China's Vocational Training Program in Africa

 Capital Ethiopia published on 19 August 2025 an article titled "China-Africa Partnership Strengthens Vocational Training to Boost Africa's Workforce" by Eyasu Aklilu.   

China has established 17 Luban workshops (vocational training centers) in 15 African countries with plans to establish 10 more.  China hosted last month a seminar in Ethiopia highlighting the Luban workshop program.  

Chinese vs World Bank Loans to Africa

 The China Africa Research Initiative published in May 2021 a paper titled "International Development Lending and Global Value Chains in Africa" by Vito Amendolagine.  

The paper explores the extent to which international development lending can support African countries in trading intermediate goods with foreign partners with the goal of further specializing in high value-added activities within cross-national production networks.

The author concludes it appears that Chinese lending increases the involvement of borrowing countries in the international trade of intermediate goods, while World Bank loans contribute to move African countries toward higher value added activities along international production chains.  

Should Africa Emulate China's Development Model?

Ventures Africa published on 15 December 2017 an article titled "Why African Countries Should Emulate China's Development Model" by Felicia Omari Ochelle. The article draws primarily on comments made by Helen Hai, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Goodwill Ambassador and CEO of the Made in Africa Initiative.

Hai argues that "Africa should follow China's development model and aim to become a light-manufacturing hub." Hai says that in the next few years, some 85 million jobs will be exported from China. If African countries can capture many of those jobs, they can enjoy the same economic transformation that China had. The 54 African countries, one by one, will be able to attain this transformation, she argues.

If only it were so easy. UNIDO seems to be on a campaign to move light manufacturing jobs from China to Africa. While this is a noble goal, it is about more than lower wages in Africa than in China. Some non-African countries that are also building their light manufacturing capacity have lower wages than most African countries. It is also a matter of good infrastructure, access to ports, availability of skills, good nutrition and health, good governance, and lack of conflict and corruption. While a few African countries are well positioned to take advantage of light manufacturing jobs moving out of China, most would probably be better advised, at least for the time being, to focus on expanding and reforming agriculture.

Should Sub-Saharan Africa Prioritize Industrialization?

Project Syndicate published on 14 December 2017 a commentary titled "Africa's Must Do Decade" by Li Yong, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Li Yong makes a valid point that South Africa is the only industrialized country in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is the least industrialized region in the world. He argues that Africa must industrialize, and it must do so in a socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable manner.

But is all of Sub-Saharan Africa ready to embark on industrialization, especially if it comes at the expense of prioritizing the improvement and reform of agriculture? There may be a few countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where it makes sense to emphasize putting scarce resources into industrialization rather than agriculture. But relatively high wages compared to countries like Bangladesh, inadequate infrastructure, being landlocked, inadequate electricity, and a lack of persons already skilled in manufacturing are huge challenges in most Sub-Saharan African countries. Does it not make more sense to devote scarce resources in most Sub-Saharan African countries to the improvement of agriculture over the next decade? In some cases, changes in government agricultural and land policies would improve the situation.

Investing in Africa Forum

Finchannel.com published on 2 July 2015 a summary of the Investing in Africa Forum that took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 30 June - 1 July 2015.  It was organized by the government of Ethiopia, China Development Bank, the China-Africa Development Fund, the World Bank Group, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). 

According to this report, the entire focus seemed to be on the China-Africa relationship and how African countries could benefit from China's experience.  Even though the World Bank and UNIDO were co-organizers, countries in the rest of the world did not appear to have any useful lessons to offer Africa.