MoPED Wraps Up 29th West African Experts’ Session with New Roadmap for Youth Employment
Sahid Bangura The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development (MoPED) has concluded a three-day regional meeting in Freetown, where West African senior officials and experts adopted the Freetown Declaration on Youth Employment, outlining commitments to tackle unemployment and expand economic opportunities for young people across the subregion.
The 29th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts for West Africa brought together more than 100 delegates from 28 to 30 October 2026 under the theme, “Unlocking the Potential of Young People in West Africa: Pathways to Employment, Economic Transformation and Resilience.”
The meeting focused on practical strategies to address youth unemployment, strengthen skills development and harness West Africa’s human and natural resources to promote inclusive economic growth.
At the conclusion of the deliberations, delegates adopted recommendations calling for increased investment in employment-generating sectors, stronger youth development institutions, improved alignment between education and labour-market demands, and better data to guide policies and programmes.
The recommendations also emphasised digital and entrepreneurial skills, technical and vocational education, gender-responsive planning, private-sector participation and stronger monitoring of public investment in young people.
During the discussions, delegates highlighted agriculture as a major source of employment that requires greater investment and modernisation to attract young people. Ghana’s representative called for improved access to land and finance, mechanised farming, seed funding and stronger support for young agricultural entrepreneurs.
The representative also advocated recognising sports as a viable employment and business sector, alongside measures to strengthen entrepreneurship and encourage public support for products and services developed by young people.
Senegal’s representative proposed dedicating at least two months of the three-month school vacation to vocational and professional training for young people aged 15 to 25. The proposal also called for greater attention to young women and improved coordination of youth employment and training policies.
Sierra Leone’s intervention highlighted the need to make teaching more attractive to young people through better incentives and remuneration. The representative also raised concerns about English Language performance and called for stronger investment in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and agriculture education.
Other participants stressed the importance of formally recognising skills acquired through apprenticeships and informal employment to improve young people’s access to further training and formal employment. Delegates also called for increased investment in agricultural enterprises, stronger regional value chains, improved access to markets and finance, and expanded opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The meeting further recommended decentralising youth training and enterprise support to rural communities, promoting sustainable tourism, improving gender-disaggregated data and strengthening cooperation among governments, regional institutions, development partners and the private sector.
To ensure the recommendations translate into measurable results, delegates called for a monitoring scorecard through which the Bureau and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) could track implementation by member States.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, ECA Subregional Office for West Africa Director Ngone Diop said the meeting had provided a framework for translating regional priorities into practical action. She urged member States to implement the recommendations within the proposed short-, medium- and long-term timelines, stressing the need to move beyond declarations and deliver tangible results.
Diop also highlighted West Africa’s considerable natural resources and estimated population of 480 million, noting the need to transform these assets into productive investments, employment opportunities and improved living conditions.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development Kenyeh Barlay, who officially closed the session, said the adoption of the Freetown Declaration fulfilled the challenge she had presented at the opening on behalf of Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh: to replace broad declarations with concrete commitments for young people.
Barlay called on the Secretariat and the Bureau to establish a system for tracking implementation and assessing progress against the agreed timelines. She said the region must demonstrate the political will to address persistent unemployment, limited fiscal space, the mismatch between education and labour-market requirements, and vulnerability to external shocks.
The Minister emphasised that the success of the meeting would ultimately depend on the practical results delivered by member States rather than the commitments announced during the conference.
She also commended ECA and its Subregional Office for West Africa for partnering with MoPED to organise the meeting and thanked the Secretariat, technical teams, participating institutions and media practitioners for their contributions.
Delegates endorsed Benin as the proposed host of the 30th Session of the Committee, tentatively scheduled for the last quarter of 2027. The Bureau and ECA are expected to undertake further consultations to finalise arrangements for the next session.
The adoption of the Freetown Declaration marks a significant regional commitment to addressing youth unemployment. Its impact will depend on sustained political leadership, adequate funding, effective coordination and accountability to ensure that the agreed measures translate into meaningful employment opportunities and inclusive economic development across West Africa.