Good Jobs through Training: Refining Development Cooperation in Africa

Young people in sub-Saharan Africa are often inadequately trained, underemployed, and work in low-paid jobs offering poor conditions. A key instrument of active labour-market policies and German development cooperation must be, as such, improved employment training tailored specifically to the needs of companies in order to place people in "good jobs."

• We know from previous studies that the effectiveness of training programmes varies greatly and many have little tangible impact. What works better are intensive, high-quality training programmes based on a combination of theoretical and practical components. Also, a thorough adaptation to local markets is an important factor in these programmes’ success.

• To date, there have been insufficient studies on education and training programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. To strengthen the evidence base, we evaluate three German development cooperation programmes in West Africa. The effects are, on average, moderate and vary considerably in some cases: spatially, between training programmes, and according to provider.

• This and previous evidence on the moderate effectiveness of such training programmes stands in contrast to the often high expectations regarding the anticipated effects such measures will have. We show here that training programmes funded by development cooperation initiatives can nevertheless still provide important impetus to the creation of good jobs for young people in Africa.

Policy Implications

In view of possible budget cuts regarding German development cooperation, funds should be used where they have the greatest impact: on innovative measures that have been developed for specific contexts based on concrete evidence and coming with a long-term structural effect. At the same time, the importance of training programmes – especially short-term ones without practical relevance – for tackling underemployment in Africa should not be overestimated.

Continue reading in German

The GIGA Focus is an Open Access publication and can be read on the Internet and downloaded free of charge at www.giga-hamburg.de/en/publications/giga-focus. According to the conditions of the Creative-Commons license Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0, this publication may be freely duplicated, circulated, and made accessible to the public. The particular conditions include the correct indication of the initial publication as GIGA Focus and no changes in or abbreviation of texts.

The German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) – Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien in Hamburg publishes the Focus series on Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and global issues. The GIGA Focus is edited and published by the GIGA. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the institute. Authors alone are responsible for the content of their articles. GIGA and the authors cannot be held liable for any errors and omissions, or for any consequences arising from the use of the information provided.