BACKGROUND

The Role of Youth in Developing Africa’s Blue Economy

“Blue” resources linked to Africa’s extensive aquatic bodies are core to the continent’s economic growth and will continue to be a crucial driver for strategic development of the national economies. The commitment to develop Africa’s blue economy is demonstrated in the various national and regional strategy documents including: Africa's Blue Economy: A policy handbook; Africa Blue Economy Strategy and its Implementation Plan (2021 – 2025); and various country-level blue economy strategies. The next generation of young maritime leaders will play an important role in driving innovation and change as the continent strives for socio-economic advancement through a vibrant blue economy.

To be able to truly transform Africa’s ocean economy, we need a future workforce that is more digitized, innovative and diverse, and that requires actively employing and leveraging on the unique skills of Africa’s youth today. The revitalization of existing ocean sectors and the industrialization of emerging ones have highlighted the great need for cooperation towards technology and innovation transition.

In a post-COVID era, youth bear great potential to contribute to the: co-creation of international frameworks and guidelines to protect the blue environment; investment in innovation, technologies and human capital for developing ocean sectors; actions geared towards effective biodiversity and environmental conservation as well as mitigation of the effects of climate change; shaping of national visions for sustainable blue economy; enhancement of entrepreneurship within the blue economy; and provision of maritime domain awareness solutions to improve monitoring, control and surveillance of activities in the blue space.

Creating a viable platform for youth to engage in Africa’s blue economy trajectory has been at the heart of the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute’s Blue Mentorship Program.

In November 2021, the Gulf of Guinea Maritime Institute (GoGMI) held its flagship Blue Career and Business Expo (BCBE) as a response to concerns raised at a stakeholder forum organized by the Institute in 2020 to deliberate on the topic, ‘Gender mainstreaming in Ghana’s maritime sector’. At this forum, participants highlighted that most Ghanaian youth have limited knowledge and appreciation of the ocean’s significance to the national economy, and fail to recognise the need to be part of providing the needed solutions to promote its sustainable development. The under-representation of females in the maritime sector, despite efforts put in place to put them at par with their male counterparts in the sector, was also echoed. Participants further indicated the need to increase young people’s knowledge on the opportunities available to them in the maritime sector, in terms of career development.

BCBE thus created multi-opportunity exchange platforms for young people to learn from maritime industry leaders across the country and to gain an appreciation of the range of opportunities within Ghana’s blue economy sectors. The Expo was attended by over 200 individuals, including high profile personalities, maritime industry practitioners, students and other relevant stakeholders. The BCBE was not meant to be a single event, but rather, the first in a series of events aimed at actively engaging African youth in the path towards building a resilient blue economy for the continent.

As intended, the BCBE was used to initiate a Mentorship Programme for which several of the participating youth showed interest. This year, GoGMI intends to go a step further by selecting thirty young individuals to be engaged in its Blue Mentorship Programme – a full mentorship and grooming experience intended to prime them for blue success.