Investing in Human Capital Drives Africa Growth

Speed-read

• EU programs connect schools, promote digital skills, and strengthen higher education mobility within Africa and between Africa and Europe.
• Mini-Labs bring portable, high-quality diagnostics to remote areas, tackling sepsis and antimicrobial resistance.
• The Africa-Europe Innovation Platform fosters collaboration, funding access, and community interaction across the innovation value chain.
• Experts agree: education, health, and skills are the most valuable forms of capital. Without them, no development initiative can succeed.
• Free, responsible reporting (e.g., Difference Day 2025) empowers communities, strengthens transparency, and supports social change.
• Investing in education, health, innovation, and cooperation—from local labs to outer space—is the foundation for sustainable development across Africa.

Africa is a geopolitical priority for the European Union. For example, the AU-EU Joint Innovation Agenda, which aims to transform and scale up the innovative capacities and achievements of European and African researchers and innovators into tangible results, was adopted in July 2023. As stated, it is the main pillar of cooperation in science, technology, and innovation between Africa and Europe until 2033.

Additionally, the EU has invested in strengthening scientific research capacities in sub-Saharan Africa; the ADAPT project, funded by the European Research Council, will deal with a new approach to encouraging the effective adoption of agricultural inputs by farmers, but also develop methodologies for accurate and cost-effective measurement of agricultural production. Or, for example, Global Health EDCTP3 is a joint European-African program that funds research into infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant women, and the elderly. The goal is to reduce the burden of diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious threats, and to strengthen research capacity in the region.

In 2023, the EU launched a €9.8 million initiative to connect up to 1,300 schools in underserved areas of Kenya, benefiting more than 219,000 children. This effort is part of the wider Digital Economy Package under the Global Gateway strategy, which also includes the digitization of technical and vocational education centers across the country and aims, among other things, to support digital skills and the establishment of a green center for digital innovation.

Despite progress, several challenges remain. Limited financial, human resources, inadequate infrastructure, especially in rural areas, limit the reach and impact of technological advances. However, it should be noted that without strong and accessible education, people and institutions from the region may not be able to fully take part in or benefit from EU-supported development initiatives.

The need for cooperation and partnership between Africa and Europe cannot be overemphasized

PhD Jimmy Hendry Nzally is a political scientist and decolonial scholar, currently a visiting researcher at the University of Antwerp. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of Eastern Finland, Ghent University, and the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels. His research interests include regime change and democratization in Africa; African history and contemporary politics; postcolonial African studies; and migration. He holds a degree in Political Science from the Vrije Universiteit of Brussels (VUB).

Dr Nzally told us that the African continent faces many challenges and needs partnerships to liberate itself. He points out that migration, political instability, and geopolitics are challenges, but still, education must be at the forefront of human resource empowerment. Education is a central pillar of Africa’s growth and development. He recalls that this is also highlighted in the continent’s draft Agenda 2063. The continent’s strategic framework, which was created in 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the “solemn declaration” of the existence of the African Union (AU), formerly the Organization of African Unity (OAU), aims to “achieve inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development.”

However, he notes that according to estimates, millions of children are out of school, and their number is increasing due to rapid population growth. He explains that this creates a challenging picture because it relates to the need to solve educational challenges in Africa, and he sees the solution in partnerships, such as the one with the European Union and other partners. “The need for cooperation and partnership between Africa and Europe cannot be overemphasized,” said Dr Nzally.

Providing educational programs that are relevant to the labor market

Last year, precisely 2024, Dr Nzally was invited as a panelist by the Africa Europe Foundation and UNIMED as a panelist on an Africa-Europe partnership on education and research conference. His topic was centered on: “How can initiatives such as mobility programs between Africa and Europe be scaled up to maximize their benefits for young people?” According to him, there is a need to promote and strengthen intra-African mobility. “It is estimated that 18% of sub-Saharan African students leaving to study abroad chose an African destination. Whereas for European students, 80% chose a European country for their studies abroad. Therefore, Youth Mobility for Africa, supported by the EU–Africa cooperation, is central. This flagship initiative promotes youth mobility and learning opportunities within Africa and between Africa and the EU. In addition, it supports cooperation in higher education and skills development and promotes Africa as a study destination,” Hendry Nzally said.

Dr Nzally explains that mobility can have positive effects on people’s professional careers and the development of expertise in certain areas, but also highlights that the mismatch between education and skills needed by the labor market is “worse” in Africa than in other regions of the world. He therefore says that providing educational programs that are relevant to the labor market is necessary, as well as strengthening cooperation between EU and African higher education institutions in international mobility, as this will allow greater support for mobility for cooperation within Africa.“Promoting Africa as a study destination. Addressing internal regulations/barriers to enable international mobility. Visa issues remain a very complex issue. More needs to be done at the national level to ensure the mobility of human capital,” he concludes.

