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By Chinenye Anuforo
Jacob’s Ladder Africa (JLA) has announced plans to host the inaugural GreenWorks 4 Africa Forum, a new continental platform aimed at accelerating green skills development and job creation across Africa.
The forum, scheduled for August 11–13, 2026, in Nairobi, Kenya, will bring together policymakers, private sector leaders, development partners, academia and civil society organisations to develop practical solutions for Africa’s green economy.
Speaking during a media briefing attended by journalists across Africa, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jacob’s Ladder Africa, Sellah Bogonko, said the initiative was designed to help tackle Africa’s growing youth unemployment challenge.
Bogonko noted that the continent’s labour market remains heavily informal, limiting the creation of sustainable and scalable employment opportunities.
“Our workforce is largely informal. We are not creating the most decent or sustainable jobs because many of these roles are not recognised within the formal regulatory system,” she said.
According to her, the situation has made it difficult for workers and enterprises to access capital and other institutional support needed to scale.
She warned that the challenge is worsening as about 10 million young Africans enter the labour market every year, creating a widening gap between job seekers and available opportunities.
“The issue of youth unemployment has been spoken about by heads of state, academia and development partners, but what is not happening is the identification of scalable solutions relevant to the African economy,” Bogonko said.
She explained that Jacob’s Ladder Africa has identified green jobs and green skills development as a key pathway to addressing the employment deficit while simultaneously tackling climate change.
The urgency of the initiative is underscored by projections from the International Labour Organization (ILO) that the green economy could generate more than 60 million jobs in Africa by 2030, particularly in sectors such as energy, waste management and natural resources.
“The potential for growth in Africa’s green economy is undisputed. However, these projections only become reality if we build the infrastructure needed for green enterprises to thrive,” Bogonko said.
“GreenWorks 4 Africa is designed to convene the strategic actors required to turn this potential into tangible outcomes.”
She added that the forum would also help sustain Africa’s climate leadership as the continent prepares to host COP32 in Addis Ababa next year.
“This is an opportunity for Africa to showcase solutions that are already working on the continent rather than only discussing challenges,” she added.
Providing further details on the initiative, Head of Advocacy at Jacob’s Ladder Africa, Joan Kubai, said the forum is designed as an execution-focused platform aimed at moving discussions on green jobs from dialogue to implementation.
“The idea for us is to have GreenWorks for Africa designed as an execution-focused platform how do we move beyond dialogue and drive tangible progress towards Africa’s green and just transition,” Kubai said.
According to her, the forum will connect policy makers, enterprises, investors and innovators implementing practical solutions across Africa.
Kubai explained that discussions at the forum will focus on six key sectors shaping Africa’s green economy and offering strong potential for job creation.
These include renewable energy and the productive use of energy; e-mobility, green infrastructure and sustainable urbanisation; climate-resilient agriculture and smart food systems; circular industry and integrated waste systems; natural capital and nature-based enterprises; and industrial decarbonisation, green manufacturing and sustainable mining.
To ensure practical outcomes, she said discussions will also be structured around three cross-cutting pillars, finance and market systems, policy and regulatory frameworks, and social systems including youth empowerment, gender equality and community inclusion.
Kubai added that the forum will adopt a case-study-driven approach, showcasing real projects and initiatives across Africa that demonstrate successful models for green enterprise development.
“We want participants to examine projects that have already been piloted or scaled, and learn from the practical lessons around financing models, implementation challenges and pathways for scaling,” she said.
The three-day forum will feature thematic working rooms, collaboration sessions and open discussions designed to produce actionable outcomes.
Among the expected outputs are the development of an African Toolkit for Green Jobs Development, commitments from governments, investors and employers to expand green job pipelines, and the launch of a continental coalition for green skills and opportunities.
Organisers also plan to introduce an African Green Jobs Index to track progress on workforce development across the continent.
The initiative builds on the outcomes of the Second Africa Climate Summit, where Jacob’s Ladder Africa hosted the first pavilion dedicated to green jobs and skills development.
Bogonko called on journalists to help amplify initiatives that are already creating sustainable employment across Africa.
“Across the continent there are programmes that are working. Our goal is to showcase these models and scale them so that Africa’s young people can access sustainable opportunities,” she said.
