African Center for Youth Dev. Education & Advocacy

United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (@UNUINRA ) is the United Nations' only research institute dedicated to Africa's natural resources. Here is why this work matters. 46 of Africa's 54 countries still earn mainly by exporting raw materials (UNCTAD, July 2025). At least 435 tonnes of gold left Africa undeclared in 2022, about USD 31 billion, more than a tonne a day The median age of the continent that owns these resources is 19. So let us be clear. Measurement alone is not power. The number carried into the negotiating room is. Whoever comes to that table holding the value is the most powerful person in the room. Who verifies the grade. Who sets the price. Who counts the jobs. Who keeps the value. That is what this Institute exists for. And young Africans inside the work itself, gathering the evidence, carrying the findings, their names on the pages. A continent aged 19 cannot outsource its counting. My grandmother, who passed in 1994, used to say: "A fire is kept alive by the hands that feed it, not the hands that lit it." She was right. We will count. Year in, year out. Africa is not poor. Africa is uncounted.