Dalberg partners Africa Centre, Africa Leadership Institute to launch “Future Forum”

&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">Global business and research pioneer&comma; Dalberg&comma; has partnered  The Africa Center and the African Leadership Institute to launch &lpar;AFLI&rpar; the &&num;8220&semi;Future Forum&&num;8221&semi; initiative in New York City&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"wp-block-paragraph">According to a&NewLine;release by African Media Agency&comma; AMA&comma; made available to OpenLife&comma; the future-forward&NewLine;project brings together leaders and innovators from across Africa&comma; and the&NewLine;world&comma; to create a shared vision around today&&num;8217&semi;s challenges and tomorrow&&num;8217&semi;s&NewLine;opportunities &&num;8211&semi; especially those related to African youth and employment&period;<br>&NewLine;The event&comma; structured around Africa &commat; Work&comma; created a platform promoting&NewLine;curated conversations between Africans and Diaspora&period; &&num;8220&semi;Africa&commat;Work is a&NewLine;conversation between Africans and the Diaspora that aims deepen our shared&NewLine;understanding of African labor market complexities&comma; highlight and accelerate&NewLine;innovative ideas and channel investments towards solutions that positively&NewLine;impact the future of work on the continent&&num;8221&semi;&comma; explains Dalberg Partner and&NewLine;event co-host&comma; Robin Miller&period;<br>&NewLine;Africa&&num;8217&semi;s fast expanding youth population presents a unique opportunity to&NewLine;prepare an emerging workforce for the jobs of tomorrow&period; This generation is&NewLine;projected to reach 40&percnt; of the world&&num;8217&semi;s total youth population by 2030&comma; which&NewLine;could have incredible economic implications&period; As emphasised by the African&NewLine;Development Bank &lpar;AfDB&rpar;&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Youth are Africa&&num;8217&semi;s greatest asset&period; Africa&&num;8217&semi;s&NewLine;youth population is rapidly growing and expected to double to over 830 million&NewLine;by 2050&period; If properly harnessed&comma; this increase in the working age population&NewLine;could support increased productivity and stronger&comma; more inclusive economic&NewLine;growth across the continent&&num;8221&semi;&period; However&comma; given high unemployment&comma; there is a&NewLine;significant risk that if labor market challenges are not fully understood&comma; the&NewLine;potential of this influx can be lost&period; At the same time&comma; digital technologies&NewLine;are rapidly shifting the nature of work around the world&period; This is an&NewLine;opportunity to think strategically and plan interventions that not only address&NewLine;yesterday&&num;8217&semi;s problems&comma; but also tomorrow&&num;8217&semi;s global opportunities&period;<br>&NewLine;Uzodinma Iweala&comma; CEO of the Africa Center note&comma; &&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;re delighted to&NewLine;partner with Dalberg and the AFLI Tutu fellows to curate frank discussions&NewLine;about the future of our continent&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s through these dialogues that we open up&NewLine;understandings for not just why we need to but how we need to focus on&NewLine;developing creative solutions for the present and the world to come&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br>&NewLine;Participating in the event&&num;8217&semi;s talks were James Mwangi &lpar;Executive Director of the&NewLine;Dalberg Group&rpar;&comma; Bright Simons &lpar;Founder and President of mPedigree&rpar;&comma; Akintunde&NewLine;Oyebode &lpar;Special Advisor&colon; Trade&comma; Investment and Innovation of Nigeria&&num;8217&semi;s Ekiti&NewLine;State Government&rpar; and Charlotte Ashamu &lpar;the Smithsonian National Museum of&NewLine;African Art&&num;8217&semi;s Associate Director of Advancement and External Affairs&rpar;&period; All&NewLine;contributing speakers had insightful information to share&comma; each from their own&NewLine;perspectives yet supporting a common focus&comma; namely the African employment&NewLine;landscape and African youth in particular&period; Dr Jackie Chimhanzi&comma; CEO of AFLI&comma;&NewLine;said &&num;8220&semi;it was heart-warming and gratifying to witness Archbishop Tutu Fellows&NewLine;collaborating on such a critical issue&period; This is in keeping with the vision of&NewLine;AFLI to curate a network of young leaders who will transform Africa&NewLine;together&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;