Youth Development in Africa and China-Africa Youth Cooperation amid Covid-19 Pandemic

Wang Heng Zhang Shulin

Professor and Deputy Director, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University

From Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University

Africa is the continent with the youngest age structure in the world. The Agenda 2063 of the African Union specifically lists the promotion of youth development as its sixth major goal, and points out that Africa should become a people-centered Africa that allow all, especially women and youth, to give full play to their potential. President Xi Jinping attached great importance to the development of younger generation in Africa and the exchange and cooperation between Chinese and African youth. He pointed out in the keynote speech of the Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018 that youth is the hope of China-Africa relations. Quite a number of measures listed in the eight major initiatives for China-Africa cooperation are focused on training and supporting young people. However, the African young people are facing many difficulties amid the major changes unseen in a century as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the study of the development of African younger generation and the deepened China-Africa youth cooperation are of great significance to inheriting the traditional friendship between China and Africa as well as building a community with a shared future for mankind.

Status of African Youth

Development and China-Africa Youth Cooperation

The younger generation is the future of Africa and China-Africa cooperation. As a new force, the younger generation plays a significant role in various fields of China-Africa cooperation.

I. Status of Africa Youth Development

The youth population in Africa is large and growing fast. According to the data of the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Africas total population exceeded 1.3 billion by November 2020, among which, more than 400 million are young people aging between 15 and 35 years old (as shown in Figure 1). It can be seen that the population structure in Africa is very young. From the perspective of development trend, Africa is the region with the fastest population growth at present and even in the future. It is estimated that by 2025, Africas youth population will account for one fourth of that of the world; by 2100, the population of the African continent will account for 40% of the worlds total, and the youngsters under 25 years old will account for 60% of Africas total population.

African young people have strong will and great potential for making confribution to the development of Africa. Younger population provides important opportunities for social development, and a large number of young people are important resources for economic prosperity. African young people have strong willingness to work, innovate and start businesses, so there is a huge space for development. If proper measures are taken, Africa will have more labors and its consumer market will be of greater potential. Agenda 2063 of the African Union fully affirmed the great potential of demographic dividend in promoting African development, reducing poverty and stimulating economy, and promoted the introduction of a series of policies aimed at developing demographic dividend. However, we need to note that whether the young people could give full play to their characteristics and advantages in future development depends on whether the state can provide necessary health and education resources for the accumulation of human capital as well as adequate jobs for a large number of working population, and then turn this potential into a practical advantage.

II. Remarkable Results and Huge Potential of China-Africa Youth Cooperation

Firstly, mechanisms and platforms for cooperation are increasing. Since the setup of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation in 2000, China-Africa cooperation has been continuously advanced, and youth exchanges and cooperation have achieved remarkable results. In 2005, the Overseas Service Program of Chinese Young Volunteers initiated by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League was incorporated into Chinas foreign aid system and sent volunteers overseas for the first time. The Chinese Government sent 300 volunteers to Africa in 2006. The year 2011 witnessed the convening of the first China-Africa Young Leaders Forum. The “China-Africa Youth Festival” has been successfully held for five times since its launching in 2016. The work related to youth has been promoted as a key component of the China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism established in 2017. In addition, youth has also become the main force of China-Africa Peoples Forum, Media Cooperation Forum and Think Tank Forum within the framework of FOCAC.

Secondly, fields, main bodies and forms of exchanges have been enriched. In recent years, the exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and African young people in traditional fields such as education, art and culture have been consolidated, and the exchanges in emerging fields such as employment and entrepreneurship, cross-border e-commerce and scientific and technological innovation have also expanded at the right moment. Various groups of people including students, medical workers, military officers, businessmen, scientists and journalists from both China and Africa have had increasingly frequent and in-depth exchanges and cooperation, with more extensive and diversified channels. With diversified forms and rich contents, the activities are welcomed by both Chinese and African young people and have enhanced mutual understanding and pulled closer the young people from different countries.

