2025 International Youth Day, celebrated on August 12 under the theme ‘Local Youth for the SDGs and Beyond’, depicts the individuals in this social category to be the key drivers of sustainability. Youth bring energy, digital skills, innovation, and technological solutions that support development goals – from climate change to clean energy. However, in Africa, a continent with the youngest population globally, young people are grappling with unemployment and a lack of education, training, and skills that align with the job market.
According to the International Labour Organisation 2024 Report, the number of African youth not employed, not enrolled in education, or training, exceeds the global average of 20.4%.
In response, international donors and private foundations have launched various initiatives to empower young people to realize their full potential. The donor-aided programs are spread across the continent, supporting youth enterprises, skills training, climate action financing and digital education.
In this article, we discover the Top-10 initiatives established by international donors for African youth.
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship Programme
Operating across all African countries, this philanthropic program provides training, mentorship, and funding to young African women and men. It is a digital entrepreneurship initiative that delivers business training through its digital hub, TEFConnect. African men and women aged 18 and above who have a business idea or run an enterprise that is no older than five years are the main beneficiaries.
In its almost ten years of operation (2015-2025), TEF has trained at least 2.5 million African youth and disbursed more than US$100 million in direct funding support to approximately 21,000 African entrepreneurs. As a result, the program has created almost 5 million direct and indirect jobs and generated a revenue of US$4 billion for beneficiaries.
The African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenges (YouthADAPT Challenge)
This is a pan-African annual competition and award initiative providing grant funding to youth-led enterprises and innovations in climate adaptation and sustainability. It encourages young entrepreneurs aged between 18 and 35 and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to submit innovative solutions to tackle climate change.
The winning enterprise of the competition receives a grant of close to US$100,000 and engages in a one-year mentorship and training program. Through collaboration with other donors, the initiative plans to mobilize a budget of more than US$25billion to support climate adaptation.
Digital Opportunity Trust’s “Going Beyond” Initiative
This initiative is a partnership between the Digital Opportunity Trust and the Mastercard Foundation. Launched in April 2024 for a period of five years, it runs in four African countries: Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, and the Ivory Coast. Its core beneficiaries are youth aged 18-35, with an emphasis on training young women to become digital business entrepreneurs. The program intends to train roughly 4,000 youth leaders as digital business coaches who will upskill at least 300,000 MSME entrepreneurs, with 70% being young women. Eligible organizations for the program must be youth-led or youth-serving and operate in the four countries listed above. The allocated budget ranges between USD$40,000- $120,000, depending on shared goals and institutional ability.
Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Initiative
This is a tech-entrepreneurship initiative that trains techpreneurs, provides seed funding, and offers incubation hubs for start-ups in 22 African nations. Since its inception, MEST has trained over 2,000 entrepreneurs, provided grants amounting to US$2 million, and invested in more than 90 early-stage tech start-ups. There are also annual MEST Africa challenges and competitions where the winning start-ups can receive up to US$50,000 in funding and mentorship opportunities. The Meltwater Foundation, the main donor, has allocated approximately US$20 million to support the youthful entrepreneurs.
Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works Program.
This initiative runs continent-wide and aims to ensure at least 30 million youth have access to dignified jobs by 2030. It operates as an entrepreneurship support and job placement strategy targeting young people, with 70% of the beneficiaries being women and youth-led MSMEs. In the last five years, it has reached almost 4 million youth, providing skills acquisition and accessibility to finance so they can grow their enterprises. Of these, over 1 million have secured jobs, started businesses, and expanded their economic opportunities. Mastercard Foundation is the primary funder with a total budget of US$4.7 billion to support employment and education programs in Africa.
Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) Programmes
CAMFED operates in five African nations – Ghana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi – and provides financial support for girls’ education, training on leadership and climate action, and financial support for women enterprises. In FY2024, over 738,000 girls benefited from social, economic, and academic support from the program, putting it in a good position to reach its 8-million-goal by 2030. Its funds have supported not less than 160,000 learners with tailored packages to achieve education. The primary donor of the initiative is the Mastercard Foundation, which committed to a budget of US$360 million for seven years beginning in 2024.
Google Africa Developer Scholarship (GADS) Initiative
GADS serves as an educational program providing digital skills in Android development, Mobile Web, and Google Cloud, plus developer certifications to young developers. Nearly 90% of this program’s graduates have been connected to internships or been provided with job opportunities. To achieve this, Google partners with Pluralsight and the Andela Foundation, which provide content training and mentorship.
Generation Unlimited (GenU) Youth Challenge
This is a UNICEF program providing localized innovation competitions for youth across multiple African nations. Young people are challenged to create solutions for problems concerning employment, entrepreneurship, education, and social impact opportunities. Through the GenU Trust Fund, the program mentors and awards youth competitors with US$1,000- $5,000 in seed funding along with tailored incubation support. The Government of the Netherlands is a key donor to the fund. Another notable donor is Global Affairs Canada.
UNDP’s YouthConnekt Africa (YCA) Program
This is an initiative operating in 37 countries, acting as a pan-African avenue to connect local youth to social-economic opportunities. YCA is a youth empowerment initiative focusing on strengthening entrepreneurship, digital access, and policy advocacy through summits, boot camps, and incubation programs. Since its launch, the initiative has created over 36,000 direct jobs, trained approximately 24,000 policy activists, and 4 million social activists in Rwanda.
Africa Young Women Leaders Fellowship (AfyWL) Programme
This is a pan-African initiative equipping young women with the leadership skills, networks, and experience required to advance the SDGs. Its beneficiaries are African women under the age of 30 with a Master’s Degree and at least two years of experience in relevant fields. Out of the 2021-2024 cohorts, the Fellowship has placed 95 young women in UNDP offices across the globe. This AU-UNDP-funded initiative requires a budget of more than US$8.9 million to run its leadership training activities across the continent.
Wrap up
This year’s International Youth Day celebrations emphasize the important role of youth in driving sustainable development. The challenges faced by youth in developing nations across Africa necessitate the implementation of youth initiatives. These Top-10 youth programs in Africa are creating opportunities for skills enhancement, entrepreneurship promotion, and empowerment among African young men and women. The programs are not only contributing to reducing Africa’s persistent unemployment challenge but also stimulating economic development.
