Africa needs to create more than 15 million jobs every year to meet the aspirations of its growing youth population. Without a fundamental shift in how solutions are identified, tested, and scaled, investment will continue to underperform, yielding limited or unsustainable impact.
ADIF 2026 directly addresses this challenge by showcasing scalable models for job creation across sectors and regions, encouraging evidence-based policy design informed by applied research, and building consensus around replicable and fundable solutions that governments and the private sector can act on immediately.
“Africa needs to create more than 15 million jobs every year to meet the aspirations of its growing youth population. ADIF brings together researchers, policymakers, investors, development partners and industry leaders to turn ideas into industries, industries into jobs, and jobs into shared prosperity.” — Mama Keita, Deputy Executive Secretary (Programme Support), ECA
Unlike one-off convenings, ADIF is designed as a recurring platform with cumulative impact. Each annual edition focuses on a specific thematic issue while maintaining continuity with previous years, building a sustained body of evidence, action, and accountability. Future editions will explore themes such as Africa’s industrialization and the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), creating a linked and reinforcing agenda for transformation.
