟であり、経済発展の足かせとなっていると指摘されています。
　貧困削減および教育へのアクセスの増加など、過去20年間でSSA諸国は著しい成長を記録しています。初等および中等教育の修了率は大幅に改善され、いくつかの国で高等教育へのアクセスが拡大し始め、教育に対する公的支出が増加しました。このように SSA諸国は、スキル構築に多額の投資を行ってきました。一方で、学校の子どもたちの学習成果は依然として低く、不登校の生徒の数もまだ高いままです。これらは、基礎的認知スキル、識字能力、および計算能力において子供、若者、大人のすべての段階で大きな格差を生み続けており、ジェンダーによる格差も存在します。認知スキルが不足しているだけでなく、社会的感情スキルや技術的スキルなどにおいてもギャップが指摘されています。
　アフリカ諸国でのスキル構築推進していくことは可能ですが、そのためにはシステム全体を変更させる必要があります。スキル構築におけるレレバンス、効率性、公平なアクセス、質を担保するために、それに伴う様々なトレードオフに耐える強靭さが必要となります。SSAは、外国直接投資（FDI）と外国援助の大部分を受け取り、先進国と多様な開発のためのパートナーシップを締結しています。そのような中で、どうすればSSA諸国が本当に「21世紀の最大のフロンティア」となるのか、ということが現在問われています。

References:
Arias, O., Evans, D. K., & Santos, I. (2019). The Skills Balancing Act in Sub-Saharan Africa: Investing in Skills for Productivity, Inclusivity, and Adaptability. Africa Development Forum. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, Washington, D.C.
The Government of Japan (2019). Africa – The “Biggest frontier of the 21st century”. Retrieved from https://www.japan.go.jp/japaninafrica/