The Skills Balancing Act in Sub-saharan Africa ─ Investing in Skills for Productivity, Inclusion, and Adaptability

Nowhere in the world is skills building more vital than in Sub-Saharan Africa. While the region faces challenges similar to those faced by other regions at similar stages of development, its challenges are also unique. With economic, demographic, and technological changes, the world of work and production is rapidly changing. Multiple skills are needed in modernizing economies, including foundational cognitive and socio-emotional skills as well as technical skills. Yet, despite unprecedented progress getting more children into schools, Sub-Saharan African countries have significant gaps in skills formation. Child stunting rates remain stubbornly high and in most of the region there is a learning crisis. Skills investments in the region require a balancing act. Countries face hard choices to strike the right balance between investing in skills that meet the needs of today's highly informal and agrarian economies (e.g., basic skills to improve livelihoods) and investing in the skills needed to foster economic transformation (e.g., technical skills for catalytic sectors); and between investing in the skills for the current generation and in those for upcoming ones. While challenging, the region has opportunities for leap-frogging. There is today more rigorous evidence on interventions that work to improve learning, and Sub-Saharan Africa is often at the frontier of these innovations.

The World Bank came into formal existence in 1945 following the international ratification of the Bretton Woods agreements. It is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The organization's activities are focused on education, health, agriculture and rural development, environmental protection, establishing and enforcing regulations, infrastructure development, governance and legal institutions development. The World Bank is made up of two unique development institutions owned by its 185 Member Countries. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries and the International Development Association (IDA), which focuses on the poorest countries in the world.