GIL Top Policy Lessons on Advancing Young Women’s Economic Opportunities in Africa

Overview & Synopsis

This brief synthesizes evidence from the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab on what works, and what does not, to improve young women’s economic opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on impact evaluations across the region, it highlights four areas where policy and program design can make a difference: building skills and expanding access to higher-return sectors, supporting youth entrepreneurship, reducing information frictions and labor market barriers, and improving young women’s participation in employment programs. The evidence shows that supply-side interventions can generate meaningful gains when they combine technical and socioemotional training, gender-sensitive delivery, accurate labor market information, and clear pathways into employment or entrepreneurship. At the same time, the brief underscores that skills and readiness alone are not enough. Sustained progress requires complementary demand-side and systems-level changes that expand job opportunities, improve matching, and address the structural barriers that continue to limit young women’s economic participation.