Growth Sectors for Youth Employment (GSYE) is an African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) collaborative research that is seeking to provide research evidence on which economic sectors have the potential to significantly create employment for youth. The project was commissioned by INCLUDE, with support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project is implemented by AERC in conjunction with the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The project aims to provide research evidence on the economic sectors with the highest multipliers and potential to create employment opportunities for young people in the continent.

The objectives of the project are to:

• identify promising economic sectors or value chains for job creation for young men and women in selected countries in Africa
• identify the country-specific conditions needed for the local and foreign private sectors to invest in these sectors or value chains
• identify the country-specific actors that are needed to create these conditions that enhance or reduce investment security
• identify ways to promote equal access and opportunity for youth to these new sources of work and income, addressing inequality related to gender, socio-economic background, and place of residence

The project was implemented in several phases. The first phase involved the drafting of framework papers needed to draw some general characteristics on decent employment for Africa’s youth. The second phase involved the drafting of nine country case studies: Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda. Country case studies will help in the identification and explanation of nuances and peculiarities of these countries. During the final-review workshop held in late January 2022, the country case studies researchers presented their final draft reports.

Finally, the project’s findings have been published in the papers you can find on this page.