AAAP in the Media
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Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge Francophone Cohort
The Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge is an annual competition and awards program for youth-led enterprises (50% women-led) organized by GCA and AfDB as part of the Youth Adapt Flagship Program.
The competition invites young entrepreneurs and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Africa to submit innovative solutions on climate adaptation and resilience. The winners will be part of a 1-year incubator program, which will provide tailored training on business development and adaptation, coaching, networking opportunities, and grants to enable the youth-led enterprises to scale up their innovative businesses and build resilience among marginalized communities in Africa
The objective of the project is to deliver business development services (BDS) to and build the institutional capacity of youth-led enterprises, positioning them to effectively utilize grants offered and to also mobilize additional private capital, scale up climate action and create employment opportunities on the continent.
- Build youth capacity for employability and unlocking access to finance
- Deliver a 1-year incubator program tailored training on business development and adaptation
- Provide coaching and networking opportunities
- Equip young innovators and MSMEs with customized skills and resources to scale up climate adaptation innovations and boost the creation of jobs
- Grant disbursement to the 5 winners of the YouthADAPT winners
- 12-weeks training with practical skills in entrepreneurship and business development and climate adaptation
- Mentorship to enable the winners to execute their business plans, create jobs, and support the continental effort towards climate resilience
- Training materials developed and training workshops delivered tailored to the selected youth-led start-ups
- Support to the youth led-businesses to develop and implement their business plans and to mainstream adaptation and climate resilience in their businesses
- Delivered business development services (BDS) to and building the institutional capacity of youth-led enterprises
- Youth-led enterprises positioned to effectively utilize grants offered and to also mobilize additional private capital
- Scaled up climate action and ability create employment opportunities on the continent
USD 500 Million
Rapid Climate Risk Assessments for Five African Cities (Batch II)
Currently, Africa’s infrastructure needs are around USD 130–170 billion a year, with an investment gap of over 50–60% of that amount. Making Africa’s infrastructure resilient adds only an average of 3% to total costs, but every $1 spent could yield $4 of benefits.
The Africa Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator (Pillar 2 of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)) focuses on accelerating infrastructure resilience efforts on the continent. It will strengthen the enabling environment and provide the technical support to scale up investment in resilient infrastructure. It will also ensure that new and existing infrastructure uses nature-based solutions and create positive socioeconomic impacts and green jobs. By 2025, Pillar 2 of the AAAP aims to scale up investment at national and city level for climate-resilient infrastructure in key sectors such as water, transport, energy, and waste management, and integrate resilience in up to 50% (by value) of new infrastructure projects.
The City Adaption Accelerators (CAAs) will conduct Rapid Climate Risk Assessments (RCRAs) in target cities, which aim to improve climate adaptation and build resilience in urban areas.
The primary purpose of the RCRAs is to inform the identification and preparation of AfDB projects.
The RCRAs will inform the development of a comprehensive climate adaptation strategy and prioritization plan and are a crucial step towards the development of the CAA for each of the target cities. The overarching objective of the CAA is to create a shared strategic framework for GCA’s engagement in climate adaptation and resilience building in urban areas. The development objective of the CAA is to support cities and countries to strengthen their urban climate adaptation and resilience outcomes through enhanced (1) understanding; (2) planning; (3) investments; and (4) governance and capacity building
- informed future discussions surrounding climate adaptation investments
- technical guidance to firms towards developing well-informed analyses
- Literature review of vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessments of cities to climate change
- Scoping of past and current initiatives and key stakeholders relevant for adaptation and resilience building in cities.
- City Scan system established for a rapid review of actions around climate hazard and risk assessments and more locally focused assessments of vulnerability and adaptive capacity.
- Rapid Climate Risk Assessments prepared: readily available and accessible information on key climate hazards and associated risks; will indicate whether an in-depth climate risk assessment is required.
- City Scoping system established that provides insight into past and current initiatives relevant for adaptation and resilience building and identifies key stakeholders and relevant initiatives.
- Strengthened urban climate risk management for resilient cities;
- Equitable access to water resources that are well and sustainably managed created; Improved urban liveability and public health due to a reduction in climate risks stemming from heat stress and disease
~€45,000 per city (~€225,000 total)
Liberia -Program for Advancing Youth Entrepreneurship Investment (PAYEI)
In Liberia, the unemployment rate is estimated at 85% with the youth (15-35 years) accounting for 75%. The youth population (15-35 years) is growing 3% per annum on average and currently makes up nearly 40% of the country’s total population of about 5.2 million. Out of the young working population, 90% face vulnerable or irregular employment. Youth, not in employment, education, and training (NEET) amount to 45% of youth (15-24 years).
Employment creation in Liberia faces extraordinary challenges. A significant number of youths are engaged in the development of MSMEs – or aspire to be – yet many of them operate in the informal sector with low productivity due to limited access to financial and non-financial services which are hindering their growth. While limited education and industry and business skills may be impeding youth entrepreneurship and MSME development, weak infrastructure, limited finance, low institutional capacity, and other structural issues are limiting the prospects for rapid and sustainable MSME development and the generation of jobs
The overarching goal of the project is to foster an optimal environment for the development and promotion of youth entrepreneurship and youth-led businesses in Liberia by establishing sustainable vehicles and mechanisms to deploy financial services and non-Financial Services. This is achieved through:
- Establishing governance and stewardship for entrepreneurship
- Strengthening support to entrepreneurship and SME development
- Unlocking accessible financing to young entrepreneurs, youth-led growing small businesses and established SMEs.
- Conducting labor market assessment to identify potential adaptation jobs using an established adaptation taxonomy
- Building capacity in enterprises for climate resilient jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in adaptation by embedding training into local institutions such as TVET centres
- Propose recommendations to create adaptation jobs through existing MDB investments in the country
- Create at least 1050 direct jobs (including 30% climate adaptation jobs)
- Support at least 300 Youth-led enterprises
- At least 1000 youth to be trained in entrepreneurship and business development to secure formal work or self-employment
- Improved support systems and frameworks for entrepreneurship that ensure young entrepreneurs, youth-led growing small businesses, and established SMEs receive the necessary guidance, mentorship, and resources to thrive
- Enhanced ecosystem that provides comprehensive support to entrepreneurs and SMEs. This includes access to business development services, training programs, networking opportunities, and technical assistance
USD 17 Million (African Development Bank, OPEC, EU)