Difficulties of African Youth Development and Opportunities of China-Africa Youth Cooperation

With the adverse impact of the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 on the political, economic and social development in Africa, the African young people are faced with even more severe situation for development. If the pandemic situation is not well handled and relevant policies are not properly implemented, Africas growing population will not only play a negative role, but also cause various social problems. In this context, it is worth giving a careful thinking about how to cultivate new opportunities for China-Africa youth cooperation in the crisis.

I. Difficulties Faced by African Youth for Development amid Pandemic

Firstly, the world economy is not favourable for African youth development. According to a report issued by the World Bank, the emerging markets and developing economies will contract by 2.5% in 2020, the Sub-Saharan Africas economic growth rate will drop from 2.4% in 2019 to -2.8% in 2020, while the per capita income will drop by 5.3%. Many African countries are facing the pressure of negative economic growth, and 34.3 million people in the world are falling into extreme poverty, of which African countries will account for 56% of the new poor population. The pandemic has brought about serious adverse effects on African economy and posed severe challenges to the survival and development of African youth.

Secondly, there is very limited domestic supports. Although African governments and inter-governmental organizations have been committed to developing infrastructure, the existing facilities fail to meet the development needs to a large extent. Many people are threatened by violence and disease. They often face problems such as water and electricity cut-off and lack of clean drinking water. Locusts, floods and droughts also seriously interfere with agricultural production in Africa. Theres no basic guarantee for living conditions of the nationals. The shortcomings of poor medical and health facilities, weak public health system and deficient governance capacity in African countries have been exposed amid the pandemic. All those problems exert serious impact on young peoples health and future development.

Thirdly, young people suffer from serious unemployment. The Report on Youth Employment Intervention in Africa issued by the United Nations International Labor Organization points out that at present, African youth are mainly employed in the agricultural and informal economic sectors, yet with very few job opportunities. Based on the current population growth rate and economic development prospects, it is estimated that at least 450 million jobs will be needed in the next 20 years, however there are actually less than 100 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused African youth to lose their jobs, but also seriously destroyed the normal education and training due to the lack of online-learning technology in many African countries. There has been high-level unemployment rate in some African countries, for instance, 61.3% of youth unemployment rate in South Africa and 56.4% of that in Angola in September 2020. The lack of income sources resulted in frustration and despair of young people, which are very likely to trigger various social problems and affect social stability.

II. African Youth Development and Opportunities for China-Africa Youth Cooperation

Historical experience has proved that every major global or regional crisis contains strategic opportunities. African youth development and China-Africa youth cooperation are also facing opportunities for development amid the pandemic.

Firstly, the transfer of international industrial chain has opened up new prospects for Africas development. The global industrial and supply chain have both been severely damaged by the pandemic. All countries are re-arranging their industrial chains that are more resilient. The vast number of developing countries are favored for their market, and the advantages of labor-intensive industries are obvious. Africa has also ushered in a historic opportunity to raise its position in the division of labor in global value chain. Better aware of the importance and urgency of economic diversification, African governments have adopted supportive measures to help their enterprises through the difficulties. The official launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on January 1, 2021 will bring about large number of job opportunities for African young people as well as further optimize the infrastructure and internal and external environment for the employment and entrepreneurship of African young people.

Secondly, the strong momentum of China-Africa cooperation has injected new impetus into economic recovery. The initiative of China-Africa joint efforts to build the Belt and Road is highly compatible with and complementary to the Agenda 2063 of the African Union. China-Africa practical cooperation has achieved fruitful results, bringing remarkable changes to Africa. The trade volume between China and Africa has increased by 20 times and the direct investment stock has increased by 100 times in the past two decades. China-Africa economic and trade cooperation still showed great resilience even under serious impact of COVID-19 in 2020. According to the statistics of Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and other departments, from January to October 2020, the trade between China and Africa decreased by less than 20%, and Chinas direct investment in Africa in the first 10 months was basically the same year on year, only decreased by 0.7%. Meanwhile, the contract amount signed by Chinese enterprises in Africa in the same period increased by 34% year on year, leading all regions in the world.

