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The FAO Special Programme

Youth Employment: enabling decent agriculture and agri-business jobs

The issue

A central cause of poverty and migration among rural youth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the lack of employment. The incidence of poverty has fallen as SSA economies have expanded, yet overall growth has not been as pro-poor as in other regions. This is mainly because in many countries the source of growth has been primarily in the extractive industry, and not in labour intensive sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing (WB, 2014). Young people (see definition in Box 1), who have weaker links to the world of work than the general population, are particularly disadvantaged. Especially, rural youth are increasingly struggling to find productive work that allows them to earn a decent income. Relatively low official youth unemployment rates in the region (mostly under 10%) mask endemic underemployment and high rates of poor quality informal jobs. Over 92% of the youth in employment are working poor, and youth are also overrepresented among the extremely poor (ILO, 2015a). Three out of four working youth are in vulnerable employment, as either own-account workers or contributing (unpaid) family workers, predominantly in the agricultural sector. The shares of rural youth in vulnerable employment range from 68.1 % in Zambia to 93.7 % in Benin (ILO, 2015d).

Gender gaps in employment status are particularly pronounced: young women in rural areas are more likely to be contributing family workers and have less chance than young men of obtaining paid work (12.0 % compared to 21.4 % of young men) (ILO, 2015d). Vulnerability also varies by age group. Globally, about 47 million youth aged 15 to 17 are engaged in hazardous work. They account for 40 % of all employed youth in this age group and 28 % of all child labour (ILO, 2015b). Youth under 18 also face additional challenges in accessing productive resources and services or joining representative organizations due to their status as minors. This stage in their life is typically decisive in how they will transition from school to work and for the likelihood of transitioning out of poverty.

The undereducation and lack of skills of young workers is a significant concern. SSA has made the greatest progress in primary school enrolment among developing regions. The enrolment rate grew from 52 % in 1990 to 78 % in 2012 (MDG report, 2015b). However, access to secondary and tertiary education remains low, education quality still a major issue and dropout rates too high (two out of five students drop out of primary school). SSA is the region with the lowest youth literacy rate (70%) (UIS Data Centre). The education system is also ill-prepared to meet the needs of the private sector and is not creating the skills and knowledge required for the region’s growth. Only 2 % of African university graduates specialize in agriculture, and only 4 % of the graduates study engineering, manufacturing and construction (African Economic Outlook 2012). Nearly 80 % of youth aged 25-34 working in agriculture have primary schooling or less, including 40 % with no education at all (WB, 2014). Another major challenge is accessing vocational education, especially for young women, which limits their productivity and the acquisition of skills. Overall, in SSA, three out of five young workers do not have the level of education expected to make them productive on the job.

The youth bulge exacerbates this situation. SSA has the youngest population in the world: over 60 % of a total population of 960 million is below the age of 24. Moreover, given SSA’s high fertility rates,

BOX 1: DEFINITION OF YOUTH

The United Nations (UN) defines ‘youth’ as people between the ages of 15-24 years.

Most African countries adopt the African Union (AU) definition of youth as people between the ages 15-35. This Programme adopts the AU definition when referring to youth. However, it also takes into account the differences in aspirations, needs and challenges between the 15-24 and 25-35 age cohorts.

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the youth population is expected to continue to grow in the next decades, more than doubling from current levels by 2055 (See Fig. 1). SSA’s median age of 18.3 years is significantly lower than other developing regions such as Asia (30.3) or Latin America and the Caribbean (29.2). As a consequence, the share of youth in the labour force in SSA is the highest in the world (approximately 35 %) and projections indicate that 60 % of the world’s labour force growth between 2010 and 2050 will be in Africa. To maximize the demographic dividend, the region will have to create more than 10 million jobs per year in rural areas in the next two decades to absorb the new entrants in the labor force (International Monetary Fund, 2015; WB, 2014).

Source: UN, Population Facts. May 2015

Due to the lack of attractive employment opportunities, services and facilities in rural areas, youth are increasingly migrating to urban areas and abroad. The process of structural transformation in rural areas has been minimal, and agriculture remains the single biggest source of employment (50-60% of the labour force on average and up to 75% in some regions). While the level of participation of rural households in off-farm activities is high, in most cases it corresponds to low-return self-employment (e.g. in petty trade), while opportunities for waged labour are scarce, low-paying, and mostly temporary (WB, 2012). The majority of Africa’s migrants originate from rural areas and around one third of all international migrants from developing countries are between 12 and 24 years of age. Recent data from the Gallup World Poll show that more than one in three youth in SSA said they would like to move permanently to another country (ILO, 2015a). Labour migration makes a substantial contribution to growth and development in both source and destination countries (e.g. through workers’ remittances). However, migration is often distress migration, undertaken because the individual and/or the family perceive that there are no options for them to survive with dignity, except to migrate. The youth bulge in the region indicates that numbers of migrants coming from rural areas across Africa will likely increase dramatically in the coming decade, adding to the emerging migration crisis. Many rural-urban migrants end up in urban peripheries of economic systems characterized by jobless growth and the proliferation of slums. SSA has the highest urban population growth rate of any region in the world and the urban population is expected to triple in the next forty years. By 2030, more than 50% of Africa’s population will be urban. However, urbanization has occurred without a proper industrialization path, which contrasts with patterns seen in other developing regions, notably Asia. As a result, increases in the economically active population in urban areas have mainly occurred in the informal urban sector, which, together with agriculture, play the role of shock absorber for Africa’s population (WB, 2012). The formal sector of “registered” activities in manufacturing and services (government, trade, and banking) employs only between 5 to 10% of the active population (FAO, 2014a).

