From Skills to Solutions: How Climate Adaptation Training Can Fuel Youth Entrepreneurship and New Job Creation
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y 2030, Africa’s working-age population will surge to 600 million—with nearly four in ten of them still in their teens or early twenties. This youthful bulge has the potential to power the continent’s economic transformation—but only if today’s young people gain the skills demanded by a rapidly evolving global marketplace. Today, however, chronic gaps in education and vocational training leave millions of youth unemployed or underemployed. At the heart of the problem is a stark mismatch between the competencies they possess and those modern industries require.
Africa’s future hinges on empowering its young people with the skills they need for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship—especially as the continent faces mounting economic and environmental vulnerabilities. Today, one in four young Africans is neither in education, employment nor training, and youth unemployment remains stubbornly high. Without urgent action, Africa may face a shortfall of some 350 million jobs by 2035 a gap that threatens to stall economic growth and undermine efforts to lift millions out of poverty.
At the same time, climate hazards are worsening, bringing more frequent and severe weather events like drought and floods. This will threaten livelihoods and worsen economic instability, especially for young Africans.
To meet these challenges head on, youths need future-ready capabilities that include climate adaptation and climate-smart entrepreneurship. Here, we explore the types of skills that can help youths navigate in a changing climate and economy.
What are Adaptation Jobs?
Adaptation jobs are forms of employment created, sustained, or transformed to adapt, recover from, and prevent the impacts of climate change. They involve individuals—either directly or indirectly—working to reduce vulnerability and enhance the resilience of human and natural systems. These jobs exist across formal and informal sectors and are highly context-specific. They aim to improve working conditions, reduce negative externalities, and support vulnerable populations. Their quality and impact can be further strengthened by ensuring they meaningfully contribute to measurable adaptation outcomes.
Skills for climate-smart entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is about solving problems, and successful entrepreneurs are skilled problem solvers with strong financial literacy and business acumen. This will enable youths to move from ideas to action, designing viable solutions that respond to the real needs of their communities.
These skills enable youths to not only identify climate gaps in their communities but also design solutions that address them. In the context of a challenging economic environment, this will be key to helping youths become agents of change to tackle climate issues.
Profile of a successful climate-smart entrepreneur
- Problem-solver and critical thinker: Identifies local challenges like water scarcity, food insecurity, or unreliable energy, and develops context-specific, practical solutions.
- Financially and business literate: Builds sustainaable business models, manages budgets effectively, understands market dynamics, and secures funding or investment.
- Tech-savvy and data-driven: Leverages digital tools and data—such as mobile apps, remote sensors, or digital marketplaces—to scale solutions and improve efficiency.
- Champion of green innovation: Designs environmentally sustainable products and services, or develops solutions to environmental challenges
- Strong communicator and leader: Effectively pitches ideas, engages stakeholders, mobilizes communities, and builds networks to support business growth and climate resilience.
Lucy Wangari, founder of Onion Doctor, identified challenges faced by smallholder farmers to grow productive crops in the arid landscape of Kenya. To resolve this, she launched Onion Doctor as a solution to help smallholders grow onion and garlic instead, which are better suited to local conditions.
Her venture was one of the winners of the African Youth Adaptation Solutions Challenge (YouthADAPT Challenge), an annual competition and awards program for youth-led enterprises jointly organized by the African Development Bank, Global Center on Adaptation, and Climate Investment Fund as part of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP).
Through funding and mentorship from YouthADAPT, Lucy developed her business acumen skills and was able to scale Onion Doctor commercially. Today, Onion Doctor is now a successful enterprise providing smallholder farmers access to alternative sources of income through onion and garlic production. Their all-in-one approach helps farmers boost their yields, resulting in a 67% increase in revenue for farmers. Lucy’s story is just one example of how entrepreneurship, when combined with the right skills and support, can unlock locally led solutions, create jobs and drive sustainable economic growth in Africa.
2025 In-Country YouthADAPT – Now live!
The 2025 edition of YouthADAPT will identify, fund, and scale 100 youth-led enterprises in Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Nigeria. A $30,000 grant and access to training and mentorship will be made available to winners addressing country-specific adaptation needs in food and infrastructure. Applications are open from 14 July to 4 August 2025. Apply here.
Skills in climate adaptation
With the growing threat of climate change, every sector from agriculture to energy and infrastructure will need to adapt. This makes climate adaptation not only an environmental necessity but a growing area of employment opportunity. Unlocking skills for climate adaptation amongst job seekers can increase the overall employability of young people and prepare them to contribute meaningfully to resilient economic development.
For aspiring engineers, technical expertise in climate-resilient infrastructure will be essential. They will need to be able to design roads, buildings, and other critical infrastructure that can withstand the increasing impacts of climate change. For example, this could include skills in conducting a robust climate risk analysis to set design benchmarks for flood resilient roads and using projections to specify the durable materials or drainage capacity of the new road.
In the agricultural sector, a key economic sector for many countries in Africa, climate adaptation skills are especially crucial. Farmers and agri-entrepreneurs will need knowledge in climate-smart agriculture, including techniques such as drought-resistant crop varieties, water-efficient irrigation systems, agroforestry, and soil conservation methods. Skills in interpreting seasonal climate forecasts, using mobile tools for precision farming, or applying sustainable land management practices can help safeguard food security and livelihoods in the face of erratic weather patterns. Training in post-harvest handling, value addition, and market access will also help young people turn climate-resilient farming into viable agribusiness opportunities.
Through our work with IFIs, GCA develops Masterclasses and technical curriculums that aim to build the technical capacity of the labor market to address the specific adaptation needs in Africa. One way we are rolling out these curriculums is through Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions in Africa. Evidence shows that providing technical and vocational skills is linked to worker productivity and will be key to help Africa bridge the gap between education and employment.
As part of the Skills for Employability, Inclusion and Productivity Project (SEIP) in Somalia and together with the African Development Bank and the government of Somalia, we are developing a national curriculum for the TVET network in the country to train youths in climate-adaptation and entrepreneurship. This will ensure the youths of Somalia are equipped with the skills and knowledge essential to contribute to a resilient Somalia of tomorrow.
The ideas presented in this article aim to inspire adaptation action – they are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Global Center on Adaptation.
