Giving Compass' Take:

•  Boris Bulayev, Meghan Mahoney, and Hannah Ornas, at Brookings, report on the necessity of building a positive skillset in African youth to construct a solid future foundation.

• The authors mention Africa's incredible youthfulness. How can we develop initial programs that set up enduring educational success for African students? What can you do to support this effort?

• Read more about programs aiming to support young people's education in Africa.

Equipped with the right tools, Africa’s growing youth population has the potential to drive positive change and transform the continent’s future. To capitalize fully on this opportunity, policymakers and educators must actively seek solutions that help young women develop the tools to succeed, as girls often face additional barriers that result in lower levels of education, higher unemployment, and rigid social restrictions that perpetuate a lack of opportunity and further limit potential.

But how can we effectively equip youth with the skills to thrive in the 21st century? Educate! is a nonprofit social enterprise working to prepare youth, like Sarah, with the skills to succeed in today’s economy. Our experiential model of education teaches the transferable and soft skills demanded most by both employers and students, such as teamwork, public speaking, networking, critical thinking, self-confidence, and creativity. On top of those foundational soft skills, our curriculum also layers hard business skills.

Equipped with improved soft skills to navigate life’s decisions, Educate! participants propelled themselves further within their studies. The program had a statistically significant impact on secondary education completion.

As implementers working within the education to employment space, we must embrace evidence that developing adolescents’ soft skills can yield positive outcomes that seep into many aspects of young people’s lives. We must collectively examine how education can set youth up for success—not just in the classroom and on exams but in life after school. By equipping this growing working-age population with the essential skills to thrive in the 21st century, we can leverage Africa’s greatest resource for change—young people—and prepare them with the skills to drive equitable and inclusive development across the continent.

Read the full article about building a sturdy future for African youth by Boris Bulayev, Meghan Mahoney, and Hannah Ornas at Brookings.