The EU’s commitment, through funding, policy alignment, and cooperation platforms, demonstrates a genuine commitment to empowering African peoples to shape their own development trajectories. However, to ensure that no one is left behind, a continued focus on addressing barriers, expanding equitable access to education and technology, and strengthening human capital is essential, as this is the only way to achieve real and tangible results.

The Africa–Europe Innovation Platform: bringing together all stakeholders in the innovation value chain across and between Africa and Europe

An example of a growing partnership is the launch of the Africa-Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP) under Horizon Europe.

“Launched in January 2025, the Horizon Europe initiative, the Africa-Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP), aims to catalyze collaboration, bringing together all stakeholders in the innovation value chain across and between Africa and Europe,” said Andrea Stemler, a program coordinator at the AEIP. Their main objective is to leave no one behind and create synergies between existing networks and initiatives in the field of innovation, but also to strengthen and connect existing initiatives rather than duplicating them, as well as to enable community interaction, such as training, networking services, access to calls for proposals, opportunities to meet investors, but also bridging the gap between science and policy is important for them.

“We have foreseen creating specific knowledge addressing sustainable policies, leveraging indigenous knowledge, and engaging the African diaspora, with the help of all actors of the innovation value chain. Enhancing access to funding, both public and private, and diversifying funding mechanisms is an urgent need of the innovation ecosystem. Hence, the AEIP will connect stakeholders that publish calls for proposals or offer investment readiness training, deal rooms, and training on diverse issues,” said Stemler.

They consider it equally important to increase the role of civil society in the innovation process, so that innovation truly serves social goals and makes the lives of all of us easier and more fulfilling, as well as to strengthen ties between civil society organizations, including women and youth. As part of the project, the official Platform website will be presented at the project’s inaugural event, “Bridging continents: Africa-Europe Innovation Dialogues” on 22 October 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.

No development can happen without investing in human capital

PhD Magali Chelpi-den Hamer has 20 years of experience combining research, consultancy, teaching, and program coordination in sub-Saharan Africa. Chelpi-den Hamer holds a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Amsterdam and a doctorate in Social Anthropology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. Her research focuses on education in developing countries, humanitarianism, non-state armed groups, processes of violent mobilization, and conflict resolution, with a particular geographical emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa.

She is the author of the analysis  “EU support for access to quality education in Sub-Saharan Africa,” an In-Depth Analysis requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Development, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, Policy Department for External Relations.

“Despite a general trend of drastic cuts in international aid funding, the EU continues to support education in the Global South in different ways, including in Sub-Saharan Africa. It does so through Commission-managed funding instruments and programs, and also using the Team Europe flagship, which enables blended European funding by combining contributions from the European Commission, Member States, and other EU actors such as the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” said Chelpi-den Hamer. 

According to her, it is worth noting that from 2015 to 2021, international aid for education has decreased by 7 % worldwide, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, it has fallen by as much as 20 %.

“If Sub-Saharan African countries have received the largest amount of aid for basic education in 2021 (USD 2.1 billion, an annual funding that has remained virtually unchanged since 2010), by contrast, the amount of aid for basic education allocated to the Middle East and North Africa has more than doubled in the same period. In this context of reduced funding, which continues to date, EU efforts to continue supporting Sub-Saharan African contexts in building up their human capital are even more strategic. No sectoral development can happen without investing in human capital, and the EU knows it. The European Union eventually aims at dedicating 10 % of its international partnerships budget to education under its cooperation scheme with Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. No other bloc has committed to such a goal,” she explained.

On the question of what the biggest challenges are facing the EU and sub-Saharan Africa in developing programs that support access to education, Chelpi-den Hamer said that statistics hide a diversity of situations within the African continent, with some countries progressing at a faster pace than others for completion and enrolment beyond post-primary stages.  Also, physical infrastructure shows a persistent urban-rural gap, digital transition is uneven, and retaining teachers in remote areas is hard due to a lack of public services.

She warns that the shortage of trained teachers on government payrolls is particularly acute for science, technology, engineering, and maths subjects, and overall, if education goals are to be met by 2030, it has been estimated that Sub-Saharan African countries would need to recruit 15 million skilled teachers. “This target is too high with the current resources allocated, even when looking beyond the EU only. If this is not addressed on time, the gap is likely to increase fast, leaving a large share of Sub-Saharan African pupils behind,” Chelpi-den Hamer said.

Another challenge is Information and Communication Technology, while many Sub-Saharan countries seek support for digital transition in schools, it risks widening the educational digital divide between those with access and those without.

The digital transition in the education sector also involves the use of digital technologies for efficient management of the education sector, and here certification is closely linked to the use of unique school identification numbers to track individual educational pathways, which are often disrupted due to a variety of reasons (distance, cost, administration, mobility, strikes, instability).

