Tanzania: AfDB Launches $54 million Initiative to Create Blue Economy Jobs for Youth

The African Development Bank Group and the Government of Tanzania have initiated the Skills Development for Youth Employability in the Blue Economy project. This project will help Zanzibari youth discover well-paying maritime and other blue economy positions.

The Bank is contributing $48.65 million in grant financing to the initiative, and the Tanzanian government is contributing an additional $5.42 million. The grant agreement was signed by both parties on the 21st of November 2022, with its official inauguration occurring on the 17th of May 2023.

Over 1,500 of the approximately 43,000 adolescents (40 percent of whom are female) will be prepared to launch their own businesses through this initiative. They will be able to increase their standard of living and stimulate the creation of new employment. More than 29% of Zanzibar’s gross domestic product is derived from ocean-based activities, including tourism, and approximately 33% of the population is employed in these industries.(link is to an external website) Nonetheless, 60% of island tourism employees are foreigners.

President of Zanzibar Dr. Hussein Mwinyi inaugurated the project at a ceremony held at the Golden Tulip Hotel near Zanzibar Airport. The ceremony was attended by ministers, permanent secretaries, and other senior government officials, as well as representatives of civil society and youth-led organisations.

President Mwinyi thanked the African Development Bank Group for its timely support, which he said would boost youth employability and job creation in the tourism, maritime, and oil and gas sectors.

The Skills Development for Youth Employability in Blue Economy initiative will support the growth of the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) by building a technology and business incubator on Unguja, the main island of the archipelago. The incubator will provide training and mentorship to young entrepreneurs, thereby enhancing employment creation in the tourism, maritime, and oil and gas industries. Approximately 400 academics and lecturers at SUZA will receive new training and abilities.

The initiative will also contribute to the modernization of Karume Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), which will offer oil and gas-related courses.

In addition, the initiative will fund the construction of five vocational training centres on the islands of Unguja and Pemba.

Patricia Laverley, manager of the Tanzania branch of the African Development Bank Group, acknowledged the government of Zanzibar’s request for assistance in addressing the peninsula’s high juvenile unemployment rate. She stated that the Bank’s presence at the inauguration ceremony demonstrated its commitment to advance human capital development and assist in the economic transformation of Zanzibar.

The initiative is consistent with the 2021 Education Policy and Blue Economy Strategy of Zanzibar.