About

Preparing African youth for the future of work requires more than simply teaching technical or entrepreneurial skills. While much existing research focuses on “hard skills” such as STEM competencies and digital capabilities, and “soft skills” such as communication and adaptability, African young people also face broader structural challenges. These include high levels of unemployment and precarious work, mismatches between education systems and labour market demands, and low rates of secondary and tertiary education completion.

Understanding young people’s own descriptions of dignified work on the African continent, aspirations, and labour market participation is critical, given the challenges young people encounter. To address these challenges, the nature of skills needed to thrive in both the current and future world of work is an important gap that must be systematically addressed – and understood across various sectors and characteristics of work.Future Fit Young Africa (FFYA) is part of the Youth Futures in Dignified and Fulfilling Work in Africa (Youth Futures) programme of research, which is a three-year multi-country collaborative initiated by the Mastercard Foundation. It comprises four complementary pillars, namely: (1) Youth preparedness; (2) Indigenous enterprises in the informal economy; (3) Policy and industrial regulation; and (4) The development of a data repository.

Youth Futures in Dignified and Fulfilling Work in Africa (Youth Futures) is a three-year multi-country collaborative program of research initiated by the Mastercard Foundation comprising four complementary pillars, namely: (1) Youth preparedness; (2) Indigenous enterprises in the informal economy; (3) Policy and industrial regulation; and (4) The development of a data repository. This research is conducted through four African institutions: the African Institute for Policy Development (AFIDEP), Kenya; the Centre for the Future of Work at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa; the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa; and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana.

Parallel to the four research pillars is a Community of Practice (CoP), intended to provide a platform for shared learning, deepening complementarity across the four pillars, and mediating the transfer of learning into programming at scale. The youth preparedness pillar, referred to as FFYA, is implemented by the HSRC. It is led by Dr Angelique Wildschut (Principal Investigator, HSRC) and Professor Lesley Powell (Co- Principal Investigator, University of Cape Town).

Research questions

FFYA aims to answer the following research questions:

1. What ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills do young people across the African continent require to better navigate the future of work in multiple sectors (across the formal to informal spectrum), and how might this knowledge advance meaningful and sustainable youth livelihoods?

2. How might career or vocational guidance be re-imagined to better address the aspirations of young Africa, the changing nature of and contemporary challenges of work, and the economic development needs of the African continent?

Study design

FFYA is organised into three Learning Areas and conducted across five African countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa. The three Learning Areas are as follows:

  1. Learning Area 1 (LA1): Reviewing current data on youth readiness

This Learning Area collates and repackages existing knowledge on youth readiness for the future of work. It synthesises knowledge on the actual experiences of young people, of the history of the skills debate, and on career and vocational guidance to better inform the rest of the study, as well as the meanings that young people attach to the nature and future of work.

  1. Learning Area 2 (LA2): Skills from above and below

Drawing on Bryan S. Turner’s (1990) approach to classifying phenomena as ‘from above’ (state or institutionally-led), ‘from below’ (participatory, on the ground) and whether public or private, this Learning Area aims to amplify transformative approaches to skills development by centring young people’s skills journeys (both what they have and what they need), and showcasing how institutions (both educational and government) innovatively address the challenge. This is being done through case studies (LA2a) with educational and training institutions, employing institutions or organisations and Digital Storytelling (LA2b) with young people.

  1. Learning Area 3 (LA3): Soft skills, values and career guidance

This Learning Area proposes the adoption of a new theoretical lens - the refracted economies framework (Swartz, Chetty and Mncwango, 2026), to redefine possible youth futures within specific sectors using a youth-friendly and more fluid framework that opens possibilities for young people to imagine their working futures. The envisaged output is an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven career guidance tool, called Chanua.

See learning areas in image (left)

Approaches

This study adopts an emancipatory and participatory research approach that treats young people as active “knowledge producers” rather than passive subjects. It emphasises egalitarian, collaborative, and non-extractive partnerships that respect local contexts, foreground indigenous knowledge systems, amplify marginalised voices, and return evidence to communities. A major component is digital storytelling, which enables young people to share their experiences, aspirations, and livelihood journeys in their own voices. This method supports deeper reflection, co-creation, and empowerment while generating digital artefacts that may also contribute to an AI-powered career guidance tool. It uses the navigational capacities framework (Swartz, 2021), developed in response to Global North youth development theories such as resilience and resistance, which often overlook structural inequalities in the Global South. It also introduces the refracted economies framework, which reimagines economic sectors in more youth-friendly and accessible ways while challenging current ideas around work. Instead of traditional economic or occupational classifications, it groups livelihoods into nine colour-coded “economies” (such as lavender, yellow, orange, green, blue, bronze, silver, gold and platinum economies) to help young people recognise diverse pathways for work, entrepreneurship, creativity, and mobility.

Partnership hubs

The study is implemented through Partnership Hubs in each of the five participating countries. Each hub consists of two senior academics, a postdoctoral fellow to support emerging researcher development, and a Master’s-level research assistant. Master’s level Research Assistants play the role of youth advisors on the project and are organised into a Youth Advisory Group that participates in all study activities – i.e., giving input on governance, research design, data collection instruments, as well as knowledge production. By bringing together researchers, partner institutions within the Mastercard Foundation ecosystem, and other stakeholders in equitable partnerships, it supports collaboration across all Learning Areas of the study. In addition, the hubs are linked to a broader Community of Practice on Youth Futures in Dignified and Fulfilling Work in Africa, strengthening collaboration and knowledge sharing across the Youth Futures programme of research.

Research Outputs

Publications

  • Critical reviews
  • Case studies
  • Journal articles
  • Book chapters

Digital stories

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Toolkits

  • AI-powered career guidance tool