Africa is distinguished by a youthful demography, with over 70% of the population being under 30 years of age. Projections indicate that the African youth population will grow rapidly and reach 850 million by 2050. With the right investment, the youth bugle offers an important opportunity for the continent’s transformation. However, Africa also faces significant challenges, notably the high youth unemployment rate, which demands proactive and sustained policy interventions. This review examines the non-profit sector’s contribution to creating dignified and fulfilling work for African young people. The findings are based on country-level literature reviews conducted in 17 selected African countries. They were based on the analysis of peer-reviewed articles, reports of non-profit organisations (NPOs), government and international development organisations, research institutions’ outputs, and relevant grey literature. The review shows that the literature on the non-profit sector’s contribution to creating jobs for young people in Africa is in its embryonic stage. The analysis highlights the conceptual and data challenges that hinder the precise quantification of the overall and sectoral impacts of the non-profit sector on the creation of dignified and fulfilling work for the youth. Nevertheless, evidence abounds that depicts the nature of the contributions of the non-profit sector to youth employment in the countries under study in Africa. It was revealed that NPOs, including social enterprises, play a pivotal role in this landscape through various youth-oriented programme. Notable contributions of the sector include the provision of direct employment, skills development, education and training, entrepreneurial support, and policy advocacy. The most prominent sub-sectors for youth employment include education, agriculture, tourism and hospitality, ICT, human rights and advocacy, arts and culture, the environment, and health. Based on the review, this synthesis report recommended how the non-profit sector could contribute meaningfully to create dignified and fulfilling work for African youth. One of the major contributions it could make in this regard is policy advocacy for the structural transformation of African economies. This way, the formal sector will be the main source of employment. Another recommendation is that NPOs should and diversify their funding sources for sustainability and impact. Additionally, it recommends that NPOs should forge strategic partnership with governments, the private sector and high-net-worth individuals to expand opportunities for youth employment initiatives. To this end, NPOs should play a critical role in promoting social dialogue among stakeholders for inclusive economic development and job creation. Priority should be given to policies and programmes that expand employment opportunities for marginalised youth, especially women, people living with disabilities, ex-convicts, and youth in rural areas. There is also the need for the non-profit sector to pay critical attention to technology interventions since technology has changed the nature of work requiring programmes that help the youth to adapt to changing demands in the labour market. To this end, NPOs should be a strong advocate for Africa to embrace AI to become a main driver of dignified and fulfilling jobs for African youth. The study’s findings have implications for future research. They emphasise the need for empirical studies to deepen the understanding of NPOs’ contribution to dignified and fulfilling work in particular and to employment in general. Such studies will also enable scholars to disaggregate the contributions of NPOs to employment creation in general and dignified and fulfilling jobs in particular of each sector.