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Rationale

The agricultural sector can and need to contribute to solve the youth employment challenge in SSA. Or better said, without more employment generation in agriculture Africa’s youth employment problem will not be solved over the coming two decades.

Why is the agricultural sector so crucial for youth employment? Rural areas will be home to the majority of the population over the next 20 years and agriculture is already Africa’s largest employer. Approximately 90% of rural households and more than two-thirds of the young people who work in rural areas are engaged in agriculture, even in the context of growing off-farm diversification. The situation will not change much over the next 10 years: at best only one in four youth are expected to find a wage job, and most young people will end up working where their parents do, in family farms and household enterprises (WB, 2014). This is mainly due to the fact that many low-income countries remain heavily agrarian, with limited economic diversification and industrialization, and agriculture is expected to be among the main drivers of growth and the main source of employment for at least some decades. On a positive note, cross-country estimates show that GDP growth originating in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating in other sectors (WB, 2008).

There is a largely untapped reservoir of employment opportunities in agriculture. For more than a decade imports from the region have exceeded exports. Local, regional, and global demand for food is increasing due to growing population, urbanization and rising household income. This rapidly growing demand creates opportunities for suppliers and potentially for young people. As an example, in the livestock sector, there is potential to increase productivity by an estimated 30% within existing production systems while production needs to double to meet demand by 2050. The rice sector has also an enormous untapped potential for job creation for young people. The development of the post-harvest section of food value chains, including processing and retailing, could have big impacts on job creation, given its direct impact on demand for raw agricultural materials and the number of households involved in farming (FAO, 2014). At the same time, the agricultural sector needs to rejuvenate and engage the youth in order to increase global food production by 60 % by 2050 (FAO, 2012). Investing in decent employment for rural youth in agriculture is therefore a win-win solution to manifold interlinked development challenges.

Youth could better contribute to agricultural growth if they had access to land, credit and markets. The difficulty of achieving economic and social emancipation from traditional society and village elders often represent major constraints to young people (FAO, 2014a). Youth do not have the resources to acquire or lease land, or are limited by inheritance laws and customs that make the transfer of land problematic. Life expectancy is increasing in many countries and young people have to wait longer to inherit their shares of family land. Opportunities to access land are even scarcer for young women. Though many developing countries are adopting statutory laws that grant women equal rights to land, customary laws continue to deny these rights in practice. Difficulties accessing land is a major factor inhibiting young people's participation in agriculture production, and it often discourages them from considering agriculture as a potential livelihood option. Inadequate access to financial services is another concern. While many low income people in developing countries still cannot access financial services easily, youth in particular face many barriers to access such as age limitations to legally open an account, inappropriate and inaccessible products and services, and low financial capability. Most financial service providers are reluctant to provide their services to youth due to their frequent lack of collateral and financial literacy. Youth also face major challenges in accessing markets, which is becoming even more difficult due to the growing international influence of supermarkets and the rigorous standards of their supply chains. This limited access to markets is also due to the limited inclusion of youth in producers’ groups and the fact that many youth are not structurally organized. This in turn contributes to the limited involvement of youth in social and policy dialogue.

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Many young people know little of the opportunities and dynamism possible in farming today. For many of them traditional farming is not an attractive option. This is understandable, particularly when one takes into account the sparse opportunities, very low remuneration and harsh working conditions (e.g. hand tools) in the agriculture sector. The analysis of rural youth aspirations indicates that while young people across Africa may give mixed messages regarding the desirability of farming as a livelihood, they rarely mention any farming activities as a good job (WB, 2014). Yet, country experiences like in Senegal (see Programme National des Domaines Agricoles Communautaires programme) or Uganda show that when concrete commitments are made in support of the rural youth, youth seem still very interested to working in agriculture. In Uganda, for instance, more than 65% of the 2,000 individual or collective youth projects supported so far under the national Youth Livelihoods Programme are agriculture (52%) or agro-forestry. Considering that the sector choice is done by the Youth Interest Groups themselves, this indicates a higher preference given to projects in the agricultural sector.

To attract young people, agriculture will need to be more dynamic and appealing, and young people will need to view the sector more positively. Farming, and other employment in sub-sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture or forestry, must shift from its present status as occupation of last resort to one of gainful opportunity. For this to happen present levels and quality of public investment need to increase and concretize policy commitments towards agriculture (WB, 2014). In particular, efforts to address constraints to land, capital, and skills will have to be accelerated, and features introduced to make programmes sensitive to the needs of the youth. For instance, certain value chains (such as horticulture or aquaculture) might have greater youth appeal than others, particularly those with short production cycles and high value addition.

