UNIDO's Africa Industrialization Day focuses on women and youth

BRUSSELS, 4 November 2015 – “Developing SMEs for poverty eradication and job creation for women and youth" was the theme of this year’s Africa Industrialization Day. On this occasion, the UNIDO office in Brussels hosted a lunchtime celebration for all the African embassies.

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The keynote speaker, Mr. John Clarke, Deputy Director General for Agriculture and Rural Development at the European Commission underlined the critical role of agriculture in development. He also mentioned the priorities of the Valletta Summit to fight migration:

“The Valletta declaration recognized the role of agricultural development in addressing some of the root causes of migration. Among the 16 flagship actions, "responsible private sector investment for developing African Agriculture" must be implemented by the end of 2016, and I invite UNIDO to join us in endeavour.” said Clark.

The conference followed with a response by H. E. Ajay Bramdeo, Representative of the African Union to the EU, and H. E. Patrick I. Gomes, Secretary General of the ACP.

At the event UNIDO’s activities in Africa for youth and women were highlighted, in particular the Entrepreneurship Curriculum Programme (ECP). The goal of ECP isto develop entrepreneurship culture and skills among young people by introducing ad hoc programmes in schools. UNIDO assists authorities in developing their own curriculum with syllabus, teachers’ guides, textbooks, monitoring and evaluation tools, assessment guidelines, training the trainers on entrepreneurship in high schools. So, far the programme has been developed in 11 countries.

The annual commemoration of the Africa Industrialization Day was mandated by the UN General Assembly resolution 44/237 of 22 December 1989. The event aims at animating discussions and generating political and financial commitment towards Africa’s industrial development in general, with a special focus on SMEs and marginalized groups as development agents.

You can find the ECP brochure here

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