The flagship economic report Africa’s Development Dynamics 2024: Skills, Jobs and Productivity (AfDD 2024) was jointly prepared by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the OECD Development Centre. It is published under the aegis of H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, AUC President, and H.E. Mathias Cormann, OECD Secretary-General. It was guided by H.E. Albert M. Muchanga, Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals of the African Union, and by Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, Director of the OECD Development Centre. The report was supervised by Djamel Ghrib, Director, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, and by Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Head of the Economic Policy and Sustainable Development Division, Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals, along with Federico Bonaglia, Deputy Director of the OECD Development Centre, and Arthur Minsat, Head of the OECD Development Centre’s Africa Unit and Senior Economist.
The drafting team of the AUC consisted of Patrick Ndzana Olomo, Head of the Economic Policy and Sustainable Development Division, Rumbidzai Treddah Manhando, Economist, Luckystar Miyandazi, Tax and Domestic Revenue Mobilisation Adviser, and Ronnel Inonge Sisamu, Legal Advisor (Department of Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals). Regional experts who contributed to the report included Jude Eggoh (University of Abomey-Calavi), Kevin Ibeh (Birkbeck University, University of London), Nabil Jedlane (ENCG Tanger), Nicholas Ngepah (University of Johannesburg) and Bruno Emmanuel Ongo Nkoa (Université de Yaoundé II). The team at the OECD Development Centre, led by Arthur Minsat, Head of the Africa Unit, with Nicolas Friederici, included, Keiko Álvarez, Mélanie Brin, Andrea Cinque, Ginevra Coda Nunziante, Majda Eddaifi, Ismaël Keita, Sébastien Markley, Agnès Moukarzel, Francesco Napolitano, Elisa Saint Martin, Clémentine Tahir, Maha Temre and Bakary Traoré. Anne-Marie Trang (OECD) and Mandy Mauyakufa (AUC) gave valuable support to the research, production, logistics and administrative work on the report.
Inputs and data were provided by the African Union Department for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, the OECD Centre for Skills, the OECD Development Centre, the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and the International Energy Agency. Substantive contributions from Filipa Sousa (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P.); Abdelghni Lakhdar (Casablanca Finance City [CFC]); Nora-Marie Hüser and Sabine Klaus (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ]); Khalil Bahloul (IIEP-UNESCO Dakar); Alice Vozza (ILO); Sako Ikewada, Motohiro Matsumura and Shuhei Ueno (JICA); and Gonçalo Silva Marques (Permanent Delegation of Portugal to the OECD) are gratefully acknowledged.
The chapters benefited from comments and inputs from the following experts: Barassou Diawara (African Capacity Building Foundation [ACBF]); Rob Floyd and Mona Iddrisu (African Center for Economic Transformation [ACET]); Jerry Ahadjie and Salimata Soumaré (African Development Bank [AfDB]); Salimata Doumbia (African Union Commission [AUC]); Aggrey Ambali, Unami Dube, Simon Kisira, Pamla Gopaul, Symerre Grey-Johnson, Umami Mpofu, Lukovi Seke and Msingathi Sipuka (African Union Development Agency [AUDA-NEPAD]); Daniela Langen, Karen Pfundt and other subject matter experts (Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung [BMZ]); Paula Machado and Carolina Ormonde (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P.); Robert Zougmoré (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research [CGIAR]); Natasha Karanja (CIPIT, Strathmore University); Geoffroy Gantoli, Simon Hochstein, Annika Hornberger, Kieu Ly Doan, Lisa Roob and Kirsten Schuettler (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit [GIZ]); Colin Bermingham and Carmelo Cocuzza (EIB); Claire Hunault, Anna Hakami, Simona Montanari, Riccardo Roba