The AfDB's E-Consultation on its first Human Capital Development Strategy-Have your Say!

Sincerely speaking,this is a welcome development.This will enable African youths to fully engage into capacity building projects proper.In return this will not only reduce the rate of unemployment but will also produce great innovators, entreprenuers and even great investors among African youth.I recommend the practice of Human Capital Development Strategy without any reservation.
Best Regards.
Stanley Akudinobi
Federal University of Technology Owerri

With regard to the Human Capital Development strategy, here are a few comments|

1. This is a very welcome draft report and puts into context the pressing development issues especially in relation to youth unemployment. Since as HelpAge International, our core business is the aging population, it would be important to have some reference to the growing ageing population in Africa even though it may not be comparable in size to that in Asia. There is an upcoming IAGG Africa conference in Cape Town in November 2012 and IFA is planning one in Cameroon in 2013. Globally the population is aging and so we also need to recognize this in the HD context. The past several years has witnessed an unprecedented stretching of the human life span. This aging of the global population is without parallel in human history (Bengston and Lowenstein 2004). If these demographic trends continue to escalate, by 2050 the number of older people globally will exceed the number of young for the first time since formal records began raising questions of the power of the nation state in the context of global aging.
2. Page 5 - the effect of the current predictions of a second recession related to the euro zone need to be included since this will impact on our development programmes and the returnees from the Diaspora and exacerbate the already critical challenges related to unemployment.
3. Page 7- on Social Protection funding - we need to also look more critically at our countries’ ability to fund social protection which relates to: good governance and accountability, balancing different types of taxation, management of natural resources, building the tax admin capacity, dealing with the ‘leaks’ in our financial management and budgets, increasing the tax base through tapping more into the informal sector and tax reforms to mobilize more sustainable revenue. See paper on Innovative financing for Africa by Emmanuel Nnadozie, Devex, February 2012.

4. Discussion on labour markets and the informal sector- we need to think more about how do we turn the informal sector into a more formal one? What are the mechanisms we need to put in place since it is such a large employer of the youth and is not necessarily being effectively taxed so the revenue can be utilized for employment creation.

5. Page 16-comments in the box-these are very critical, highlighting the need to invest in a dynamic education curriculum revision so that the graduates produced are potential employers rather than unemployed employees. This ties in with the need for more investment in research- What can our governments and higher learning institutions do to produce more appropriately skilled and qualified graduates?

6. Quality of education- should we not be investing more in in-service training since a lot of our teachers are not qualified? Training can be another motivator to reduce teacher absenteeism and improve the quality of education, aside from the issues of their poor terms and conditions.

7. Page 47- the safety nets discussion- this needs to go beyond social security. What about short term measures with quick results such as cash transfers which help to address poverty? Let's also invest in compulsory pension schemes although this is currently only for the formal sector employees. How can we scale up some of the current social protection schemes which appear to be working? In relation to discussions on micro finance, the most vulnerable populations are not necessarily catered for. Older persons for example have issues around their limited access to credit.

8. The role of civil society needs to be clearer in this whole paper, since they are providing complementary services to our governments and can address issues of rights and accountability.

9. Time line at the end of the paper-Have the face to face consultative discussions taken place because HelpAge International in Africa would be interested in participating.

Dear AfDB team,

This is a good initiative, of involving stakeholders. Our institution, KCA University in Kenya will submit its feedback.

Regards,

Non-communicable conditions such as Diabetes, Cancers, Heart diseases, injuries are on the increase with common risk factors. The conditions once thoght of as conditions of the rich, are now here with us. The country still crappling with communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, cholera etc. The area is therefore not as prioritized. My request is the Bank to consider support in this area (Human and financial capcity enhancement)
Regards.

Joyce Nato, WHO Kenya