On March 5, 2025, Inyang Udo-Umoren, ADEA’s Tackling Education and Skills Data Challenge in Africa Project Manager, gave an insightful presentation at the 8th edition of the Nigerian Education Innovation Summit (NEDIS), Nigeria’s leading summit for advancing education innovation and policy.

Her session explored Africa’s progress in equipping its learners with future-ready skills essential for the evolving global economy. It highlighted current gaps, opportunities, and strategies to bridge the skills divide in the region.

Presenting on the topic "Future-Ready Skills – Where Are We in Africa?", Inyang advocated for:

• Political commitment to educational reforms.
• Countries to domesticate continental and regional education blueprints in national frameworks and implementation commitments.
• Development of holistic and multifaceted approaches that address barriers to accessing quality education, especially by the most disadvantaged.
• Provision of flexible education models and alternative learning pathways to cater for out-of-school children.
• Strengthening governments’ capacity to produce and use quality education and skills data and evidence for informed decision-making in policy, planning, programme implementation, monitoring and impact evaluation.
• Integrating EdTech, AI, and other innovative learning models to bridge educational gaps.
• Improving teacher education and CPD, career pathways and conditions through adequate funding.

This year’s theme, "Skills Development for Workplace Readiness and Inclusion," addresed the urgent need to equip learners with practical, future-ready skills that foster employability, innovation, and inclusivity in today’s evolving workforce. It also explored Africa’s progress in equipping its learners with future-ready skills essential for the evolving global economy.