Leaving No One Behind – Delivering Inclusive Industrialisation in Africa

By Dr. Adéline Nembot & Dr. Stéphane Mbiankeu Nguea

Executive Summary

While Africa has 12 of the 20 fastest-growing economies globally, the benefits of this economic expansion do not automatically reach everyone. Data from the Africa Sustainable Development Report 2025 shows that Africa is struggling to achieve only 12 out of the 17 SDGs, and current progress is not moving fast enough to reach the targets for 2030. The excluded are generally youth, women, rural populations, and informal workers. More than 104 million young people in Africa are not in employment, education or training (NEET), as indicated in the 2026 youth labour market report. In addition, nearly 80 per cent of Africa’s workforce are informal workers, many of whom are women who have limited access to social protection and a stable income (UNDP report on community-based social protection). ‘No one left behind’ is more than a slogan; it is one of the foundations of the 2030 Agenda, as well as of Agenda 2063, where it is seen as a condition for the creation of a people-driven continent that unlocks the full potential of its entire population. However, policy fragmentation, weak data systems, and limited social safety nets persist across the CEMAC region and Africa more broadly, perpetuating exclusion. The present brief suggests that inclusive industrialisation should not be seen as a consequence but, rather, as a precondition of sustainable development. It offers a brief diagnosis of the how and why of exclusion and a realistic roadmap, structured into three horizons.

Key Messages

• Exclusion is significantly shaped by policy choices. Education, labour markets, digital access and social protection systems have structural weaknesses that block certain groups from economic opportunities.
• While growth creates conditions for job creation, it does not automatically reduce inequality or generate decent jobs for the most marginalised. Targeted, evidence‑based interventions are required to address market failures.
• Investment in human capital, digital inclusion and community‑based social protection yields significant economic and social returns. Supporting women, youth, and rural populations contributes to productivity gains and more resilient economies.
• Industrialisation that benefits all is realisable if governments embed equity targets into industrial incentives, procurement and regional integration protocols to ensure that the AfCFTA does not create exclusion.

Introduction

Across Central Africa, new factories and ports are being built, yet the workforce in these industrial zones remains overwhelmingly male, urban and already skilled. Women, young people from rural areas and informal workers are largely absent – a pattern that repeats from Douala to N’Djamena. The promise of “leaving no one behind”, enshrined in the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063, has not translated into jobs for those who need them most. The scale of exclusion is striking. Across Africa, more than 104 million young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET), and over 80% of the workforce is informal, with women bearing the heaviest burden. Rural adults are 48% less likely than their urban peers to use mobile internet, and data gaps prevent policymakers from even measuring where exclusion occurs. These are not just statistics – they are systemic barriers to inclusive development. The objective of this policy brief is twofold: first, to diagnose why women, youth, rural populations and informal workers remain excluded from industrial transformation; second, to propose a sequenced, evidence‑based set of policy recommendations to make “leaving no one behind” a practical reality for CEMAC countries.

2. Who Is Being Left Behind and Why?

2.1. The youth employment challenge

Africa has the world’s youngest population, yet its labour markets are failing to turn this demographic weight into a dividend. Of 545 million youth aged 15-35, nearly 105 million are NEETs, and female youth unemployment (7.56%) exceeds male unemployment (6.40%), according to a 2026 research article. Upper secondary and tertiary graduates account for 52.7% of total unemployment, revealing a dramatic mismatch between what education systems produce and what employers need. In Cameroon, a swelling cohort of educated young people cannot find formal jobs and drifts into precarious street vending or unsafe migration.

2.2. Women’s persistent double burden

Women are disproportionately confined to the informal economy, where they juggle unpaid care work with low‑earning, unprotected activities. In Sub‑Saharan Africa, over 80% of the workforce is informal, and women occupy the most vulnerable positions. Formal social protection systems reach only about 17% of Africans, leaving women to rely on under‑recognised community‑based savings and mutual aid groups, as highlighted in the UNDP report on community‑based social protection. The gender digital divide compounds this exclusion. According to the AU-GSMA partnership report, women in Sub‑Saharan Africa are 29% less likely than men to use mobile internet, and an entry‑level internet‑enabled device costs 87% of the monthly income of the poorest 20% of the population.

2.3. The digital and spatial divide

Mobile internet coverage has expanded – 4G reaches 84% of Africans – but rural areas still lag at only 48% coverage. As noted by Sputnik Africa, rural adults are 48% less likely than their urban peers to use mobile internet, and rural communities often lack the digital skills needed to access essential services. Infrastructure deficits, unaffordable data costs and unreliable electricity keep millions of rural inhabitants – and small enterprises – disconnected from the digital economy. The OECD has observed that without deliberate policies to extend connectivity, special economic zones will remain isolated enclaves, perpetuating spatial inequality.

