Job Futures: Livelihood effects, digital innovations, and household dynamics in Africa (part of SFB 228 Future Rural Africa)

Employment plays a central role in shaping people’s livelihoods and broader social structures. While agriculture remains the backbone of rural economies in Africa, non-agricultural employment and income have been gaining in importance. The growing diversity of jobs in rural Africa is associated with new opportunities, but also with challenges. Access to decent employment remains a critical issue. This project analyses current and future jobs in various parts of rural Africa. It explores how different types of work in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors influence key dimensions of people’s wellbeing, including poverty, equitable income, food security, and job satisfaction. Social factors such as gender, age, and decision-making power, as well as infrastructure conditions, often influence access to employment opportunities and individual benefits. The project, therefore, aims to better understand how labour choices impact wellbeing, explicitly acknowledging and modelling differences among household members with the goal to identify strategies that enable individuals to improve their livelihoods in ways that reflect diverse needs and preferences.

We also investigate to what extent off-farm income influences agricultural investments among male and female farmers and the mediating role of digital financial services, such as mobile wallets, digital savings platforms, and agri-tech tools. These new digital technologies offer avenues for enhanced financial inclusion, especially among women and younger workers, enabling them to have more effective control over financial resources. The combination of off-farm work and digital solutions holds potential for creating stronger connections between economic activities and investments in support of farming, nutrition, education, and health. Furthermore, we examine how individuals and households make decisions about work, shaped by their aspirations, expectations, hopes, and worries. These factors likely influence not only job choices but also investments in skills, community relationships, and strategies for building resilience.