The African Union Commission Specialised Technical Committees (STC) on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration is the leading Conference for African ministers responsible for finance, economy, planning, integration and economic development, and central bank governors, to discuss matters about the development of Africa. This STC is also charged with following up on implementation of the integration agenda for the continent.

The AU Commission is organizing its 4th STC on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration under the theme “Leveraging the 4th Industrial Revolution to address Youth Unemployment in Africa”. The theme is relevant in driving the realization of Africa’s Agenda 2063, particularly, “Aspiration 1” which seeks a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development.

Today, the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is bringing the hope of a new era for Africa’s transformation and prosperity, as it is changing the way we live, think and work, through rapid advancements in digital technology, new materials, especially when it comes to advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. It focuses on the transition to new systems, built on the infrastructure of the digital evolution and has the potential of fast-tracking the integration of the continent into the global value chain, through industrial development. The 4IR will enable companies and organizations to benefit from the efficiencies at the work place. It is estimated that, faster adoption of digital technology will enable companies and organizations to work smarter and faster, resulting in the creation of value gains for customers and users.

More specifically, African policy makers need to ensure that the 4IR, take advantage of the opportunities associated with a young population, and the expected demographic dividend. Therefore, tying these opportunities together in a region that is urbanizing faster than any other should be a strategic imperative. It is estimated that by 2050 Africa will have 830 million youth. Therefore, successfully harnessing their potential will support broad-based innovations increased productivity, and lead to inclusive and sustainable economic growth across the region.

The 2020 STC aims at exploring the impact of the 4IR on Africa and African youth participation in the future of job market, given the changing dynamics. It will deliberate on how African leaders and policy-makers can harness the impact of the 4IR to create a future-driven inclusive society aiming at reducing unemployment amongst African youths. This will include assessing the continent’s readiness to absorb the shocks of the ‘4th Wave,’ in order to harness the opportunities of the digital era. It will also identify the drivers of change and their likely consequences over the next half century, and propose policy choices that will enable Africa to fulfil its potential in the years ahead. The STC will also add to the scant knowledge base on this topic for Africa and reflect the latest evidence from leading reports such as the Africa’s Development Dynamics, whose 2020 edition would focus on policy responses needed for a better “Future of Work” in Africa given the process of technological change, demographic, urban and green transition. Read the Concept note here

Over the past centuries, there have been major advancements that have revolutionized industrial production processes. During the previous revolutions, natural resources were the engine of change in the production system, from an agrarian and handicraft economy, to an industrial and mechanical economy. The end of the last century begun with the expansion of information and knowledge economy, with the automation of production, electronic, computerization and internet all over the world. The 4IR is expected to take information and knowledge economy to an extraordinary new level, with the introduction of major technological advancements that present enormous opportunities for new business models, value-production, integrated production structure and IT infrastructure.

The African continent can only harness the full benefits of the 4IR era, if the necessary parameters, instruments and regulations are put in place, on the national, regional and continental level. This will allow the continent as a whole, to:

1. Capitalize on the opportunities offered by the future production of the digital era;
2. Develop tools to mitigate future anticipated challenges; and
3. Be swift to respond to disruptive, unexpected and unknown shocks.

According to a readiness assessment analysis conducted by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with A.T. Kearney in 2018, countries that have a large and more complex structure of production are considered readier for the future. This is because they already have a structured production base on which they can build upon, which include: Technology and Innovation; Human Capital; Global Trade and Investment; Institutional Framework; Sustainable Resource; and Demand Environment. Unfortunately, during this assessment, African countries fell in the category of nascent countries, meaning that they lack the production capacity, as well as the key enablers of the production component required to increase their readiness for the 4IR.

In this regard, it is important that African leaders, policy-makers and business leaders identify specific production structures and indicators lacking in their respective countries. This will help identify the areas of major concern, as well as provide a clearer indication of where they stand in terms of readiness, so as to develop strategic mitigating tools to address them.

The Expert and Ministerial sessions and discussions aim to drive the realization of various Agenda 2063 flagship projects and programmes such as the African Financial Institutions (African Central Bank, African Monetary Fund, African Investment Bank and Pan African Stock Exchange) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). It will also be a platform to brief Member States on AUC programme updates and progress related and propose policy recommendations for approval by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Union.

The 2020 STC on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration will tackle the topic of the 4th Industrial Revolution and Africa’s readiness to take part of this revolution. Africa has skipped three industrialization cycles and must ensure that it is part of the upcoming fourth industrial revolution. In order for Africa to become part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the continent must diversify, modernize technology, and produce the right goods effective for the AfCFTA to be successful.

