How Africa’s development job market is changing in 2026

Last year’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, alongside wider foreign aid cuts from European donors, had far-reaching consequences across Africa, forcing the shutdown of programs and organizations across the continent, and leaving thousands of development professionals without jobs. During a recent Devex event, Allwell Akhigbe, CEO and cofounder of Travaille Ensemble, described the impact as catastrophic, noting that aid organizations and United Nations agencies had previously provided the vast majority of the continent’s development funding. Joining Akhigbe for a conversation on how these events are shifting the development job market in Africa, Jacqueline Sambu, CEO and founder of Tai Talent Matters, said there is now a dense pool of experienced professionals competing for very few job options. Many, she noted, are trying to understand how they can pivot into other sectors, notably the private sector, which they hope will provide greater career stability. Closer to home One positive outcome of the shifts over the past year is a greater focus on locally led solutions, creating more opportunities for local professionals, said Sambu, who sees scope in the coming years for mid-level leaders to grow into more senior leadership roles. However, it is not yet clear how Nairobi, Kenya, will evolve as a development hub. While some U.N. agencies are moving functions to the East African country — long home to the UN Environmental Programme and UN-Habitat as well as many social enterprises — Sambu said she is hearing of ongoing restructuring across these agencies. Overall, she believes social enterprises in the region will thrive again, creating new opportunities for talent from the development sector. Things are also shifting in West Africa. Lagos, Nigeria — which has traditionally been a hub for fintech companies and remains one of the biggest tech hubs on the continent alongside Nairobi and Johannesburg, South Africa — has seen a slowdown in activity, according to Akhigbe. In the past couple of years, he’s noticed a reduction in venture capital and now sees an increasing demand for local investment. Local philanthropy is an area Akhigbe expects to see grow across the region, where businesses and nonprofits will work together to create positive outcomes for communities. Dakar in Senegal, he noted, is emerging as a tech hub with a lot of exciting movements in health tech, clean energy tech and social enterprises. Business models are shifting With organizations increasingly looking to private foundations, competition for funding is fierce, said Akhigbe, adding that there can also be roadblocks, such as invitation-only application processes. He is helping clients tap into high-net-worth individuals from across the continent, corporate philanthropists, and impact investors in Lagos and Abuja. Corporate partnerships is an area he said is seeing a lot of traction — huge local companies in Lagos and other megacities across Africa are looking to demonstrate their compliance with environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, responsibilities and corporate social responsibility, or CSR. Another shift Akhigbe expects to see is a blurring of lines between nonprofits and social enterprises. As a result of the funding changes, he sees a growing pressure for nonprofits to adopt social enterprise models and integrate these into their revenue-generation strategies. “As we run up to the end of the decade, there will be a lot more fusion, more collaboration, a lot more capital going towards nonprofits and social enterprises, and it will become increasingly more difficult to differentiate between both of them,” he said. Hiring will happen — but at lower salaries Climate resilience and adaptation will remain a key area for job seekers, along with agriculture and food security, according to Sambu. There are also still opportunities, she believes, in solar energy and clean cooking, as well as direct cash assistance. But where there is hiring, it’s unlikely to be at the same level of seniority and salary as previously seen, she cautioned. “What that means is that what you would consider to be overqualified candidates will now be applying down, so competition will sort of be very stiff across all positions or levels.” Based on job board postings, Akhigbe sees the most opportunities in fundraising roles. There will always be this demand, he said, because that’s the only way NGOs can get up and running again and implement projects. And for organizations to transition to alternative funding models, they need someone working on this full time, he added. However, he agreed with Sambu that these roles will likely be hired at a lower seniority level than before. Donor-relation skills are key Relationship-building skills are more important now than ever as organizations compete for limited funding and seek connections with alternative donors. Job descriptions for fundraising roles are asking for professionals who can conduct extensive donor mapping and have proficiency in individual giving models, said Akhigbe. Networks in the corporate sector are highly sought after. “You should also have strong connections within local philanthropy across the continent and globally as well, that they can take advantage of,” he said. The modern fundraiser for African nonprofits, he added, has to think in terms of business development as opposed to waiting for an open call for applications. Looking through grants databases is no longer enough, he said — fundraising professionals need to mine social media, particularly LinkedIn, to discover new prospects and build relationships, as well as read annual or corporate sustainability reports by potential donors. Across social enterprises, Sambu sees continued demand for problem solvers, which has long been the case as these organizations faced more budget constraints than large NGOs and were less focused on recruiting highly specialized technical talent. For development professionals, there is an “opportunity for them to now pivot towards being more execution-oriented, as opposed to more policy or more … strategy-facing, in social enterprises,” Sambu explained.