Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire — A West African ministerial conference on youth employment will be held on 18 October 2016 at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) headquarters in Abidjan.

It will bring together ministers, youth organisations, business leaders, universities and representatives of civil society to collaborate and strengthen regional AfDB member countries' capacity to improve operations and develop policies that support youth employment and entrepreneurship.

In response to the current crisis, the African Development Bank has adopted a Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (SEJA) for 2016-2025, which is in line with the AfDB's Ten-Year Strategy and its High 5 priorities. Creating productive jobs for youth will improve their living conditions and their participation in Africa's growth and economic transformation. This investment in youth will help improve living conditions for the people of Africa, while providing the human capital necessary to transform key sectors such as energy, agriculture and industry, and stimulate regional integration, as outlined in the High 5s. SEJA was launched during the Bank's Annual Meetings in May 2016 in Lusaka, Zambia, and the Board of Governors has directed the team in charge of the strategy to begin is implementation.

The Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy will be presented during the conference and flagship programmes will be proposed. This high-level meeting will include discussions on sustainable solutions to tackle youth unemployment that will produce medium and long-term impacts and positively influence the continent's growth and transformation. The ministers and other stakeholders will advise and provide direction to the team responsible for implementing SEJA to ensure that the solutions to youth unemployment have the appropriate context to guarantee a transformative impact.