From Projects To People: The Realignment India Needs In Africa

Over the decades, this ‘knowledge connect’ between India and Africa has only become multi-faceted and stronger. Beyond roads, railways, and credit lines, India is helping Africa build institutions that can produce knowledge, skills, and solutions from within the continent. 

This was pertinently shared by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, describing that human resource development remains “at the heart” of India's engagement with Africa in his August 5 address on the occasion of the Africa Day celebration in New Delhi. 

He specifically mentioned the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) campus in Uganda, elaborating that India had offered more than 80,000 scholarships and training opportunities to African countries over the previous 11 years through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), the CV Raman Fellowships and the e-VBAB digital education initiative. 

Africa's demographic transformation is creating an enormous demand for engineers, scientists, technology entrepreneurs and researchers. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, to meet the anticipated demand for skilled professionals in engineering, healthcare, IT, and other key sectors, Africa needs an additional 23 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduates by 2030. The predicament is both a critical challenge for Africa as well as a big opportunity for India-Africa partnership.

African Solutions For African Problems

India's development partnership with Africa is comprehensive and substantial, with impressive numbers to showcase. 

Having extended more than 190 Lines of Credit worth over US$ 10 billion to 41 African countries, provided more than US$ 700 million in grant assistance since 2015, and completed more than 220 projects worth about US$ 4.5 billion in sectors ranging from power, water, agriculture, and transport to rural electrification and digital connectivity, the broad base of the development partnership is quite visible.

However, alongside these big-ticket financial instruments, there has been another, less tangible yet potentially more transformative, form of cooperation that has been evolving over the decades: Helping African countries develop their own human capital and institutional capacity. 

One of India's earliest and most successful examples is the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (GI-KACE) in Accra. Established in 2003, it became Ghana's first advanced information technology institute, with a mandate covering ICT education, innovation, research, human and institutional capacity building and e-governance. During the last two decades, the Institute has trained 40,000 plus people in Ghana, and stimulated growth in the ICT Sector in more than a dozen African countries in the region.

Post-2015, IT centres have been established in South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Lesotho, Ghana, Namibia, Madagascar, and Tanzania. Vocational Training Centres in Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Egypt, Zimbabwe, The Gambia, Burkina Faso and Mozambique. Technology Centres in Zimbabwe and Madagascar and Technology Parks in Mozambique and Côte d’Ivoire (Mahatma Gandhi IT & Biotechnology Park) are indicative of the investment by India for Africa’s present and future.

The most impactful recent example is perhaps the IIT Madras Zanzibar campus, established in 2023 - not just because it is the first international campus of an IIT, but because it represents a shift from transferring skills to building institutions within Africa. Its first M.Tech cohort graduated in 2025, with the programme recording 100% industrial placement, and the campus has expanded to research partnerships, industry collaborations, STEM outreach and community skilling. With the presence of IIT, the Zanzibar government is now welcoming more international universities to invest in the isles to develop Zanzibar as a hub of education and innovation. 

An Investment For Today... And Tomorrow

As per the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) report, Africa’s Future: Youth and the Data Defining Their Lives By 2030, Africans are expected to make up 42% of the world’s youth and account for 75% of those under the age of 35 in Africa by 2030. 

A logical question is whether the continent can equip this generation with the knowledge and capabilities to shape its own future. It’s too difficult to give an assured answer. 

A 2024 report by the African Union Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlights a critical gap: only 9% of youth aged 15-24 across 15 African countries had basic computer skills, with just 10% of the male workforce and 7% of the female workforce possessing these competencies. It creates a complex situation: Africa is entering an era of unprecedented demographic opportunity at precisely the moment when its young population faces a significant skills and digital-capability deficit.

The future of this young demography and the economic growth of their countries rest strongly on science, technology, and engineering to unlock the talent of Africa’s youth and power sustainable development. 

For example, enhancing digital literacy and technical knowledge along with green skills will be necessary for African countries to march ahead on the path of climate adaptation and mitigation. Estimates suggest that the green energy sector alone could create over 12 million jobs by 2050.

India-Africa: A Strategic Opportunity For Next Decade

In the contemporary scenario, the India–Africa partnership can acquire a new strategic dimension. India’s own remarkable journey from a predominantly developing economy with limited advanced technical capacity to a country known globally for its Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), alongside its extensive network of technical and vocational institutions, offers a valuable reservoir of knowledge and institutional experience. For Africa, the opportunity is not to replicate the Indian model, but to adapt and co-create.

The foundations of such a partnership have already been laid strongly. India's engagement with Africa has moved well beyond scholarships and conventional development assistance to include IT and vocational training centres, technology parks, digital education, and research collaborations. 

Establishing institutions like IIT and GI-KACE within Africa spurs the innovation ecosystem - connecting education, research, entrepreneurship, and industry and has the capacity to train successive generations of African professionals. 

This is particularly relevant to India's development philosophy based on partner-led cooperation rather than a donor-recipient relationship and the ten Kampala Principles articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018, emphasising demand-driven development partnerships, technology, trade and investment, capacity building and African ownership. 

The approach also aligns with Africa's own development aspirations under Agenda 2063, with a focus on inclusive growth, science, technology, innovation, and human capital for sustainable development. 

India is now well-positioned to establish more such centres of excellence in emerging technologies; expanding vocational and technical education; creating joint research and innovation centres; supporting African universities with digital infrastructure and advanced laboratories; and creating India–Africa networks for AI, renewable energy, critical minerals, agriculture and space applications. Private sector engagement and identifying sources of blended funding should be on the agenda.

Scaling The Capacity Development Model

As India and Africa are at the cusp of a new phase of their relationship, with the Fourth India-Africa Forum Summit process under way and cooperation expanding into digital technologies, health, education, agriculture, defence, maritime security and critical minerals, the next logical step should be to scale India's institution-building and capacity development model.

For Africa, harnessing the demographic dividend and expanding opportunities for young people will require enabling policy support, a tech ecosystem and affordable finance. India, with its proven development trajectory, could work with African governments and the African Union to develop well-structured networks and workable systems.

It could be a win-win proposition for both. While Africa gains a long-term partner in building human capital, co-creating knowledge and innovation, India gets a strong footing to expand its economic, technological, and geopolitical footprint in the Global South.

(The writer is a geopolitical analyst and Director at the African Centre of India. Views expressed are personal.)