ADIF 2026: The First Step Toward Lasting Change

The Forum focuses on a specific thematic issue each year, covering macroeconomic and socio-economic development issues confronting Africa and exploring solutions to accelerate inclusive growth and sustainable development on the continent. Thematic issues in future years will be formed to link with themes in subsequent years to maintain continuity of dialogue and monitoring of actions and implementation. For example, two thematic areas that could be of sequence are the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement and Africa’s Industrialization.

The 2026 Africa Development Impact Forum will be the inaugural edition, with a theme centered on "Best Practices and Innovative Solutions for Job Creation in Africa”. The theme “Best Practices and Innovative Solutions for Job Creation in Africa” responds to the continent’s most pressing development priority. The ultimate objective of ADIF 2025 is to catalyze systemic change that generates meaningful jobs and economic opportunities across Africa. Africa needs to create over 15 million jobs annually to meet youth employment demand. ADIF directly addresses this challenge by:

• Showcasing scalable models for job creation across sectors and regions.
• Encouraging evidence-based policy design informed by applied research on jobs.
• Building consensus around replicable and fundable solutions and best practices.