World Bank kick-starts SIRA initiative to equip 28m West, Central African youth with future-ready skills
The World Bank has unveiled a new regional initiative, skills for innovation, resilience, and aspirations (SIRA) aimed at transforming education and skills development for 28 million young people across 22 countries in West and Central Africa.
Speaking during the International Children’s Day in Abuja, Melissa Adelman, a senior economist, described SIRA as a response to a looming demographic wave that presents both “a challenge and an opportunity.”
With the youth population in the region expected to exceed 240 million by 2050, Adelman emphasised that urgent action is needed to ensure this growing generation is equipped with skills relevant to a rapidly changing labour market.
“Too many young people have more education than their parents but still lack the skills needed to access good jobs,” she said, pointing to the high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment.
SIRA builds on the success of Nigeria’s Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), which has already impacted over 15 million youth.
Like AGILE, SIRA combines knowledge-sharing platforms with large-scale, long-term financing to tackle cross-cutting barriers in education and training.
“We are not starting from scratch. We are standing on the shoulders of proven success.”
The initiative is built on four strategic pillars: schools, skills, society, and systems.
Each pillar is designed to address both the supply and demand challenges youth face, from inadequate school infrastructure to socio-cultural barriers that particularly limit girls’ access to education.
Key interventions include expanding quality secondary schools, offering digital and life skills training, and providing financial incentives to poor households.
Adelman said that SIRA is intentionally flexible, allowing each participating country to tailor interventions to their local context while benefiting from cross-country learning.
“This coordinated effort will provide solutions at the scale needed to meet the region’s educational and economic challenges head-on,” she added.
The World Bank aims to enrol 21 million more children in secondary school and provide seven million youth with labour-market-relevant training through the initiative.
As SIRA kicks off its implementation phase, Adelman expressed hope that lessons from Nigeria’s success would guide other countries, setting the stage for a new era of regional collaboration and youth empowerment.
