1. DECENT AND PRODUCTIVE
EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN
RURAL AREAS
Impact study of IFAD projects in
Egypt, Nepal, Madagascar, Nicaragua and
Senegal
Erik Whist
Scanteam
Oslo, Norway

2. Overall objective of the study
Help develop elements of a framework of
intervention for the promotion of decent and
productive work for youth living in rural areas

3. Pillars of Decent and Productive
Employment
• Employment creation and enterprise
development
• Working conditions and social protection
• Rights at work
• Workers’ and employers’ organization and
social dialogue

4. Scope of the study
• Desk review of 18 projects
• In depth study of five projects:
– West Noubaria Rural Development Programme (WNRDP)
in the Arab Republic of Egypt
– Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Programme
(LFLP) in Nepal
– Support Programme for Rural Microenterprise Poles and
Regional Economies (PROSPERER) in Madagascar.
– Programa de Desarrollo Económico de la Región Seca de
Nicaragua (PRODESEC) in Nicaragua
– Promotion of rural entrepreneurship (PROMER) in Senegal

5. Methods and steps in the study
1. ILO / IFAD Concept Note “Promoting Decent and Productive Employment of
Young People in Rural Areas: A Review of Strategies and Programmes”,
2. ILO “Detailed methodology for assessing rural development programmes
through decent work lenses”.
3. Preparation of Note on methodology for the study with questionnaires and
interviewguides for focus group discussions
4. Contracting of five consultants by ILO
5. Extensive briefings of five national consultants
6. Joint programming of field work by national consultants and project
management
7. Field work: Questionnaires and focus group dicussions
8. Prepartion of table of content for national studies
9. Drafting of five national reports by national consultants
10. Merging databases for all projects youth, employers and local leaders
11. Analysis of databases and writing of overall syntethis report
12. National consultants review syntethis report
13. Finalization of report

6. Number of interviewees
Youth Producers Local leaders Total
entrepreneurs
Egypt 127 89 88 304
Nepal 297 0 129 426
Madagascar 60 28 17 105
Nicaragua 168 123 23 314
Senegal 78 123 70 271
Total 730 363 326 1420

7. Characteristics and approaches of projects
WNRD - Egypt General socio-economic rural development projects. Do
LFLP – Nepal not have youth as a target group and do not directly
address youth employment.
PROSPERER – Madagascar Work clearly on youth employment and have youth as a
PRODESEC - Nicaragua specific target group. Both PRODESEC in Nicaragua and
PROSPERER in Madagascar follow a two-pronged strategy
to support youth employment by providing assistance
directly to youth as well as working with producers and
entrepreneurs, trying to improve indirectly youth
employment situation.
PROMER - Senegal Main target groups are rural micro-enterprises and small
enterprises. Priority is given to women, regardless of age.
Youth is not a special target group, but youth are eligible
for all project activities and a priority for activities which
are not specifically addressing enterprises such as
different types of skills training. PROMER tries
supporting youth employment indirectly by its assistance
to enterprises.

8. Positive impacts of programs on pillars Decent Employment
Employment Working Rights at work Organization
creation conditions and social
Enterprise Social dialogue
development protection
WNRDP – Some Little Little None
Egypt
LFLP – Some Little None None
Nepal
PROSPERER Much Much Little None
Madagascar
PRODESEC Much Much Much Little
Nicaragua
PROMER Much Much Much None
Senegal

9. Findings and recommendations
An integrated approach is necessary which
requires a three-pronged strategy:
• Focus on all the four pillars of Decent and
Productive Employment
• Design rural development interventions
targeting Decent and Productive employment
for Rural Youth
• Ensure National Framework supports
interventions

10. Employment creation and enterprise
development
Findings: All projects have had positive impact. Over 45
percent of the youth interviewed acknowledge that
their employment situation has improved, 44 percent
note an increase in their probability of finding
employment; and 56 percent agree that the projects
have provided good training opportunities.
Recommendations: Support to production based on local
resources, packages of market demand-based training
for youth (including entrepreneurship training) along
with access to land, funding, materials and start-up
kits, and technical/legal support for self-employment
and local enterprise development.

11. Working conditions and social
protection
Findings: 39 percent of youth interviewed find that their
income has increased, and 24 percent comment that
working hours and other working conditions have
improved; but only 8 percent note improvements in social
security.
Recommendations: Needs much emphasis through awareness
raising among youth and enterprise owners, inducing
producers and entrepreneurs to abide by national
legislation, but also to support training in both technical
and legal aspects of occupational safety, make available
tools, equipment and technologies to improve
safety, ensure health services, as well as awareness
programmes.

12. Rights at work
Findings: Only15 percent of all youth respondents
feel their employment contracts have
improved, and no more than 28 percent consider
their employers to have greater awareness of and
respect for workers’ rights.
Recommendations: Prompting and assisting
informal enterprises to acquire legal status, as
well as awareness raising among youth and
employers about workers’ rights, and developing
labor inspection to monitor and advise on
workers’ rights in rural enterprises

13. Workers’ and employers’ organization
and social dialogue
Findings: Only 2.7 percent of interviewed youth
note increases in trade union membership and
progress in collective bargaining.
Recommendations: Encourage young
workers, self-employed and entrepreneurs to
see the value and mutual benefit of these
associations, and of dialogue among them.

14. Design of rural development
interventions
• Ensure an integrated approach including all four pillars of Decent Employment
• Projects including enterprise development have a greater impact on decent and
productive employment of young people than “general” rural development
projects
• Promotion of decent and productive employment for young people is easier to
attain if young men and women are an explicit target group
• A two-pronged approach of working with both enterprises and youth is best suited
for projects promoting decent and productive employment
• Training of young women and men should aim both to strengthen their potential
in the labour market and as self-employed entrepreneurs
• Gender imbalances in access to resources, training and other empowering features
need to be compensated
• Including working conditions and social protection, rights at work, organization
and social dialogue, all require using a rights-based approach
• Both formal and informal activities need to be targeted, taking into account their
specific opportunities and challenge

15. National Framework
• Incentives for economic development in rural areas
• Measures encouraging employers to recruit youth
• Incentives for self-employment of youth
• Reviewing enforcement mechanisms, including labour inspection,
to ensure that youth enjoy their labour rights, appropriate working
conditions, social protection and representation
• Reviewing how social security may be strengthened and extended
to cover small and informal rural enterprises
• Incentives for owners of informal enterprises to give them formal
status, which is often a condition for youth to enjoy labour rights,
social protection, representation and bargaining rights
• Labor unions and employers’ associations ought to work and to
considerably strengthen their presence in rural areas as well as
support their rural affiliates