Here is an overview of the four thematic areas:

1. Work skills for the future. Looking at this from the African perspective, alongside the rapid growth of the youth population in Africa, is the fact that it is increasingly becoming better educated. It is estimated that by 2030, the number of youths aged between 20-24 years with secondary education will peak to about 59%, compared to the current figure of 46% (Youth Policy report, 2018). Additionally, statistics indicates that in Africa, while only about 3.1 million jobs are created each year, 10 to 12 million young people are in search of employment, leaving a significant amount of youth unemployed (AfDB, 2018). Skills-mismatch is also another reason for youth unemployment, as young people lack the skills required for them to be employed. As a result, organizations and higher education institutions need to adopt new approaches to learning, due to the evolution of future skills becoming more interdisciplinary, with critical soft skills being the essential factor. Some researchers further suggest that in future, up to 47% of jobs may be automated while others are suggesting a figure of only 9% (Saadia Zahidi, 2018). Thus, considering that human capital and skills are complementary to other factors of the production process, the government needs to prepare the youth for a future work integration, based on skills of the future.
2. Government and Regulatory framework for the 4th Industrial Revolution. Establishing appropriate regulatory framework in respect to 4IR is essential as it sets the tone, define parameters as well as establish the rules governing every sector, economy or industry, towards achieving technological development and advanced manufacturing. These regulatory and governance frameworks can either facilitate the digital era to grow rapidly, or slow down the successful adaptation of emerging technologies in production. Therefore, considering that there is a direct correlation between regulatory framework and responsiveness to change in business environment and the productions process, both the private and public sectors can take advantage to lay the rules for the entire industry. Hence, in order to allow for an easy transition from one revolution into another, government leaders and institutions must lead the process to provide the right digital infrastructure, and policy reforms needed to change the business climate.
3. Future of Productivity: Harnessing 4IR to Achieve Agenda 2063. The arrival of the 4IR is expected to create up to 3.7 trillion in value to manufacturing firms across the globe, after a prolonged period of the manufacturing sector experiencing productivity stagnation. The digitalization of manufacturing will lead to a wide range of changes to the manufacturing processes, outcomes and business models, leading to significant benefits for users. As a result, production processes can be decentralized in real time, doing away with centralization (Fraunhofer, 2014). Furthermore, technology holds incredible potential to transform sectors rapidly, to increase the productivity of systems while lowering emissions and waste. This allows sectors, the opportunity to monitor and manage the Earth’s surface and resources at a speed and scale, hitherto could not have dreamt of. Additionally, technology enables sectors to collect and harness vast amounts of data, and make breakthrough advances in areas like healthcare, agriculture, energy, education and mobility.
4. Financial technology (FinTech), Digital Currency and Financial Inclusion The past decade has seen the emergence of digital platforms across Africa. Mobile financial services (MFS) has become a very popular trend across the African continent with the emergence of mobile phones to access financial services and execute financial transactions such as M-Banking, M-payments and M-money. In addition, the emergence and development of electronic financial solutions has been improving the online payment systems in countries, where consumers do not necessarily have debit/credit cards or bank accounts. However, better access to all segments of the African population including rural users, farmers and women and youth, is required to make an impact on the continent’s socio-economic growth and development. Financial Technology (Fintech) companies are providing digital solutions to financial services sector, with block-chains allowing digital transactions between two parties without verification of a third party, and facilitating transfer of crypto-currencies such as bitcoins. The greater use of social media platforms to promote products across regions, has been improving and promoting the use of online payment systems. All these Digital financial Services solutions help facilitate cross border transactions.

The following specific outcomes are expected from the 4th STC:

1. Opportunities, risks and challenges of the 4IR from the view point of policy makers are recognized;
2. Framework of Future job opportunities for Africa is available;
3. Available frontier technologies that can be leveraged to create job opportunities for Africa’s youth are identified;
4. Policy and regulatory frameworks and infrastructure requirements essential to drive the growth of the 4IR in the context of our continent’s development needsare identified; and Roles of the private sector in driving the 4IR in the continent is highlighted

Several side events will be organized on the margins of the 4th STC on Finance Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration. Broadly, the side events will, among other topical events focus on:

• High-Level Policy Dialogue on Taxation of Digitalized Economy in Africa.
• High-Level Conference on Governance and Corruption Issues.
• Migration and Development.
• Realizing Africa’s Digital Transformation through improved and integrated Digital Financial and Payment Systems- AUC/Afreximbank side event.

Several side events will be organized on the margins of the 4th STC on Finance Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration. Broadly, the side events will, among other topical events focus on:

• 4th STC Concept Note
• Provisional Agenda- Ministerial Meeting
• Provisional Agenda- Experts Meeting

You can find more working documents under the "Attachments" Tab of the "Event Documents" section below

Several side events will be organized on the margins of the 4th STC on Finance Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration. Broadly, the side events will, among other topical events focus on:

• Declaration and report of the 3rd STC on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration
• African Continental Free Trade Area
• 2019 Africa Development Dynamics Report
• Domestic Resource Mobilization: a Fight against Corruption and Illicit Financial Flows
• African Integration Booklet
• African Integration and Development Review
• Publication of the PAN-African Financial Institutions
• African Union and the digital entrepreneurship here
• Africa's Future: Youth and the Data defining their lives
• African Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy 2024
• Continental Strategy for Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (TVET) to Foster Youth Employment
• 11th African Private Sector Forum Declaration 2019

The 2020 Conference is bringing together Ministers, Senior Officials, and Experts from the relevant AU Member State Ministries and Partners to discuss and provide inputs on a number of priority areas of the department. The participants will include:

• The African Union;
• Ministers of Finance, Economic Planning, and Integration of AU Member States;
• Central Bank Governors and Senior Officials of AU Member States;
• CEO of African Stock Exchanges
• African Union Organs and Specialized Institutions and Agencies;
• Regional Economic Communities;
• African Development Bank;
• OECD Development Centre;
• UN Agencies;
• International Monetary Fund;
• World Bank;
• Other international and Regionals Institutions;
• Civil Society Organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations;
• Private Sector representatives.