From a young age, Leah Francis Basu was interested in how airplanes work. Her fascination with the science of flight, particularly the Bernoulli principle, led her to pursue a career in aviation. She studied Aircraft Maintenance Engineering at the National Institute of Transport (NIT) in Tanzania, supported by a scholarship from the World Bank-funded East Africa Skills for Transformation and Regional Integration Project (EASTRIP). Basu said, “The scholarship gave me the drive to study hard and accomplish my dreams. It created a debt in my mind that there are people who have invested financially in me, so I must do my best so they can see the fruits of their investment.”
Basu now works at Precision Air, applying the skills she learned at NIT to maintain aircraft safety. “It means a lot to me to play a role in passenger safety and to contribute to Tanzania’s growing aviation industry,” she said.
NIT is one of 16 regional technical and vocational institutes backed by EASTRIP. With support from the project, NIT improved its partnerships with industry, updated its curriculum, and gained accreditation as an Approved Training Organization by the International Civil Aviation Organization. These 16 institutes offer technician training in fields such as agriculture, construction, energy, tourism, manufacturing, and information technology across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.
Every month, about one million young Africans enter the job market, but formal job opportunities remain limited. Nearly 23 percent of youth are not engaged in education, employment, or training, and 86 percent of 10-year-olds are unable to read a simple text.
Erik Fernstrom, Director for Infrastructure in East and Southern Africa for the World Bank Group, highlighted the importance of skills training for development goals. “Our efforts to provide 300 million people in Africa with access to electricity require a skilled workforce across the entire energy supply chain; we need local investments in skilling systems to execute this Mission 300,” he said.
However, challenges persist. Women are underrepresented in some technical fields, and limited access to internet and electricity affects training quality. Ghanaian fashion entrepreneur Linda Yaa Ampah noted, “I have faculty coming to our manufacturing facility expressing shock, saying they have never seen the machines we operate since they are too advanced.”
To address these challenges, the World Bank Group launched the Skills for Jobs Policy Academy Practitioner Program. The first Academy took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from September 29 to October 3, 2025. More than 300 senior policymakers from about 25 Sub-Saharan African countries and World Bank staff participated. The program included workshops, industry discussions, site visits to Kenyan training institutions, and planning sessions.
Hon. Felix Mutati, Minister of Technology and Science for Zambia, said, “It is gatherings like this Academy that allow us to listen, learn from one another, and strengthen our ability to lead and deliver transformative skills.”
Mamta Murthi, World Bank Vice President for People, said the Africa Skills for Jobs Policy Academy is a turning point for the Bank’s focus on jobs and workforce development. Ndiamé Diop, Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa at the World Bank, noted that strong skills systems are necessary for economies to move into manufacturing and digital industries and that employers must be central to these systems.
EASTRIP was highlighted as an example of scaling up international best practices for skills development. Supported by the World Bank’s International Development Association, EASTRIP has built industry partnerships into more than 500 programs and is expanding competency-based training across sectors. The project has increased enrollment capacity tenfold and raised graduate employment rates from 47 percent to 79 percent.
Maynard Mkumbwa, Captain at Air Tanzania Company Limited and member of NIT’s Industry Advisory Board, said, “Through EASTRIP, our company has benefited a lot. We are seeing more aviation personnel joining us—aircraft engineers, flight dispatchers—and the quality of graduates is far better than it used to be.” He added, “Now, with better equipment and training, their hands-on skills are much improved. For aircraft engineers especially, this is a major achievement—we were lacking this capacity in Tanzania.”
Dr. Prosper Mgaya, Rector of NIT, said, “Industry collaboration has allowed us to enrich our training approach, ensuring our graduates are fit for jobs and ready to meet the demands of the sector.”
The Academy focused on sharing lessons and solutions in skill development across Africa. Sessions covered governance, industry standards, results-based financing, use of data and evidence, and innovations such as digital technologies and global skills partnerships.
Luis Benveniste, Global Director of Education at the World Bank, said, “System-level reforms take time. But quick wins—like partnering with firms and providers in priority sectors where there is demand, such as energy, value-added manufacturing, agribusiness, healthcare, and tourism—can deliver impact and momentum.”
The experiences of Basu and thousands of graduates entering fields such as energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and manufacturing show that when governments, industry, and training providers collaborate and focus on results and equity, skills training can create opportunities and drive transformation across Africa.
More information on job creation and skills training in Africa can be found at the World Bank’s Building Jobs and Futures - IDA in Africa and the blog post Why bridging Africa's skills gap is crucial for growth.