Addressing the needs of rural youth is gathering attention with international development agencies, donors and private companies supporting new initiatives by governmental and non-governmental organizations in many parts of the world and in Africa in particular. Issues surrounding rural youths such as limited access to educational services, dependency on mainly unpaid labour in family farms and working in the informal sector as well as the considerable impact of migration on their livelihoods - especially affecting young women- have been widely recognized as significant. There is overall agreement that if youth issues are not addressed high rates of youth unemployment and under-employment will persist and overall development in African countries could be negatively affected. In this context and in line with its 2011 – 2015 Strategic Framework, The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in partnership with PROCASUR Africa, organized an eight day learning route on Innovative ideas and approaches to integrate Rural Youth in Agriculture. The progress in Kenya between the 11th to the 18th of August 2014. The aim of this Learning Route was to contribute to lesson-sharing and learning at country and regional level in order to build technical capacities within IFAD´s operations and partners in the ESA region on innovative strategies and approaches to engage rural youth in agriculture, increase employment and reduce poverty.

1. Supporting rural young people in IFAD projects
Towards a holistic approach
Presentation by Anne-Laure Roy
IFAD -PTA Youth Desk
Nairobi, August 2014

2. Who are those young people ?
Better
educated
Open to new
technologies
Different
aspirations
Without a
voice
Full of
energy

3. Who are those young people ?
• A variety of age range (UN def. vs IFAD practices)
• In depth analysis /profile (age, sex, ethnicity,
education, aspirations) (Nigeria, Argentina)
• 1 dedicated person in design + in project team
• Youth strategy (Nigeria, Senegal)
• Specific indicators in the M&E system (LAC+PAFA)

4. Challenges
• Raise the image of rural young people
• Give them a voice
• Help the youth think broader
• Target specifically young rural women
• An attractive and conducive environment
• Offering moral, technical and financial support
to their ideas

5. Access to land and water
• Dialogue with traditional authorities (Gambia,
Peru)
• Preferential access on rehabilitated land or
irrigated areas (Sierra Leone, Egypt, Mali)
• Intra vivos land transfer taking into account interests
of the 2 generations
Access to land and water

6. Access to education and training
Different options
- ↗ Employability (link to manpower demand,
apprentices (Mada, PROMER))
- ↗ Self-employability – enterprise
creation/dvpt (Rwanda, Mada, LAC)
- Local agents of change

7. Local agents of change
• Intergenerational complementarity and
collaboration
• Trained to design and implement projects for
their communities
• Link between rural and urban areas
• Environmental stewards to promote
sustainable agriculture

8. Innovative ways for capacity building
Make sure the training modalities are not exclusive
• Common learning/sharing spaces (Youth Platform and
Youth Forum Nigeria)- peer to peer exchanges (LAC)
• Intergenerational dialogue with support of
facilitators
• Services providers’ improved skills/change
attitude
• Use communication tools (radio, posters, ICT
tools)

9. Access to financial support
• experimenting different tools
– Financial literacy/numeracy
– Savings as collateral or contribution
– (matching) grants
– subsidized interest rates loans
• Specific tailored instruments missing
=> develop win/win partnerships with rural micro-
finance institutions

10. • Promoting agro-entrepreneurs = young and
innovative small & medium scale
entrepreneurs
• Along priority local value chains (traditionally
led by youth, with a developing potential,
short cycle)
• Along the whole value chain
(inputs supply, processing,
marketing)
Access to market and value chains

11. • Connecting farmers - Acting as intermediaries
and service providers between traditional
producers and wholesalers
• Developing non farm activities (maintenance
of equipment, transportation, technical
adviser, information broker)
• Participation to fairs (Senegal)
Access to market and value chains

12. • Within the farmers’ organisations (Senegal)
• With the governments (Nigeria, REAF Mercosur)
• With IFAD (farmers and IP forum) and
technical and financial partners
Engagement in policy dialogue

13. No cookie-cutter solution
A holistic approach encompassing aspects on :
• Access to land and other natural resources
• Access to appropriate capacity building
• Access to combined forms of financial support
• Access to markets and value chains
• Access to intergenerational policy dialogue
No cookie-cutter solution

14. Anne-Laure Roy (a.roy@ifad.org )
Young, Original, Unique, Talented, Hopeful
YOUTH