Beyond farm jobs, there is also significant potential for job creation in rural non-farm economic activities around food value chains linked to sustainable agriculture, agri-business development and related support services. Opportunities could be promoted in the enterprises that provide inputs and services to farmers, and in the downstream marketing and agro-processing segments of agri-food chains. Value adding activities may include sorting and grading, packaging and labelling, as well as chilling and cold chain operations. In general, rural non-farm activities are becoming an important source of income for farm and other rural households, including the landless poor as well as rural town residents. In the face of credit constraints, rural non-farm activities may improve the performance of agriculture by providing farmers with cash to invest in productivity-enhancing inputs. Furthermore, development of rural non-farm activities in the food system (including agro-processing, distribution and the provision of farm inputs) may increase the profitability of farming by increasing the availability of inputs, improving access to market outlets and increasing demand for primary production. In turn, better performance of the food system increases rural incomes and lowers urban food prices. Such economic diversification will need to build on strengthened rural-urban linkages to create additional job opportunities in trade, transportation, and rural services.

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Also, it is not only a question of creating more jobs: jobs need to be “decent” to be good for development (see FAO applied definition of decent rural employment in Box 2). If rural jobs do not generate sufficient and stable incomes or, worse, if they disempower workers by violating fundamental human rights, employment will not lead to empowerment and sustainable livelihoods.

Last, but not least, responding to the rural youth employment challenge in SSA requires a broad approach and enhanced coherence among interventions in different policy areas such as: poverty reduction, youth development, education, employment, social protection, as well as agricultural and food systems’ development. It requires increased attention to female and male youth’s needs,

aspirations and specific challenges in making effective school-to-work transitions and finding decent jobs. Such approach should give priority to enhancing youth access to necessary skills, services, technologies and resources to access existing jobs, as well as to the right mix of incentives for youth to set up their own enterprises and become employers and not only job seekers. Finally, it should consider the specific setting and needs of different sub regional and national realities in SSA, as well as the economic, social and institutional environment in which youth live, and their asset endowments.

Development priorities, policy processes and existing initiatives on youth employment in SSA

Youth employment is very high on the global development agenda. Goal 8 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Full and productive employment and decent work for all sets dedicated targets on youth (see Box 3). Several UN organizations, including FAO, are actively engaged in global processes and fora on youth employment, such as the Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD) and its System-wide Action Plan on Youth (UN Youth-SWAP), as well as the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth (DJ4Y).1

Similarly, main regional bodies and policy processes in Africa acknowledge that youth employment is a daunting development challenge. In particular, integrating youth in agriculture and agribusiness is a key priority in the implementation of the Sustaining CAADP Momentum Results Framework (2014-24). Likewise, the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, endorsed at the African Union summit in 2014, identifies specific youth-related targets under its “Commitment to Halving Poverty by the Year 2025, through Inclusive Agricultural Growth and Transformation”. The specific targets identified are: 1. Create job

1 The Initiative aims to foster system-wide cooperation, strengthen policy coherence and coordination, mobilize and engage external partners, and enhance linkages between the normative and operational aspects of UN efforts for improved programming and delivery. ILO is chair of the Task Team composed of: FAO, ITC, ITU, UNCTAD, UNDESA, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNRWA, UN-WOMEN, UNWTO, WIPO, the World Bank Group and (ex officio) the Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth.

BOX 3: YOUTH EMPLOYMENT TARGETS IN

THE 2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Target 8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive

employment and decent work for all women and

men, including for young people and persons

with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal

value

Target 8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the

proportion of youth not in employment,

education or training

BOX 2: FAO APPLIED DEFINITION OF

DECENT RURAL EMPLOYMENT

FAO’s applied definition of decent rural employment refers to any activity, occupation, work, business or service performed by women and men, adults and youth, in exchange for pay or profit in rural areas that:

Respects the core labour standards as defined in ILO Conventions;

Provides an adequate living income;

Entails an adequate degree of employment security and stability;

Adopts minimum occupational safety and health measures, which are adapted to address sector-specific risks and hazards;

Avoids excessive working hours and allows sufficient time for rest;

Promotes access to adapted technical and vocational training.

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opportunities for at least 30% of youth in the agricultural value chains; 2. Support and facilitate preferential entry and participation for women and youth in gainful and attractive agribusiness opportunities. Examples can also be found in sub-sectoral strategies like the AU-NEPAD Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for fisheries and aquaculture, endorsed at Ministerial level in 2014, which includes specific priorities on gender and decent youth employment.

During the last FAO Africa Regional Conference in March 2014, held in Tunisia, member countries made explicit recommendations to FAO regarding youth employment in agriculture in Africa, namely: i) Facilitate south-south cooperation and experience sharing between countries to scale-up good practices in youth employment in agriculture; ii) Support member countries to develop projects that support youth employment; and iii) Strengthen partnerships with civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to enhance youth employment in agriculture. Subsequently, FAO’s Regional Office for Africa (RAF) developed a Youth Employment Action Plan. The plan identifies three focus areas: 1. Knowledge generation; 2. Policy dialogue; and 3. Project and programme formulation and implementation.

All countries listed as potential target countries of the programme have committed to specific youth employment objectives in their agricultural policies, employment policies and/or youth employment policies. Encouragement of participation of youth in the agricultural sector is an explicit priority in the national youth policies for Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal. Similarly, many national employment policies prioritize the rural youth as specific target group and promote policy coherence with sectoral policies, such as in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In some cases, decent youth employment is a specific priority such as in: Senegal National rural youth employment policy; Ghana Tanzania and Uganda national employment policies; and Mozambique and Nigeria national youth policies. Finally, youth employment is often a specific objective of agriculture and rural development policies and strategies, such as in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

In terms of programmes and other initiatives, the region has already engaged in a wide range of ongoing initiatives towards youth employment, some of which are rather promising (see examples in Box 4). Yet, much effort is still needed to push support on rural youth employment in Africa to a scale that is more commensurate with the magnitude of the challenge. In particular, additional efforts are needed to foster policy coherence towards more youth-friendly approaches for agriculture and food systems’ development. FAO has a comparative advantage in this field, given its traditional role in supporting developing countries in agricultural sector pro-poor growth, as well as on youth employment promotion in rural areas.

BOX. 4 EXAMPLES OF PROMISING YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMMES

The AfDB-IITA-AGRA programme Empowering Novel AgriBusiness-Led Employment for Youth (ENABLE Youth) is a USD 130 million multi-partner initiative in 20 African countries. It will support youth to: (i) develop their skills and capacities; (ii) plan, launch and manage successful agribusinesses; and (iii) network, organize and mentor one another. The programme’s targeting strategy – i.e. to target youth with and without tertiary education through separate projects and approaches, but under a coordinated intervention – aims to help address the heterogeneity of young African job seekers. IITA will mobilize its four regional hubs (located in Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, and DR Congo) to host Agribusiness Incubation Centres, while National Agribusiness Youth Resource Centres (NABYRCs) will be located in participating member countries.

The Nigeria Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), jointly designed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and FAO, provides a framework for supporting targeted State-level investments to complement and leverage on-going programmes for youth employment in agriculture. The programme focuses on: Enabling Environment for Youth Employment in Priority Area-Based Value Chains and Agribusiness Development; and Support to young N-Agripreneurs and market-oriented producers. The core beneficiaries of the YEAP will be approx. 18,500 N-Agripreneurs and 740,000 market-oriented youth producers.

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Making a difference

This Regional Thematic Programme proposes an integrated approach for promoting decent agriculture and agribusiness jobs for youth in SSA. The integrated nature of the approach refers not only to its multilevel scope (global, regional and national), but also to the different FAO core functions (knowledge generation, policy assistance, technical support) and work areas mobilized (employment, sustainable agriculture and agribusiness, gender, social protection). The ultimate objective is to reduce rural poverty by reducing unemployment and underemployment among the poor rural youth. The specific target groups of the programme are described in Box 5. Specific interventions might be designed for the different groups.

The approach will be geared towards the promotion of decent rural employment. A strong emphasis will be placed on job creation – more jobs! – and entrepreneurship development, but also on the quality of jobs in the sector. Improved working conditions are crucial to supporting the well-being and long-term productive potential of young workers, and are also key determinants of how attractive agricultural work is to young farmers and agro-entrepreneurs. Prominent decent work issues that will be addressed are: (1) reducing the drudgery of agriculture and agro-processing through use of modern technologies and innovations and adoption of occupational safety and health measures; (2) reducing gender inequalities by empowering young women and strengthening the related enabling environment; (3) fostering youth organization and collective action, including through public-private partnerships, for youth to be partners in social and policy dialogue; (4) protecting and empowering youth rural migrants and other vulnerable categories of rural youth such as school drop-outs,

BOX 5: TARGET GROUPS OF THE RTP

The ultimate beneficiaries of the RTP will fall in two main groups:

(i) Poor, but market-oriented (actual or potential) youth producers or micro-small entrepreneurs involved in small-scale processing, input supply and marketing. These are generally youth with already some skills and limited access to productive resources that need additional support to sustainably lift themselves out of poverty and access decent jobs. For this group incentives to formalization and access to business development services will be particularly important as well as guaranteeing a lead role to the private sector in the identification of profitable solutions for youth inclusiveness in value chains;

(ii) Very poor, vulnerable and unskilled rural youth unemployed or underemployed, already engaged or potentially interested in engaging in agriculture. For this group non-formal TVET and education, access to resources and microfinance, group organization, circular agricultural migration, public private partnerships (including with POs) as well as linkages with social protection interventions such as public works programmes will be extremely relevant;

Equal participation of young women will be ensured, through gender sensitive approaches;

Special attention will be given to address the needs of vulnerable categories of rural youth such as rural migrants, school drop-outs, adolescents, refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), youth formerly associated with armed forces or groups, the disabled, youth affected by HIV and AIDS, and indigenous people.

This Programme adopts the AU definition (15-35) when referring to youth. However, it will take into account the differences in aspirations, needs and challenges between the 15-24 and 25-35 age cohorts. Interventions for the 15-24 cohort might have stronger focus on school-to-work transitions, education and apprenticeship opportunities and prevention of hazardous work. Interventions for the 25-35 age cohort might focus more on entrepreneurship support. Yet, many of the challenges are common to the two cohorts.

Urban and rural SMEs and in particular (graduated) youth involved in the creation of modern agri-business (e.g. Agripreneurs) will not represent the main beneficiaries of the RTP, even though linkages will be established with regional and national programmes that explicitly target them, such as the ENABLE Youth programme, towards a more integrated approach for youth employment in agriculture. For instance, promoting responsible agricultural investments would be beneficial for all categories of youth in agriculture. Linkages will also be established with them as private sector partners of the programme, especially given their role in acting as intermediaries/pullers and service providers (knowledge, inputs, mechanization, etc.) between market-oriented producers and large agro-industries and/or wholesalers.

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adolescents, refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), youth formerly associated with armed forces or groups, the disabled, youth affected by HIV and AIDS, and indigenous people.

The programme is structured in three components, which align with the ARC 2014 recommendations and RAF Youth Employment Action Plan, namely:

1. Mapping, knowledge generation and sharing for evidence-based policy and programme development. Mapping and documenting policies, approaches, methodologies and models that have been successful in reducing poverty and in generating gainful agriculture and agribusiness jobs for the rural youth is key to improve the enabling environment for youth-friendly food-systems development. Also, based on the main entry point of the programme in each country, specific knowledge gaps might need to be addressed, such as: on youth agribusiness opportunities in selected value chains; on green jobs potential in rural areas and related skills needs; on youth access to social protection; on labour standards in rural areas, etc. Through country experience and interregional dialogue, the programme will contribute to increasing knowledge about the differentiated needs of rural youth and how food systems development can create pathways out of poverty that are adapted to their needs.

2. Capacity development and institutional strengthening to build systemic capacities for youth employment in agriculture and agribusiness. For agriculture to become a viable option for young people, it needs to become a profitable and attractive business. This requires investments that address key productivity gaps and challenges facing the agricultural and agribusiness sector, including investments in value chain development and related infrastructure and business development services. However, food systems development can be promoted in various ways and a key challenge is identifying exactly what actions can be taken in a specific context to ensure that this development happens in a way that is more inclusive of youth employment. The programme will support in particular national and regional institutions in terms of: capacity development for youth-friendly agriculture and food-systems development; policy dialogue and cross-sectorial consultations between government ministries and key stakeholder groups; and public-private partnerships (PPP) and agri-food systems development that are youth- and employment-sensitive. Particularly crucial will be supporting improved alignment of agricultural and agri-business, trade, climate change, employment and social protection policies towards decent youth employment.

3. Support to the upscaling of successful approaches through programme formulation and the facilitation of multi-stakeholder partnerships. Under this component, the programme will: support national processes of design and implementation of youth large scale country programmes or the integration of youth aspects in broader agricultural investments, strategies or plans; and facilitate multi-stakeholder collaborations and partnerships with the private sector. In particular, the programme will support the upscaling of approaches with demonstrated potential to unblock key constraints to employment for youth, including: (a) access to land and water; (b) access to finance; (c) access to knowledge and technology (including entrepreneurial skills and sustainable agricultural practices); (d) access to markets and value chains;(e) access to social protection; (f) engagement in policy dialogue; and (g) gender specific constraints under all the previous categories. Youth employment opportunities, both farm and non-farm, will be promoted along the entire agricultural value chain, from food production, storage and handling, to agro-processing, through to marketing and distribution.

Note: Annex 1 lists indicative activities for each component of the programme, while Annex 2 presents examples of successful approaches to lift youth constraints in engaging in agriculture and agribusiness development.

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The programme will not use a standardized approach, but adapt to national priorities. On the basis of initial country assessment to be conducted during the three months inception phase, one or more specific entry points will be selected in each country. Possible entry points will be:

The programme will prioritize collaboration and partnerships directly with the private sector. Investments in agricultural and rural development will only create large numbers of jobs if the private sector takes on a leadership role and adopts responsible business principles. The programme will promote in particular partnerships in line with the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems, which were approved by the 41st Session of the Committee on World Food Security in October 2014. The programme will facilitate multi-stakeholder partnerships to ensure involvement and leadership of the private sector in: the development and implementation of skills development programmes; the enhancement of market linkages between groups of young smallholder producers and (young or adult) agri-based entrepreneurs; the improvement of service provision to support youth-inclusiveness in value chains; the enhancement of value addition and marketing focusing on enterprise development; improvement of food safety and quality; etc.

Also, the programme will enhance the linkages between employment and social protection initiatives for the benefit of the rural youth. Access to social protection programmes can work as a cushion for basic needs of youth and their families as it promotes access to food and to basic consumption needs and can also enhance human capital and rural investments. There is strong evidence that social protection increases the workforce’s options, and that many beneficiaries shift time previously dedicated to casual agricultural wage employment of last resort to own-farm work or non-farm employment. Linkages will be established in particular with: (1) unconditional and conditional transfers; (3) public works programmes, and (4) emergency employment programmes. Other concrete areas of intervention could be public procurement of agricultural products (e.g. partnering with WFP P4P programme) and enabling youth access to contributory social protection through more formal agricultural employment. The programme links also to emergency and risk preparedness-related work in order to help young people’s (e.g. refugees, pastoralists communities, IDPs and youth in protracted crises countries) quick recover from crisis by generating livelihoods. For instance, the Programme could support the fast creation of temporary jobs through cash for work, while stabilizing the longer term approach for employment in viable enterprises or self-employment.

Special attention will be given to promoting green jobs2 in sustainable agriculture. The transformation to a greener economy could create up to 60 million additional jobs globally over the

2 According to the ILO definition, jobs are green when they help reduce negative environmental impact ultimately leading to environmentally, economically and socially sustainable enterprises and economies. More precisely, green jobs are decent jobs that (i) reduce consumption of energy and raw materials; (ii) limit greenhouse gas emissions; (iii) minimize waste and pollution; and/or (iv) protect and restore ecosystems.

1. Youth employment and entrepreneurship in selected

agricultural value chains or sub-sectors

2. Overall youth inclusion in food systems, including through the

promotion of responsible agricultural investments

3. Green jobs in CSA and natural resource management, including public work programmes for land

rehabilitation and water management

4. Emergency employment to build resilience in countries in

protracted crisis.

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next two decades and lift tens of millions of workers out of poverty (ILO, 2012). Agriculture has an immense environmental footprint, being a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, the largest user and significant polluter of water, cause of land degradation and loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, agriculture-related natural resources will face additional pressures in the coming decades due to continuous growth of global food demand and the consequences of climate change, which are already affecting agricultural productivity and migration dynamics. However, by promoting agriculture and natural resource management that are at the same time more climate- and labour-smart, the agriculture sector could respond to the triple challenge of reducing GHG emission, conserving and protecting the environment and absorbing the growing workforce. Examples of agriculture-related green job areas are: Environmentally friendly food production - organic farming, composting, beekeeping, water conservation, agroprocessing and agroforestry; Energy production from renewable sources – production of biogas from animal manure or crop residues; Landscape maintenance and biodiversity protection; Climate change and environmental research, development and policy making; Environmentally friendly activities in the countryside, – eco-/agro- and sustainable tourism, including on-the-farm agroprocessing to be served to clients. In general, sustainable farming practices, such as organic farming, require more labour inputs as they are relatively labour-intensive compared to conventional farming and have the potential to generate higher social and economic returns. In many developing countries, young women play an important role in natural resource management, and green jobs will, therefore, be of particular interest and concern to them. Furthermore, in the green tourism sector, 60 to 70 percent of the workforce is female and half of them are aged 25 or younger.

Finally, the programme will map and establish synergies with existing initiatives on rural youth employment. It will harness them to nourish South South Cooperation and good practices exchanges, and support the up-scaling of the more successful ones through strategic partnerships with development partners such as the AU, the AfDB, the ILO, the WB, and IFAD, among others.

Scope of the Regional Thematic Programme: Global, regional, country level

The programme will have a strong country component. The target countries will be selected on the basis of the prioritization conducted by the different FAO Strategic Objectives and the Regional Office for Africa, and taking into account the existing countries’ commitment on youth employment. The programme will initially target a group of 10 countries covering the different SSA sub-regions, but also considering different “rural realities” or models of agricultural development. In the medium term, the programme should be up scaled to benefit 20-25 countries.

The programme will also operate at the regional level. The aim is to provide direct support and influence regional processes. The programme will facilitate partnerships and collaborations with regional institutions, such as the African Union (esp. DREA). Furthermore, the programme will support regional exchanges of best practices and identify country experiences suitable for replication or scaling-up. In so doing the programme will support existing initiatives for knowledge generation such as the NEPAD forthcoming African Centre for Best Practices, Capacity Building and South-South Cooperation. The programme will also promote policy dialogue on regional issues related to intra-regional migration / labour mobility, and multi-country economic corridors. Finally, the programme will contribute to strengthen FAO decentralized offices’ capacities for the design, funding and implementation of youth employment programmes.

At global level, the programme will directly contribute to the UN Inter-Agency Network on Youth Development (IANYD), the connected Youth-SWAP and other global youth-related processes. Through country experience and interregional dialogue, the programme will increase global knowledge about successful youth employment approaches in agriculture and agribusiness and strengthen overall FAO’s support to member countries in this area of work.

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Cross-cutting themes

All the cross-cutting issues referred to in this section have been already incorporate throughout the programme and are reported here for ease of reference.

Gender – Gender equality will be mainstreamed throughout the approaches and interventions covered by the programme. This will translate into gender-sensitive analysis and capacity development, as well as ensuring that the mechanisms proposed are gender-aware and actively contribute to reduce gender inequalities in the rural labour market.

Governance – Special attention will be devoted to improve interactions between multiple actors to foster more inclusive agro-food systems; ensure inclusive policy dialogue processes and youth participation in rural institutions. Fostering Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) is a key priority in the programme. The public sector has a major role in ensuring consumer access to safe and affordable agriculture products, in protecting the environment and ensuring that the agriculture sector contributes equitably to economic development. However, the production, processing and retail of agriculture products is a private sector function, be it large or small scale, and driven primarily by profit or livelihoods. In developing countries and emerging economies, population growth, urbanization and growing incomes open up new and expanding markets. Here, production and processing can be exploited to contribute more to the broader public goods of reducing poverty, improving human nutrition and increasing local economic development. Youth employment is an inherent part of that. The programme will work towards an environment that is conducive to the private sector and responsible private sector investments, thus creating employment opportunities, whilst ensuring social safeguards. This ‘enabling environment’, while differing from country to country, essentially encompasses equitable and fair policies that set and regulate rules and standards, provide incentives (including access to credit), develop infrastructure (road, transport link and utilities), control risks, ensure fair trading practices and facilitate access to goods and services (research and extension).

Nutrition – Will be mainstreamed across the programme activities. The programme will also be in line with the EU-FAO partnership consisting of two linked five-year programmes: the Food and Nutrition Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) facility, and the Information for Nutrition Food Security and Resilience for Decision Making (INFORMED) programme.

Climate Change – Youth access to green jobs is a key priority in the programme. Specific modules on climate change adaptation and mitigation/environmental sustainability will be part of the capacity development component of the programme. FAO has a longstanding engagement in raising awareness among children and young people worldwide about issues of climate change and food security. Climate change issues are being included in various capacity development materials, such as the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) methodology. Opportunities will be identified to enhance the youth employment potential of climate-smart agriculture and more broadly of climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions.

Contribution to FAO Strategic Framework

The programme will be anchored in FAO’s Strategic Objective (SO) 3 “Reduce rural poverty”. In particular, it will directly contribute to all three SO3 Organizational Outcomes, namely:

1. The rural poor have enhanced and equitable access to productive resources, services, organizations and markets, and can manage their resources more sustainably;

2. The rural poor have greater opportunities to access decent farm and non-farm employment;

3. Social protection systems are strengthened in support of sustainable rural poverty reduction.

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Beyond SO3, the programme will also contribute to the delivery towards the following SOs:

SO2 “Increase and improve provision of goods and services from agriculture, forestry and fisheries in a sustainable manner” – as regards green jobs through climate-smart agriculture and natural resource management; and reducing safety and health hazards for young farmers through pesticides risk reduction and safer agricultural practices in crops, fisheries, aquaculture, forestry).

SO4 “Enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems at local, national and international levels” – as regards more inclusive agribusiness development and business models value chain development, contract farming and agro enterprise development; facilitating intra-regional trade, promoting investments in agro-enterprise incubators, agricultural transformation and value chain development; increasing responsible investments in efficient and inclusive agri-food systems.

SO5 “Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises” – as regards emergency employment programmes and social protection schemes in emergency and protracted crises countries in particular for young refugees, IDPs, pastoralists etc. (e.g. in cash for work programmes, cash transfers, etc.).

To implement the programme, FAO will make full use of the range of its core functions, namely: normative and standard setting instruments; data and information; policy dialogue; capacity development; knowledge, technologies and good practices; partnerships; and advocacy and communication. Special emphasis will be given to supporting the enabling environment for decent rural youth employment, therefore directly supporting policy and strategic processes, formulation of large-scale investment programmes, and institutional strengthening.

FAO already implements more than 10 youth employment projects in Africa.3 However, most of them are relatively small to medium size technical cooperation projects that are contributing to solve specific technical issues or supporting the development of a particular policy instrument (e.g. the development of the national rural youth employment policy in Senegal). Therefore, they have limited opportunity to sustainably influence the enabling environment for decent rural youth employment and push support to a scale that is more commensurate with the magnitude of the challenge. A large-scale programme such as the programme will complement them with such support. In so doing, it will enable FAO to fulfil the pressing demands received from Member Countries to face the youth employment challenge in Africa.

In particular, the programme will establish linkages and directly contribute to all 3 FAO Regional Initiatives for Africa as well as to major FAO programmes such as FIRST, as suggested in Table 3:

3 See for instance; (Ethiopia) Rural poverty reduction through job creation in small ruminant value chains in Ethiopian Highlands; (Ethiopia and Tunisia) Youth migration, food security and rural poverty reduction; (Mali) Jeunesse au travail: réduction de la pauvreté rurale; (Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, Niger) Support to NEPAD in Promoting Decent Rural Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Agribusiness; (South Sudan) Enhanced Knowledge and Education for Resilient Pastoral Livelihoods; (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda) Promoting Nutrition Sensitive Agricultural Diversification to Fight Malnutrition and Enhance Youth Employment Opportunities in Eastern Africa; (Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Nigeria) Creating Agribusiness Employment Opportunities for Youth through Sustainable Aquaculture Systems and Cassava Value Chains in West Africa; (Zambia) ILO-FAO project on decent jobs for youth and improved food security through the development of sustainable rural enterprises; (Tanzania) Youth and Employment programme; (Guatemala, Senegal and Uganda) Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for promoting decent rural youth employment.

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Table 3: FAO’s Regional Initiatives (RIs) in SSA

Title Countries Potential for synergies

(SO1) RI Africa's 2025 Zero Hunger Challenge

Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Niger and Rwanda

Youth targeting / mainsteraming Scope for youth targeting under the following actions: a comprehensive and gender-sensitive cross-sectoral policy and investment framework for food security and nutrition that reflects the contributions of different sectors and stakeholders; legal frameworks to progressively realize the right to adequate food and to ensure equitable access to resources and assets; inclusive governance and cross-sectoral collaboration and evidence-based decision-making.

(SO2) RI Sustainable Agricultural Production Intensification in Agriculture

Cameroon, Chad, Cote D'Ivoir, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia

Youth targeting / mainsteraming; Best Practice and South-South exchange on youth employment in the context of CSA The intended results are wide-scale adoption of integrated sustainable production practices and agro-commercialization through organizational and institutional capacity development. Youth and women are cross-cutting.

