From Education to Employability: Why Youth Skills Are the Missing Link in Economic and Climate Resilience

Across the Middle East and Africa, a generation of young people stands at a crossroads. They are more educated and connected than ever before, yet millions remain shut out of the workforce. Youth unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the highest in the world, about 24.4% in 2023, nearly double the global average. In sub-Saharan Africa, one million young Africans enter the labour market each month, but 86% of available jobs are in the informal sector, and too many youth lack the skills modern industries demand. This paradox, economies with abundant human capital but a persistent skills mismatch, is not just a statistic. It represents aspirations deferred for an entire generation, and a critical loss of potential for societies that need their energy and creativity.

The urgent task is to close the gap between young people’s skills and the labour market’s needs. Employers from the MENA region frequently say they cannot find candidates with the right competencies, even as educated youth struggle to find jobs that match their qualifications. This disconnect reflects a deeper systemic challenge: education systems have often evolved separately from labour market realities, leaving young people academically qualified but economically excluded. Evidence across regions shows that skills strategies are most effective when education is intentionally linked to employability, entrepreneurship, and real economic pathways, rather than treated as an end in itself.

Supporting NEET Youth in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Settings

A key to bridging the skills gap is aligning education with market needs. This means going beyond traditional academic curricula to emphasise technical, vocational, and soft skills that local employers seek. It also means involving the private sector in training design and delivery. Across multiple contexts, vocational and skills programmes that integrate apprenticeships, employer input, and real-world application consistently deliver stronger employment outcomes. The lesson is transferable: skills systems work best when educators, employers, and policymakers act as co-architects rather than operating in isolation.

Nowhere is the challenge of youth disengagement more acute than in fragile and conflict-affected areas. In places like Syria, Gaza, or parts of sub-Saharan Africa affected by instability, young people often find themselves ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)’ due to circumstances beyond their control. In such environments, prolonged disruption pushes many young people permanently outside formal systems unless flexible alternatives are available.

To support NEET youth in war-torn or displaced communities, flexible and context-specific learning pathways are essential. In Syria and Lebanon, for example, prolonged displacement made conventional schooling inaccessible for many. More effective responses have introduced parallel and modular education options, including short-cycle, market-aligned credentials alongside academic routes, allowing young people to choose pathways that reflect their circumstances and aspirations.

This “optionality, not rigidity” approach ensured that young people, whether aspiring mechanics or future university graduates, all had a pathway to dignity and opportunity. Treating education for marginalised and displaced youth as a strategic investment, rather than charity, strengthens individual resilience and long-term social stability.

In conflict-affected regions, formal jobs may be scarce even for the educated. To counter this, entrepreneurship and remote work have emerged as viable livelihood pathways. Across fragile settings, youth have leveraged micro-enterprise, freelancing, and digital work to generate income despite constrained local economies. Digital skills paired with access to markets allow young people to overcome geographic and political barriers, restoring agency and economic participation even amid instability.

Preparing for the Green Transition

As the world confronts the climate crisis, there is a growing recognition that economic resilience and climate resilience are inseparable. Preparing youth for a green transition requires education systems that equip learners with relevant technical skills and a sustainability mindset. Countries’ ability to adapt to climate change is increasingly tied to how effectively young people are prepared for work in green and future-oriented sectors.

Concretely, this means integrating both technical competencies and values. Youth need skills for renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, water management, recycling, and circular economies, alongside leadership, problem-solving, and environmental stewardship. Education that combines technical training with civic and environmental responsibility prepares young people not only for jobs, but for leadership in sustainable development.

Scaling green skills requires coordinated action across governments, educators, employers, and financiers, aligning policy, training, and labour demand rather than relying on isolated pilots. This coordination is equally critical in preparing young people for the digital and entrepreneurial dimensions of the future of work.

Bridging the Digital Divide and Nurturing Entrepreneurship

Preparing youth for the future of work also requires bridging the digital divide and nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset. Digital literacy, ethical technology use, and creative application of digital tools are now foundational skills, not optional extras. When combined with entrepreneurship education, digital skills enable youth to create opportunities rather than wait for them. Globally, digital platforms and emerging technologies are expanding access to training, certification, and job matching, particularly for youth in remote or underserved areas.

Equally important is entrepreneurship education. However, entrepreneurship cannot be reduced to slogans about “starting a business”; it requires ecosystems that combine skills development, access to finance, mentorship, and supportive policy environments.

Across multiple contexts, access to microfinance, mentorship, and early-stage capital has enabled young entrepreneurs to turn skills into viable enterprises. When paired with business training and market access, youth-led ventures are more likely to survive, scale, and generate employment for others.

What Investment Will It Take

Every young person who is equipped with quality education, relevant skills, and the opportunity to work strengthens peace, prosperity, and environmental resilience. Conversely, youth exclusion fuels inequality and instability. Bridging the gap between education and employability is therefore not charity — it is systems reform and long-term investment in societies.

What will it take to bridge the skills gap at scale? Coherent policy and collective action. This requires education, labour, climate, and digital policies to be designed in coordination, rather than in silos. Governments must align curricula with labour market transitions, embed green and digital skills early, and expand flexible pathways. Employers must act as training partners, not just talent consumers. International actors can support scale by backing proven models rather than constantly reinventing pilots. Above all, young people themselves must be co-designers of these systems, ensuring solutions reflect lived realities rather than assumptions.

The evidence is clear: systems that align education with employability, resilience, and inclusion deliver stronger outcomes for both individuals and societies.

As we have seen, when youth are trusted, equipped, and supported, they transform challenges such as unemployment, climate change, and conflict into drivers of resilience and hope. Ensuring education leads to employability is one of the most powerful investments societies can make for an inclusive and sustainable future.nvestment in society.

What will it take to bridge the skills gap at scale? Coherent policy and collective action. This requires education, labour, climate, and digital policies to be designed in coordination, rather than in silos. Governments must align curricula with labour market transitions, embed green and digital skills early, and expand flexible pathways. Employers must act as training partners, not just talent consumers. International actors can support scale by backing proven models rather than constantly reinventing pilots. Above all, young people themselves must be co-designers of these systems, ensuring solutions reflect lived realities rather than assumptions.

The evidence is clear: systems that align education with employability, resilience, and inclusion deliver stronger outcomes for both individuals and societies. As we have seen, when youth are trusted, equipped, and supported, they transform challenges such as unemployment, climate change, and conflict into drivers of resilience and hope. Ensuring education leads to employability is one of the most powerful investments societies can make for an inclusive and sustainable future.

By Mana Mohammed Al Ansari, the Chief of Economic Empowerment at Education Above All (EAA) Foundation