Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the first woman to head the African Union Commission, urged African Member States and international partners to invest more in order to promote job creation in the region.<\/b><\/p>\n
GENEVA (ILO News) \u2013 The Chairperson of the African Union<\/b><\/a> Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has called for more investment to promote job creation, achieve inclusive growth and eradicate poverty in a continent which in the next fifty years will be home to 1.1 billion workers \u2013 more than a third of the global workforce.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are determined to step up our efforts to promote job creation, work for the eradication of poverty, achieve growth and allow equitable distribution, particularly for women and the youth,\u201d said Zuma in her first address to the International Labour Conference<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n Africa has managed to resist well to internal and external shocks and is expected to grow by 4.8 per cent in 2013 and 5.3 per cent in 2014. But according to Zuma, there are significant challenges ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cBy all estimates, our continent is a continent of young people, and it is getting younger. By 2025, it is estimated that the African youth will make up one-quarter of the world\u2019s population. By 2040, half of the world\u2019s youth population will be African, the majority of which will be women and girls. This means that in the next fifty years, approximately 1.1 billion of the global workforce will be African,\u201d she said, calling for more investments in African agriculture, infrastructure, small and medium enterprises, sea transportation, energy, information and communications technology, and tourism.<\/p>\n ILO Director-General Guy Ryder welcomed Zuma to the ILC and said: \u201cAfrica is rising. It is also encouraging to see African economies growing and African countries bringing down poverty levels and progressing on the decent work agenda. Yet, jobless growth is a challenge to the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n Ryder said the ILO is committed to continue to work hand in hand with the African Union and its African social partners to make decent work for all a reality in the continent.<\/p>\n Investing in African youth<\/b><\/p>\n \nZuma said that investing in Africa\u2019s youth is a big part of meeting the challenges facing the region.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is imperative that we invest in our people\u2019s health nutrition and education and have them acquire the skills that will enable them to become productive members of our society,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cto be properly employed, the youth must be employable.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chairperson of the AUC mentioned a joint initiative developed by the AU Commission, the African Development Bank, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the ILO aimed at promoting youth employment in the continent.<\/p>\n
| If we properly invest in youth and women, they can become a great asset to drive Africa\u2019s social, economic and cultural development.”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n \u201cIf we properly invest in youth and women, they can become a great asset to drive Africa\u2019s social, economic and cultural development, failing which they can be a serious liability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also referred to the large number of African workers who are part of the informal economy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe invite our international partners \u2013 in particular the ILO \u2013 to join hands with us in our efforts to raise the productivity and income of this category of workers, and to create the conditions favourable to their gradual participation into the mainstream economy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe African Union is committed for the next 50 years \u2013 and beyond \u2013 to modernize Africa, industrialize, continue to transform our economies so as ensure social services, as well as decent work and decent remuneration for all African workers, regardless of their sector of activities,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n Zuma is expected to attend the G8 Summit which began on 17 June in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, where she will talk about intra-African and international trade.<\/p>\n ILO Newsroom<\/em><\/p>\n Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the first woman to head the African Union Commission, urged African Member States and international partners to invest more in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":57964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[671,751],"tags":[7455,84,13877,16248,4440],"class_list":["post-57963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-global-news","tag-african-union-commission","tag-development","tag-dr-nkosazana-dlamini-zuma","tag-investment-in-africa","tag-youth-employment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sierraexpressmedia.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |