Prof. Jeffry Sachs: IDB Can Play Greater Role in Africa’s Future

Abstract: Professor Jeffry Sachs of the Colombia University said he believes the Islamic Development Bank can play even greater role in the future of Africa in the coming decade.

Details: Professor Jeffry Sachs of the Colombia University said he believes the Islamic Development Bank can play a greater role in the future of Africa in the coming decade.
In an interview, Prof. Sachs envisioned that the role IDB is playing in the development of the African continent is likely to expand because in his words; “the alliance of countries under IDB, can make great breakthroughs as the wealth of the possibilities of cooperation amongst them, the new ideas coming and the new technologies that can be brought to bear are really exciting.” Professor Jeffrey Sachs, also the Director of The Earth Institute, further remarked that he looks forward to many years of cooperation ahead with the Islamic Development Bank. “ At Colombia University we were so thrilled to have President Ali with us to sign a memorandum of understanding between the IDB and the Earth Institute and that document envisions many areas of cooperation in science, technology as well as strategies and projects. The president of our university also hosted a gathering with him where great scholars from across the university in engineering, climate, water, food production and public health came forward to say how thrilled they were with the prospect of the ongoing cooperation with the Bank.” On the issue of Education For Employment recently promoted by the IDB Group, Prof. Sachs maintained; “Jobs of the future can be seen in both the private and public sector yet we have to link the transition from proper schooling to employment. Today, high school graduates have difficulty finding an effective job. The schools haven’t taught necessarily exactly what is needed by the labor market and the employers potentially do not find what they need.” He then referred to creating apprenticeships as a solution to help facilitate the transition from classrooms to the labor market of which, as he put it, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands are vibrant examples. The head of the earth institute, then touched upon Active Labor Market Policy as a solution he has proposed for best distribution of job opportunities and preparing the young graduates for market expectations. “It means you do not just depend on somehow the match being made between a school leaver and the public or private employers. That is a tough bridge and we have to help build those bridges”, he said, elaborating that he is currently trying to get the world’s largest private companies, the Fortune 500, to create training programs, apprenticeships, vocational schools, etc., to make sure that there is a labor force in the future that could be hired. On the present status of such a policy on Africa he explained: “I think we are actually not quite at the beginning (of pursuing this policy in the African Continent) but I think we need to do a lot more and we are getting a lot of private companies coming into Africa now.”

About Professor Jeffry Sachs
Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals, the internationally agreed goals to reduce extreme poverty, disease, and hunger by the year 2015. Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty. He is widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation. For more than 20 years Professor Sachs has been in the forefront of the challenges of economic development, poverty alleviation, and enlightened globalization, promoting policies to help all parts of the world to benefit from expanding economic opportunities and wellbeing. He is also one of the leading voices for combining economic development with environmental sustainability, and as Director of the Earth Institute leads large-scaled efforts to promote the mitigation of human-induced climate change.