Thirdly, the new status of digital economy brings new opportunities for youth cooperation. According to the latest report released by Google, Internet economys contribution to Africas GDP in 2020 has reached US$115 billion, accounting for 4.5% of Africas GDP. The development of information technology provides the technical foundation for telemedicine, e-commerce, mobile payment and other emerging industries to usher in new development opportunities. A large number of growing enterprises are emerging in Africa. Cooperation on digital economy ushered in a rapid development opportunity, “cloud fairs”, online promotion events, live sales and other new forms are all booming. Youth has become the biggest implementing body and main object in the new industrial field. The opening of the “cloud era” indicates that the cooperation between the Chinese and African youths will enter a new era of “Internet plus”.

Reflections of African Youth

Development and China-Africa Youth Cooperation

A good top-level design should be made for China-Africa youth cooperation under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative, the African Unions Agenda 2063 and Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Projects of Five Colors are carried out as the enhancement of medium-and-long-term planning, namely Project Red to strengthen experience sharing on state governance among political parties and young political leaders of China and Africa; Project Green to strengthen China-Africa cooperation on green ecology, green finance and green agriculture; Project Blue to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in areas of ocean economy and “Internet plus”; Project White to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in medical industry and promote the application of traditional Chinese medical science in Africa; and Project Golden to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in developing production capacity and mining industry. Specifically, we can start from the following four aspects.

I. Making Young People Propellers of African Social Development Based on Education and Training

Education provides a channel for individual development and human resources for economic and social development. Since 2000, China has trained over 80,000 talents in various fields for more than 50 African countries and regional organizations, contributing to the enhancement of the independent capacity development of African countries. China and Africa can determine priority areas for future training cooperation based on African strategy, needs and will.

Firstly, China and African countries should strengthen cooperation on vocational training. Vocational training serves as an important foundation for promoting the development of African local technology and changing of production means. It is necessary to actively implement the projects listed in the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan, such as to the Luban Workshops to be set up in Africa, China-Africa Innovation Cooperation Center, the tailor-made program to train 1000 high-caliber Africans and the 50, 000 training opportunities for seminars and workshops. Vocational education should be guided to meet the needs of enterprises with the view of providing vocational and technical personnel to support long-term development. Chinas colleges and vocational education institutions should be encouraged to carry out vocational education and skills training in Africa, so as to improve the employment and entrepreneurship ability of young Africans.

Secondly, China-Africa cooperation on higher education should be expanded. Science and engineering education is the foundation of scientific and technological development. The development of higher science and engineering education is the priority for Africa to develop production and improve peoples life, but it is also the weak area of most African countries. China and Africa could strengthen cooperation in various fields including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, medical science, aviation, road and bridge engineering, computer, mining and agriculture, so as to enhance the training of high-caliber young personnel aiming at developing a team of hi-tech talents in urgent need of the African side.

Thirdly, the form of cooperation between China and Africa on basic education should be expanded and innovated. China and Africa can strengthen precise cooperation in the fields of mathematics and science curriculum, teaching materials and teaching in the stage of basic education. Cooperation on digital education or smart education could be carried out in an innovative way based on project bidding, assistance or jointly developing a network platform for China-Africa cooperation on education and a database if online teaching resources.

II. Taking the Advantage of Resuming Work and Production to Make Young People the Main Force in Developing China-Africa Cooperation

Africas public health system as a whole has been strengthened against the backdrop of the pandemic. China and Africa have forged profound friendship in supporting each other to overcome difficulties. As vaccination has started, the pandemic in Africa is expected to be mitigated gradually, setting stage for economic recovery.

Firstly, we should give full play to the policy advantages so as to facilitate the resumption of work and production. We should actively implement the spirit of the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, adapting to the long-term development trend of pandemic prevention and control and seeking new opportunities in the crisis. We should give play to the advantages of the BRI and AfCFTA and adopt policies to promote employment and improve productivity, so as to ensure the smooth operation of the production and supply chain. All resources should be mobilized to facilitate the resumption of work and production and to ensure the steady and increasing employment.

Secondly, efforts should be made to promote the development of the three networks (namely high-speed railway network, freeway network, regional airlines network) and the industrialization, to optimize China-Africa cooperation on production capacity and to strengthen infrastructure development based on African development needs. China could help African countries improve their agricultural governance capacity by sending agricultural experts to African countries, offering training program in agricultural development for young Africans, carrying out dialogues, discussions and practical cooperation projects for sharing experience on South-South agricultural cooperation as well as Chinas agricultural policy and implementation.

