The Role Of Young People In Promoting The Fourth Industrial Revolution In Africa

The biggest challenge in Africa’s development is youth unemployment. The ​African Development Bank estimates that 50% of the youth in Africa will be unemployed and economically inactive by 2025. For a continent with a population of 65% young people​, this has led to the ongoing debate of whether or not Africa is ready for the 4th Industrial revolution (4IR).

This digital, complex revolution is upon Africa and it is beyond doubt that young people have a huge role to play in Africa's development during the new digital era. With such a high population of young minds, Africa's readiness for 4IR shouldn't be the question but rather the role of young people in promoting the 4th industrial revolution in Africa should be the main focus.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution can be described as the advent of “​cyber-physical systems​” involving entirely new capabilities for people and machines. The Fourth Industrial Revolution represents entirely new ways in which technology becomes embedded within societies and even our human bodies. Examples include genome editing, new forms of machine intelligence, breakthrough materials, and approaches to governance that rely on cryptographic methods such as the blockchain. According to the World Economic Forum​, the top three skills required to thrive in 4IR include; Complex problem solving, Critical thinking, and Creativity. These skills are different from the top skills listed by the World Economic Forum in 2015, Therefore; For the youth to be able to contribute to 4IR they need to upskill.

Furthermore, ​Tshilidzi Marwala suggests students should be innovative in the ways they conduct research as this will enable them to compete globally. Moreover, Pre-education should be compulsory as research shows that a crucial part of education happens at the age of three. This is important in helping children develop creative minds at a young age. Children have curious minds and teachers should help them explore their curiosity. Through observations, we see that recently children can navigate technological devices without any assistance.

The ​South African government is developing curricula for coding and robotics for grades R to 9 and ​Wynberg Girls Junior School (WGJS) in ​South Africa added coding and robotics as subjects in 2019. Recently, This school also started a ​Microsoft for Education program​, ​offering numerous courses and self-development opportunities for educators around the globe. Moreover, the school launched its very first e-trading day​. Grade 7s learned about entrepreneurship and put together their entrepreneurship trading day, creating their business, product, and marketing strategy but instead of culminating in a physical trading day held at school's trading day, it became virtual due to Covid-19.

To take a look at how WGJS created its e-trading day, watch the short video here:

Entrepreneurship should be a mandatory subject at all education levels as more youth will be well equipped to create jobs and address the issue of unemployment in Africa. Covid-19 affected the entire economy and the job market will not recover any time soon. This suggests that the youth should start being creative and not wait for job creations from the government. Some of the international business practices that were not affected by the lockdown include ​network marketing​. This is another way of the youth contributing to 4IR in Africa, as I'm also part of this business practice through ​Herbalife Nutrition​. This is a common practice in countries such as South Africa, ​Botswana​, Zambia​, ​Ghana​, and ​Lesotho​, ​These are businesses that need low start-up costs, work remotely, and can help eradicate poverty in Africa.

One of the biggest problems in Africa is that such a young continent is led by elders. Africa should provide leadership roles to the youth. South Africa ​launched youth in parliament in 2013. However, involving a few young leaders in the parliament is not enough. The youth should hold leadership roles and participate in decision making. As previously stated, The African population is mostly the youth, empowering, and involving the youth in decision and policy-making could positively impact the development of the continent.

Lastly, there should be more organizations such as The Youth Café which advances youth-led approaches towards sustainable development, social equity, democratic governance, and economic viability practices by utilizing innovative research, policy, and advocacy actions. Through these organizations and programs, The youth can be able to contribute to Africa's development in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

B.S Matomela (Ms) is an intern at The Youth Cafe

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