3. Policy and data failures

The Africa Sustainable Development Report 2025 states that the data gaps leave a partial picture of the performance of the continent- particularly with respect to gender equality, cities and institutions. Unless data are disaggregated by sex, age, location and disability, specific policies cannot be designed, and the success of programs in reaching the target beneficiaries is unknown. This problem is compounded at the national level. Most of the CEMAC countries conduct labour force surveys once every five to ten years, and only seldom do they capture informal cross-border trade, seasonal agricultural work, and the work performed by disabled people. As a result, policymakers operate in the absence of robust evidence. For example, Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics (NIS) produces valuable economic data, but its employment surveys often exclude remote rural areas where informality is highest. The consequence is that industrial policies are designed using urban, formal‑sector data, which systematically underestimates the scale of rural and informal exclusion. Compounding the data problem is the lack of policy coherence. Industrial incentives – tax breaks, subsidised loans, land allocations – are routinely granted without any requirement to report hiring by gender, to offer training to local workers, or to provide on-site childcare. A recent OECD assessment of Africa’s special economic zones found that while many zones advertise “social safeguards”, few are monitored or enforced. As of the available evidence, no industrial zone in Central Africa has a publicly documented, legally binding gender-inclusive hiring plan, nor a systematic public disclosure of workforce structure. Furthermore, the UNDP and AU both reported that while community-based institutions (saving schemes, mutual health insurance, collective labour exchange arrangements, etc.) are already reaching millions of informal workers, grassroots mechanisms are not generally part of the formal policy dialogue and do not interact with formal safety nets. The existing “parallel world of protection” means that national governments are missing the opportunity to scale up successful informal mechanisms. Lastly, the Protocol on Women and Youth to the AfCFTA (approved in 2024) is still virtually unimplemented. A pilot project across four countries (Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa) is assessing operational protocols, but progress is not rapid. The Protocol faces a risk of remaining aspirational without binding reporting rules and effective enforcement. In essence, a lack of good data, unaccountable incentives, segmented social protection and unenforced regional protocols is leading to a policy landscape that explicitly disadvantages women, youth, rural dwellers and informal labourers.

4. 4. Policy Recommendations

Short term

1. Launch a national “inclusion audit” to identify which groups are being left behind in education, employment, digital access and social protection, using disaggregated data from INS and household surveys.
2. Adopt gender‑disaggregated reporting requirements for all firms receiving industrial incentives or public procurement contracts, with public disclosure and penalties for non‑
3. Pilot a basic social protection floor in two rural zones, integrating community savings groups (as documented by UNDP) with state health and pension schemes.

Medium term

1. Condition industrial zone licences on inclusive hiring plans, onsite childcare facilities and regular gender audits, inspired by Uganda’s women‑led industrial parks.
2. Roll out off‑grid rural connectivity in all underserved districts, using solar‑powered mobile sites as tested by Nokia and the OECD.
3. Scale up girls‑in‑STEM programmes from isolated scholarships to a national scholarship and mentorship scheme reaching thousands of young women.

Long-term

1. Embed inclusion metrics into Africa’s regional industrial policy and the national SND30 reviews, making them binding performance indicators.
2. Create a regional observatory on inclusive development to track progress on SDG 5, 8 and 9, and to hold governments accountable using public scorecards.
3. Adopt a wide-binding protocol on inclusive industrialisation, inspired by the AfCFTA’s Women and Youth Protocol pilot, covering quotas, labour standards and benefit‑

Translating these recommendations into reality requires dedicated attention to financing, institutional responsibilities and governance. Estimated financing needs for the CEMAC sub-region project to invest 2.8 billion USD through 2027 for digital infrastructure expansion, social protection pilots, and skills development programmes. Resources could be mobilised through a combination of national budget allocations, AfDB and World Bank concessional loans, and public-private partnerships for connectivity investments. Institutional leadership should be assigned to a designated ministry (e.g., Ministry of Economy, Planning or Gender) with a clear mandate and dedicated budget for inclusive industrialisation coordination. Governance arrangements should include multi-stakeholder oversight bodies comprising government, private sector, civil society and development partners, with regular public reporting on inclusion metrics. Without this institutional architecture, even well-designed policies risk remaining unimplemented.

Conclusion

Africa stands at a crossroads. Demographic growth, large infrastructure investments and the opportunities opened by the AfCFTA create a unique window to industrialise. However, this industrialisation will not be inclusive without smart incentives, digital inclusion, community‑based social protection and enforceable gender protocols. Without these policies, people who are being left behind today will remain excluded tomorrow. The tools and evidence exist. The Africa Sustainable Development Report 2025, the AU-GSMA partnership and innovative country experiences – Uganda‘s women‑led industrial parks, Morocco‘s ESG‑compliant zones, and the AfCFTA Women and Youth pilot – all show what works. A significant factor in the gap between commitments and implementation is the lack of sustained political and institutional priority given to inclusion. The choice is not whether to grow; it is whether growth will benefit all citizens or only a fortunate few. “Leaving no one behind” is the only viable strategy for building resilient, stable and prosperous economies in the CEMAC zone and beyond.