and Domenico Rosa (European Commission); Alexander Stöcker and Tina Zintl (German Institute of Development and Sustainability [IDOS]); Ibrahima Diallo (IIEP-UNESCO Dakar); Isabelle Ramdoo and Ege Tekinbas (International Institute for Sustainable Development [IISD]); Jeff Bridgford and Christine Hofmann (ILO); Nadim Abillama, Mariya Aleksynska, Caleigh Andrews, Francesca Borgonovi, Eleanor Carey, Rodrigo Castaneda Valle, Helena Cravinho, Pierre de Boisséson, Jason Gagnon, Philipp Heinrigs, Megan Grace Kennedy-Chouane, Alexandre Kolev, Fabio Manca, Vasiliki Mavroeidi, Ida Mcdonnell, Bathylle Missika, El Iza Mohamedou, Hyeshin Park, Lorenzo Pavone, Annalisa Primi, Jan Rielaender, Ji-Yeun Rim, Setsuko Saya, Julie Seghers, Henri-Bernard Solignac-Lecomte, Pablo Suárez Robles, Sophie Vayssettes, Ayumi Yuasa, Ada Zakrzewska, Koffi Zougbédé and Sibiri Jean Zoundi (OECD); Thang Nguyen-Quoc (Oxford Economics Asia); Francisco Gonçalo Nunes André and Celina Pereira (Permanent Delegation of Portugal to the OECD); Mohamed Sherwali (Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency [RCREEE]); Ahmed Baroudi (Société d’Ingénieurie Energétique); Elizabeth Sidiropoulos (South African Institute of International Affairs [SAIIA]); Giovanni Valensisi (UNCTAD); Rodrigo Deiana (UN DESA); Wafa Aidi, Marcellin Stephane Bella Ngadena, Zoubir Benhamouche, Amal Elbeshbishi, Sonia Essobmadje, Andrew Mold and Rodgers Mukwaya (UNECA); Mattia Olivari (UNESCO); Elvis Melia (University of Duisburg-Essen); Clémence Pougue Biyong (World Bank); Stephanie Allais (Wits University); Rodrigue Kaki (World Bank); Kaylash Allgoo (Independent consultant). The peer review meeting was additionally attended by Mkhululi Nkosilamandla Ncube (African Minerals Development Centre [AMDC]); Christiane Haziyo (EUDEL Zambia); Pauline Gibourdel and Nathalie Larsen (European Commission); Milagros Lazo Castro and Camila Meireles (ILO); Vittoria Barbagallo, Ania Thiemann (OECD); and Sezai Ata (Presidency of Strategy and Budget, Republic of Türkiye).
The report drew from the following consultations held in 2023 and 2024: the kick-off meeting (October 2023); the meetings on AfDD 2024 at Casa África in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) in Madrid (November 2023); the Kenya Innovation Week, Commonwealth edition (November-December 2023); the meeting on AfDD 2024 at the Camões Institute, Lisbon (December 2024); the AfDD 2024 peer review meeting (January-February 2024); bilateral meetings at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting 2024 (May 2024). The report also benefited from external consultations including: the AUDA-NEPAD “2024 Year of Education Knowledge Marketplace” held on the margins of the 37th AU Summit, under the theme of the year “Educate an Africa fit for the 21st century: Building Resilient Education Systems for Increased access to Inclusive, Lifelong, Quality and Relevant Learning in Africa”, at the AU Headquarters (February 2024); Pitch World Fast “Strengthening Professional and Vocational Skills in Africa to Foster Economic Development (May 2024)”.
The involvement of the editing, translation and proofreading team was crucial to producing the report on time. The report was edited by Sophie Alibert (for chapters drafted in French) and Jill Gaston (for chapters drafted in English) and translated by Marika Boiron, the OECD Translation Services and Vera Pinto. Delphine Grandrieux and Elizabeth Nash supervised the production, and Luminess was responsible for page layout. Aida Buendía created the graphic design and the cover, and Irit Perry developed the infographics.
The AUC and the OECD Development Centre are grateful to the African Union Member States, European Commission (DG INTPA), Germany (BMZ/GIZ), Italy (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation) and Portugal (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P., and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for their support and valuable feedback on this sixth annual edition of Africa’s Development Dynamics.