Thirdly, focus should be put on the long-run enhancement of the ability to adapt to the new trend of development. China and Africa should make active efforts to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in new fields such as medical industry, digital technology and smart medical care in view of the characteristics of peoples livelihood needs. We should support the integration of the African continent and the new infrastructure development, accelerate the development of digital economy, expand exchanges and cooperation between China and Africa in the fields of digitization and information communication, especially telemedicine, distance education and other new modes, and encourage young people to improve their innovation ability in the above fields.

III. Making Young People Driving Force for the Economic Development of China and Africa based on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Today, with a new round of rapid technological and industrial changes, enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship is a new idea and trend to solve the problems related to peoples livelihood. It is also a new question that young Chinese and African must think about as well as a new opportunity that they must seize.

Firstly, efforts should be made to deepen cooperation in traditional fields. China and Africa should continue to promote exchanges among young political leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists, carry out joint research, and gradually integrate China and Africa into the global network of innovation, entrepreneurship and science and technology, so as to inject new vitality into China-Africa cooperation. Both sides should improve the infrastructure environment, encourage young people to find innovative ideas and seize the opportunity to start their own businesses, all of which will become the driving force for the economic development of China and Africa.

Secondly, efforts should be made to deepen cooperation in innovation. We will strengthen cooperation in emerging areas such as Internet cross-border e-commerce and the Internet of Things. The Chinese side can organize young Africans to study on the platforms of Chinese Internet enterprises and educational institutions, so that they could experience entrepreneurship and enhance the endogenous driving force to development through innovation.

Thirdly, efforts should be made to optimize the policy environment for cooperation. Through “sharing innovative knowledge, cultivating entrepreneurial talents, building cooperation platform and sharing exchange mission”, we can further stimulate vitality, broaden space and create a good policy environment. We should successfully hold the "Internet plus" world youth innovation and entrepreneurship competition. The coverage of African competition area should be expanded, entrepreneurship practice encouraged, and entrepreneurial awareness and ability enhanced.

IV. Making Youth the Messengers of Inheriting Traditional Friendship between China and Africa Connected by Civilization and Culture

As the future of the development of China-Africa relations, the young people shoulder more responsibilities in promoting friendly cooperation between China and Africa, and should play a greater role in people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Africa.

Firstly, efforts should be made to build platforms for exchanges and cooperation between young Chinese and young Africans. We can learn from the experience of China-South Africa High-Level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism, and build more mechanisms for youth exchanges. China-Africa Youth Federation, Young Volunteers and other youth organizations could have more experience sharing activities to assist African young people to found their own organizations that fit for their national reality and have the characteristics of the times.

Secondly, efforts should be made to promote cooperation among think tanks and media of China and Africa, so as to improve public opinion environment for China-Africa cooperation. Exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and African higher learning institutes, think tanks and media could be facilitated for sharing knowledge and helping building a community of culture, so as to provide intellectual support to China-Africa cooperation and jointly improve voice in international community.

Thirdly, efforts should be made to deepen mechanisms of exchanges for China-Africa cooperation based on people-to-people and cultural mutual trust. People-to-people and cultural exchanges serves as an inexhaustible driving force for the further development of China-Africa cooperation. Exchanges on film and television, art and intangible cultural heritage should be enhanced to guide the Chinese and African young people to have good sentiments towards each others culture, so that they can feel and inherit the history-honored friendship between China and Africa and contribute to the sustainable development of China-Africa relations.

Great righteousness shows itself amid global pandemic. The concerted efforts of the Chinese and African young people to fight against the pandemic is a vivid interpretation of building a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future. Promoting exchanges and cooperation between young Chinese and young Africans for common development is the key to the sustainable development of China-Africa friendly relations. Standing at the important historical juncture of the second 20 years of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, the Chinese and African young people should take on more responsibilities and play a greater role, and make contribution to building a community with a shared future for mankind, in particular, building a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future.