The World Bank has approved a $972 million financing package to launch the Skills for Economic Transformation and Jobs Program in Eastern and Southern Africa (SET4Jobs), one of the largest IDA-funded education and skills initiatives ever deployed on the continent. The program, announced on February 26, 2026, will target 18 million young people across seven countries over eight years, creating a massive pipeline of procurement opportunities in education infrastructure, consulting, training equipment, and technology services.
For contractors, consultants, and suppliers working in the development sector, SET4Jobs represents a generational investment in human capital — and a significant wave of new tenders across multiple sectors and countries.
The Program: $972 Million to Close Africa's Youth Jobs Gap
SET4Jobs addresses a staggering employment challenge. In Eastern and Southern Africa, approximately 8 million young people enter the labor market every year, yet fewer than 1 million secure waged employment. An estimated 6.5 million youth — including 3.6 million women — are neither in school nor in any kind of employment, formal or informal.
The program is funded entirely through the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's fund for the world's poorest countries. It deploys a multi-phase approach designed to drive job creation at scale by aligning skills training with industries that show the strongest growth potential.
Ndiamé Diop, World Bank Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, described the initiative as "a transformative investment in Africa's greatest resource — its youth." The program will work closely with the private sector to ensure training programs produce graduates with skills that employers actually need, rather than perpetuating the disconnect between education systems and labor markets that has plagued the region for decades.
Seven Countries, Five Priority Sectors
SET4Jobs will be implemented across seven countries spanning Eastern and Southern Africa:
- Democratic Republic of Congo — Central Africa's largest economy, with a young population exceeding 50 million under 25
- Tanzania — East Africa's fastest-growing economy, with major needs in healthcare and energy skills
- Mozambique — Rapidly developing energy sector (LNG) requiring skilled workforce
- Madagascar — Agriculture-dominant economy with tourism and manufacturing growth potential
- Zambia — Mining and agribusiness hub needing technical and vocational training
- Comoros — Small island developing state with acute youth unemployment
- Sao Tome and Principe — Emerging tourism destination requiring hospitality and service skills
The program targets five priority sectors where job creation potential is highest:
- Agribusiness — Value chain development from farm to market
- Energy — Renewable energy, grid expansion, and LNG-related skills
- Healthcare — Clinical services, pharmaceutical logistics, and health administration
- Tourism — Hospitality management, ecotourism, and cultural heritage services
- Manufacturing — Light manufacturing, food processing, and industrial maintenance
Implementation Structure and Timeline
SET4Jobs operates through a multi-phase approach over eight years, with the program targeting completion in 2034. The phased rollout means procurement opportunities will emerge continuously rather than in a single burst, creating sustained demand for contractors and consultants.
The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) oversees regional coordination, while each participating country manages national implementation with World Bank supervision. The program also leverages International Finance Corporation (IFC) advisory services, signaling potential private sector partnership opportunities alongside traditional procurement.
Prof. Idris Rai, Acting Executive Secretary of IUCEA, emphasized that the program aims to transform "higher education and skills development into a powerful engine for jobs." This institutional framework means procurement will flow through both regional coordination mechanisms and country-level project management units.
A key innovation is the establishment of a regional knowledge-exchange platform that will enable participating countries to share experiences and lessons learned. Building and operating this platform will itself generate procurement needs in technology, consulting, and project management.
Procurement Opportunities Across Contract Types
The scale and scope of SET4Jobs creates procurement opportunities across virtually every contract type. Here is what contractors, consultants, and suppliers should watch for:
Consulting Services
SET4Jobs will require extensive consulting support across multiple areas:
- Curriculum development — Designing training programs aligned with industry needs in agribusiness, energy, healthcare, tourism, and manufacturing
- Labor market assessments — Mapping employer needs, skills gaps, and employment pathways in each country
- Monitoring and evaluation — Tracking outcomes for 18 million beneficiaries across seven countries requires sophisticated M&E systems
- Institutional capacity building — Strengthening training institutions, universities, and vocational centers
- Private sector engagement — Facilitating partnerships between training providers and employers
These consulting tenders will likely be among the first to emerge as countries begin program design and implementation planning.
Infrastructure and Works
Equipping 18 million young people requires physical infrastructure:
- Training centers and vocational facilities — Construction and renovation of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) centers
- University campus upgrades — Laboratory equipment, IT infrastructure, and classroom modernization
- Incubation hubs — Business incubation and innovation centers for youth entrepreneurship
- Digital infrastructure — Internet connectivity, e-learning platforms, and computer laboratories
These works contracts will be particularly significant in countries like DRC and Madagascar where existing training infrastructure is limited.
