The webinar series on ‘What and when is a job decent according to youth in Africa?’, organised by Francis (Restless Development) in conjunction with INCLUDE, consisted of 9 webinars in different countries over a period of 6 months. Participants were youth representatives from a range of NGOs, think tanks, research institutions and private firms. The objective of the series was to bring effective and meaningful youth participation to the debate on decent work, including perspectives from vulenrable and marginalised groups, in the hope of moving towards employment and labour policies that align with the real needs, goals and experiences of youth in Africa.

The series was structured around key questions which sought to explore:

• Whether youth identify with common definitions of decent work
• How the crucial components of decent work vary between and amongst different groups of young people
• The potential for decent work in the formal and informal sectors
• If/how COVID-19 has changed the aspirations of youth in terms of what they seek in employment opportunities

Here, we are proud to round up the webinar series with a concluding video, which merges the highlights from all 9 webinars, and a synthesis report, which documents the series’ key findings and lessons learned.  At the bottom of the page is a link to each webinar, with more details on the local discussion and a video specific to that country.

Watch the concluding video:

Read the synthesis report:

This report documents the overall takeaways from the 9 webinars, and highlights similarities and differences between countries and social groups regarding decent work. We also added our own reflections on how the webinar findings fit within the broader research and policy debate on decent jobs for youth.