Half-Day International Workshop 2019
Theme: “Youth Employment Crisis and the 4th Industrial Revolution: How Prepared is Africa?”
This is the second among the series of Workshops organized by the ARUA Centre of Excellence for Unemployment and Skills Development (ARUA, CoE-USD) under the “Partnership, Research, and Capacity-Building for Youth Unemployment Solutions in Africa (PRAC 4 YUSA) Grant (ES/T003790/1). This International Workshop is of significance because it forms part of the ARUA 2nd Biennial Conference, which took place at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.
During the Conference, the ARUA CoE-USD participated actively, and sponsored selected doctoral students and early career researchers from across three universities in Africa, (University of Lagos, Nigeria, University of Ghana, and the University of Cape Town). The half-day workshop was put together with a view to:
- Building a solid bond between the ARUA, CoE-USD, University of Lagos (i.e. the Hub) and the Partner Universities across Africa (i.e. the Spokes). The latter include the University of Ghana (Ghana), the University of Nairobi, (Kenya), and the University of Cape Town (South Africa).
- To expose selected doctoral students and early career researchers, selected from the ARUA, CoE-USD, University of Lagos (Nigeria), the University of Ghana (Ghana), the University of Nairobi (Kenya), and the University of Cape Town (South Africa), to recent scholarly and policy debates around the subject of youth unemployment and the 4th Industrial Revolution in Africa
- To develop new research agenda around the subject of youth employment crisis and the 4th Industrial Revolution within the African context.
- To expand the network of ARUA, CoE-USD to other willing African Universities that may be represented at the ongoing ARUA 2nd Biennial International Conference, Nairobi, Kenya.
- To expand the network of the ARUA, CoE-USD to other willing private sector players that may be represented at the ongoing ARUA 2nd Biennial International Conference, Nairobi, Kenya. (vi) To expand the network of the ARUA, CoE-USD to other willing public sector players that may be represented at the ongoing ARUA 2nd Biennial International Conference, Nairobi, Kenya. In view of these broad objectives, eight presentations were scheduled for the Half-Day Workshop.
The Director, ARUA, CoE-USD, University of Lagos (Nigeria), Associate Professor Sunday Adebisi led the opening session of the Workshop with a well-delivered opening speech. He provided the audience with up-to-date statistics with a view to demonstrating the severity of the youth employment crisis in Africa and the urgent need to develop home-grown solutions that will foster job creation opportunities for young people across the Continent.