The side event on Digital Skills for Inclusive and Decent Digital Economy in Africa will bring together ministerial and other senior representatives of governments, social partners, youth organizations, the private sector, multilateral entities and other key stakeholders to focus on the challenges faced by youth in Africa to achieve inclusive digital transformation. The event will contribute to the discussions on how to build resilient infrastructures, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation (Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 9) by enhancing digital skills for youth in Africa. It will also touch upon other related SDGs focused on job creation, sustainable livelihoods, improved technology and skills development, gender equality, and climate change among others.

To this end, the event will:

• Promote meaningful youth participation in policy making processes.

• Discuss specific challenges faced by young women and men in Africa to benefit from the digital transformation in a more inclusive way, as identified in the framing of the Boosting Decent Employment for Africa’s Youth partnership.

• Highlight some of the best practices and the way forward to support young women and men in Africa to overcome the barriers to digital skills by bringing voices of the youth from Africa.

• Share key findings from the evidence synthesis paper Digital Skills For Youth Employment In Africa: Fostering Digital Transformation for Social Inclusion, Gender Equality & Development prepared for INCLUDE by ThinkYoung.

• Introduce and raise awareness about the ILO’s Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work adopted in 2019. The Declaration proposed a human-centred approach to new technology in the world of work. It specifically called for “the acquisition of skills, competencies and qualifications for all workers throughout their working lives (…) taking into account the evolution of work”.

• Introduce and raise awareness about the Youth at Heart strategy and principles of the Dutch foreign policy. Adopted by the Dutch government in 2020, the principles put youth at the heart of its developmental policies. The strategy do that through a distinctive approach that bridges the gap between the skills they learn and labour market demands. The Youth at Heart strategy was devised after consultations with civil society, knowledge institutions and individual experts and with businesses and young people both in the Netherlands and abroad, in person and online.