Investing in Africa’s People Yields Impact, Strengthens Efforts to Beat Pandemic

Every sunset, Salamatu Bangura makes her way down to the shores of Bonga Wharf, about 20 miles southeast of Freetown, Sierra Leone. There, she greets the pink skies and familiar faces of the fishermen who loan her fish that she will later sell at the local market. On good days, she uses the profits to feed her four children. But on the other days, they go to sleep hungry, for Salamatu cannot afford to cook each day.

That was until she had access to the Ep Fet Po social safety net program.

“Since this program came, I can buy fish for my business and I no longer have to borrow,” she smiles. “Now, I can cook every day. Now I am able to feed my kids before and after school.”

Just $15 a month through a cash transfer has helped Salamatu move out of extreme poverty and afforded her family better health and education, giving the next generation the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty and prepare for the jobs of the future. In a country like Sierra Leone that is reeling from a series of shocks, investments in people have emerged as a game changer. Safety nets are becoming even more critical during the COVID-19 crisis, because they protect people’s lives and livelihoods, helping them weather the storm. The pandemic is an important reminder of how precious and productive an investment human capital is.

Building human capital—the health, knowledge, capabilities, skills and resilience that people accumulate throughout their lives—is critical to ensuring that all girls and boys have the opportunity to reach their full potential. This is especially true across Africa, which is home to the world’s youngest population, and also to some of the toughest human capital challenges.

That is why the World Bank Group in 2019 launched the Africa Human Capital Plan to propel investments and reforms to improve human capital.

“To ensure that all people—not just those lucky enough to be born into relative geographic, gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic privilege—can fulfill their potential, building human capital must be at the center of every country’s development priorities,” said Annette Dixon, Vice President of Human Development for the World Bank.

The plan sets out specific targets and financial commitments as part of the Human Capital Project, a global effort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth. One year after the launch of the Plan, there has not only been a significant scale-up, but also a shift in World Bank support to African countries. The Bank has committed close to $7.5 billion in financing specifically for human development projects over the past year (a more than doubling compared to the previous year), while also enhancing support to human capital across agriculture, social inclusion, water, sanitation and other sectors.

Investing in women’s empowerment and demographic change

The pandemic has taken a toll on Africa’s human capital, both directly and indirectly, and women and girls are bearing the brunt of these impacts. Behind the unsettling numbers, however, there is also a story of hope and a powerful message for the world and its policymakers: investments in empowering women—through access to quality education, pathways to jobs and sexual and reproductive health care—are now more important than ever before.

“Investing in women and girls is essential to deliver on the promise of development. It’s that simple,” said Hafez Ghanem, World Bank Vice President for Africa. “That’s why we have helped our clients with over $2.2 billion of new World Bank-financed projects investing in women’s health, education, and job opportunities.

These projects are addressing multiple constraints that women and girls face, including by combatting child marriage by strengthening girls’ education, focusing on family-planning services and ensuring stronger legal frameworks for the protection of women and children. All of this can support African countries in accelerating their demographic transition— a shift from high birth and infant mortality rates, to low birth and death rates.

One such project is the flagship Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project. By mobilizing religious leaders, SWEDD is helping change social norms and behaviors toward women and girls like Lemeima mint El Hadrami, who lives in the Sahel.

Lemeima is from Mauritania and got married when she was 13. She dropped out of school immediately because her pregnancy was difficult. She would go on to have two daughters. Her husband would leave her.

“I refused to marry off my daughter for a simple, good reason: I want my daughter to be empowered,” Lemeima said. “I don’t want her to go through the same difficulties that I did. I would like her to have a good job. She could become a minister, a doctor or a midwife.”

The $680 million SWEDD project is helping countries empower women and adolescent girls; increase their access to quality reproductive, child, and maternal health services; and build policy agendas that put demography and gender at the center of growth.