Supplies and Equipment
The program will generate substantial demand for:
- IT and digital equipment — Computers, servers, networking equipment, and software licenses for training centers
- Laboratory and workshop equipment — Specialized equipment for healthcare, manufacturing, and agricultural training
- Teaching materials — Textbooks, e-learning content, and multimedia training resources
- Agricultural inputs — Seeds, tools, and processing equipment for agribusiness training programs
Suppliers should monitor supplies tenders across all seven participating countries.
Services
Ongoing service contracts will include:
- Training delivery — Contracted training providers for specialized skills programs
- Technology platforms — Development and maintenance of e-learning and job-matching platforms
- Research and analytics — Labor market data collection, tracer studies, and impact evaluation
- Project management — Program coordination, financial management, and reporting services
Countries and Regions to Watch
Each participating country offers distinct procurement opportunities shaped by its economic profile and development priorities.
Democratic Republic of Congo will likely receive the largest share given its population and development needs. DRC's mining sector creates demand for technical skills training in extraction, processing, and environmental management. Healthcare training is also critical in a country where the health workforce gap is among the world's largest.
Tanzania has been growing at over 6% annually and needs skilled workers for its expanding manufacturing, tourism, and energy sectors. The country's Special Economic Zones and industrial parks will generate demand for technical training programs aligned with investor needs.
Mozambique is experiencing a transformative moment with the development of massive LNG projects in the Rovuma Basin. SET4Jobs will likely prioritize energy sector skills training to ensure Mozambicans can access the thousands of jobs these projects will create.
Zambia is a key player in the critical minerals supply chain, with copper and cobalt production requiring increasingly sophisticated technical skills. The country's agriculture sector also presents opportunities for agribusiness training programs.
Madagascar has significant potential in vanilla and spice value chains, textile manufacturing, and ecotourism. Training programs in these sectors will need specialized consulting and curriculum development support.
Comoros and Sao Tome and Principe, as small island developing states, will likely focus on tourism, fisheries, and renewable energy skills, with procurement tailored to their smaller scale but high-impact needs.
The Bigger Picture: IDA21 and Africa's Youth Dividend
SET4Jobs sits within the broader context of the World Bank's IDA21 replenishment, which in December 2024 secured a record $100 billion — the largest ever. Africa receives approximately 66% of total IDA commitments, making it the primary beneficiary of this expanded funding.
By 2040, the youth population in IDA countries will exceed 700 million, with young people already making up roughly half the population across Africa and South Asia. The demographic trajectory means programs like SET4Jobs are not one-off investments but the beginning of a sustained, multi-decade commitment to youth skills and employment.
For procurement professionals, this signals a long-term pipeline. The seven countries in SET4Jobs are likely just the first wave. The World Bank has indicated that additional countries may join in subsequent phases, potentially expanding the program's geographic reach — and its procurement footprint — even further.
The program also complements other major World Bank initiatives in the region, including infrastructure investments through IDA and private sector development through IFC, creating a layered ecosystem of procurement opportunities across education and training and related sectors.
What This Means for Contractors
Companies and consultants looking to participate in SET4Jobs should take several concrete steps:
- Register with the World Bank's procurement system — All IDA-funded tenders are published through the World Bank's Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement (STEP) platform
- Monitor country-level procurement plans — Each participating country will publish its own procurement plans as implementation begins
- Build local partnerships — The World Bank increasingly emphasizes local content and capacity building, making partnerships with firms in DRC, Tanzania, Mozambique, and other participating countries essential
- Track the IUCEA regional platform — Regional procurement for coordination, technology, and knowledge-exchange activities will flow through this mechanism
- Prepare for multi-sector opportunities — The program's five priority sectors mean firms with expertise in agribusiness, energy, healthcare, tourism, or manufacturing training can all find relevant opportunities
Looking Ahead
SET4Jobs procurement is expected to ramp up through 2026 as countries complete program design and launch initial tenders. The eight-year timeline means this is a marathon, not a sprint — firms that position themselves early will have an advantage as the program scales across all seven countries.
With $972 million in committed funding and 18 million young people to reach, SET4Jobs represents one of the most significant education and skills procurement pipelines in Africa today.
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