The single biggest challenge to ownership of Africa’s development agenda and management of its key development programs is grounded in the issue of critical technical skill (CTS) in Africa. To achieve the vision of Agenda 2063, as well as Africa’s ideology and existential imperative to fulfill its destiny as a great continent of the future, it must own, use, and have faith in its own CTS professionals, trained and working to a world-class standard. While the accuracy of CTS gaps and projections can always be improved, it is important to underscore at this early stage of Agenda 2063 the size of CTS shortages that Africa will face. This magnitude indicates that urgent programs of “massified” education and investments in training must be promoted at all levels—national, regional, and continental.