According to her, access and equity may not be the most relevant goals to target given the current global developments. “When reflecting on the biggest challenges, my view is that the EU should focus on building the educational environment of strategic Sub-Saharan African countries (not all) with subsequent investment in post-primary education and ICT. Quite backward actually from the global institutional litany ‘Education for All’, which has failed to work in most Sub-Saharan African contexts for the past 25 years… For years, the focus has been on foundational learning and consequently, higher levels of education have been neglected, leading to an increasing gap between primary and post-primary achievements,” Chelpi-den Hamer concludes.

Mini-Labs, Big Impact

However, for people to fully develop their potential, access to quality healthcare is also essential. Many underdeveloped countries face infrastructural challenges and limited resources in the health sector, which significantly complicate the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, especially in remote areas. One innovative solution offered by AALFA, a non-profit organization of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), is the Mini-Lab – a portable, comprehensive clinical-bacteriological laboratory that enables reliable microbiological diagnostics. The Mini-Lab is designed to operate in low-resource settings, is easy to use, ensures high-quality analysis, and is already deployed in several MSF projects, having analyzed more than 10,000 blood samples since the end of 2021. Its primary goal is to enable timely and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases in remote areas.

“The Mini-Lab is a simplified, small-scale, autonomous, and transportable clinical bacteriology laboratory developed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its academic partners, suited to MSF’s fields of intervention, to facilitate the diagnosis of septicemia, meningitis, and urinary tract infections. Since 2022, 7 Mini-Labs have been deployed within the MSF field. Through AALFA, the Mini-Lab is now available and deployed beyond MSF projects, to health organizations and Ministries of Health (MoH) in low-resource settings for patient care and surveillance as a tool to fight Antimicrobial Resistance, particularly in remote rural areas,” said Professor Marie Hallin, a medical microbiologist at ULB and member of the AALFA team.

As Professor Hallin explains, the microbiological diagnostic capacity of these regions of the world is limited by the cost of laboratory tests, the lack of diagnostic tests adapted to this specific area, and the lack of trained microbiologists and laboratory technologists. Therefore, the Mini-Lab is an ideal tool to expand the availability of bacteriological tests in remote areas. It is based on inexpensive traditional microbiological techniques and is based on the concepts of “modularity” and “all-in-one” (equipment, procedure manual, and training), which simplifies the procurement process and allows for great adaptability.

As Professor Hallin points out, it is designed to develop local expertise and empower users by providing structured training and support on simple microbiological methods. “The Mini-Lab addresses two health issues declared as priorities by the WHO: sepsis and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Sepsis is responsible for approximately 11 million deaths per year, while antimicrobial resistance (AMR) accounts for 1.27 million deaths in 2019. It is estimated that by 2050, it will cause 10 million deaths,” notes Professor Hallin.

Difference Day 2025

Investing in education and health is essential for long-term progress. In this context, free, investigative, and responsible journalism plays its role, as demonstrated by the laureates of Difference Day 2025: Rwandan investigative journalist Samuel Baker Byansi and the Italian platform Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI). Byansi, who had to leave Rwanda due to his critical reporting against the government, lives and works in Europe and co-founded the platform M28 Investigates, which supports young investigative journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa through training and collaboration.

The collaboration between VUB and ULB, which jointly launched Difference Day, illustrates how academic institutions can act as a bridge between education, science, and social initiatives. Although VUB and ULB are administratively separate, their continued cooperation through projects promoting freedom of expression demonstrates that joint engagement can have a broader social impact. In this way, freedom of expression and access to reliable information become integral to development, enabling citizens to better understand their environment, make informed decisions, and actively participate in social change.

However, the awards are just one part of the activities that promote freedom of expression and media development. At CLIC Day 2025, which will take place on 5 December at the VUB campus in Etterbeek, the focus will be on journalism and literature. Rikus van Eeden and Cedric Van Dijck will give a presentation entitled “A Small Magazine in Sub-Saharan Africa: Notes from the Field.” They work together on the ERC-funded AFROPRESS project, which explores global literary, political, and cultural magazines in Sub-Saharan Africa from 1918 to 1968.

From Mini-Lab to Space

From investigative journalism to laboratory innovations, education programs, and health projects, it is clear that international cooperation forms the foundation of development. Initiatives such as Difference Day 2025 highlight the power of free and responsible journalism in promoting transparency and informed societies. Health innovations, such as Mini-Labs, provide essential diagnostic capacity in low-resource settings. European Union programs, including the Africa-Europe Innovation Platform, foster skills and expertise across the continent. The recently launched Africa-EU Space Partnership Program adds a new dimension to this framework of cooperation. Together, these initiatives demonstrate that international cooperation, whether through media, science, health, education, or space technology, can empower communities. Ultimately, true development is only possible when we recognize that health and education are the most valuable forms of capital.

Image: Africa/Wikipedia

These publications were produced as part of the Maria Leptin EMBO Fellowship, which allowed us to spend two months exploring the world of science at VUB in Brussels. Importantly, all articles were the result of our own choice of topics and in accordance with our interests.