(SO5) RI Building resilience in Africa's drylands.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe

Youth targeting / mainsteraming; Best Practice and South-South exchange on social protection aspects linked to resilience The first result will support countries and regions to have policy and institutional systems and regulatory frameworks for disaster and crisis risk management for agriculture, food and nutrition. The second result will contribute to countries and regions to deliver regular information and trigger timely actions against potential, known and emerging threats to agriculture, food and nutrition. Regarding the third result; it will support countries to apply prevention and impact mitigation measures that reduce risks for agriculture, food and nutrition at community level. The last result will contribute directly to countries and regions affected by food and agricultural disasters and crises with impact on agriculture food and nutrition to be prepared for, and to manage effective responses

“Food security Impact, Resilience and Sustainability” (FIRST)”

Djibouti, Republic of Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Cambodia, Kenya, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Burkina faso, Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Mali, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Uganda, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu

Youth targeting / mainsteraming; Policy dialogue and capacity development The objective is to strengthen the enabling environment for food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in selected priority countries/regional organisations, with a particular focus on: sectoral and cross-sectoral policy and programme frameworks for FNSSA, with a particular focus on the contribution that sustainable agriculture can make to FSN now and in the future; human and organizational capacities for FNSSA; inclusive and evidence-based governance and stakeholder coordination mechanisms for FNSSA.

FAO’s comparative advantage and ongoing work

FAO has been supporting developing countries for many years in improving their agricultural sectors and food systems with the objective of improving food security and nutrition and reduce rural poverty. Its comparative advantages lie in its extensive experience in: supporting the development and implementation of internationally-agreed codes, norms, standards and good practices; supporting evidence-based policy formulation and identifying lessons learned; promoting research and knowledge sharing; and developing and testing models and options for intervention.

In recent years, FAO has also increased its commitment to a broader policy approach that seeks to dynamize and diversify the rural economy at large while promoting sustainable agriculture and agri-food chains. A toolbox for climate-smart agriculture is available and will be applied through the programme together with FAO’s expertise on social protection, rural institutions, gender related issues in agriculture, and responsible agricultural investments.

On youth employment in particular, FAO has developed skills development approaches, business models and guidance for the agricultural sector to be more effective in creating better jobs for the rural youth. The programme will be in a position to build on the on-going FAO projects to exchange good practices and foster South South cooperation. In countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, and Senegal FAO has engaged with different partners (UNDP, EU-MDG1, ILO, NPCA, UNWOMEN, IFAD among others) to implement

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projects in support to employment-enhancing policy change in the agricultural sector, child labour prevention, rural women economic empowerment or youth entrepreneurship. At the request of national counterparts and/or financial investors (e.g. IFAD), FAO provided technical support to the design of large Youth Employment in Agriculture Programmes, such as in Benin and Nigeria. More recently, FAO has launched several projects funded through the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) supporting youth entrepreneurship in agriculture.4 In Zambia, the ILO-FAO UNJP Rural Youth Enterprises for Food Security supports trainings on value chains for decent work based on employment relevant Fish and Soy Bean value chain studies and market analysis. In Senegal, FAO supports the development of the National Rural Youth Employment Policy and related strategy. FAO’s decent youth employment creation model uses the gender-sensitive Junior Farmer and Field Life School (JFFLS) methodology, already adopted in at least 18 African countries.

FAO has also developed or contributed to several guidance and knowledge materials on employment which will support the implementation of the programme and its capacity development component, such as the FAO-CTA-IFAD (2014) Youth in Agriculture: Key Challenges and Concrete Solutions; the Handbook for monitoring and evaluation of child labour in agriculture, and several JFFLS manuals for training youth on sustainable agriculture and employment related topics, including on climate change, community seed banks, aquaculture and capture fisheries.

Partners

Under the programme, FAO will partner with agricultural line ministries (e.g. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, etc.), as well as other public, private or civil society institutions involved in strategic planning for agricultural and rural development (such as Ministries of Economy and Planning, Commerce, Finance, Youth, Labour, Education and Vocational Education, but also local government authorities, producers’, workers’ and employers’ organizations, community based organisations and other CSOs, research institutions and the private sector). Collaboration with the private sector as the main creator of jobs will be crucial and in particular linkages will be established with platforms for cross-ministry collaboration on youth employment or agricultural development and with existing mechanisms for public-private collaboration.

At the Regional level, collaboration will be established with:

- Regional and national offices of international organizations such as the ILO, IOM, UNIDO, IFAD, UNECA ,WFP and UNWomen;

- The World Bank and the African Development Bank;

- Regional and sub-regional economic communities and related programmes, including the African Union (AU), NEPAD (in particular through the Rural Futures Programme), ECOWAS, COMESA; and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for the Horn of Africa;

- Partners active on youth agribusiness such as: the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA); InfoDev (World Bank) Agribusiness Innovation Programme (AIP) and their Agribusiness Innovation Centers.

- Producers’, workers’, and agribusiness associations (e.g. IUF and PAFO affiliates) as well as CSOs and youth networks, such as the Youth Employment Network (YEN);

4 The ASTF-funded projects include: the project “Youth at work: Reducing rural poverty” being implemented in Mali; the project “Agricultural Diversification for Youth Employment” being implemented in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Niger; the project “Decent Employment Opportunities for Youth through Sustainable Aquaculture Systems” being implemented in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Senegal; and the project “Promoting Decent Rural Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Agribusiness” being implemented in collaboration with NPCA/NEPAD in Benin, Cameroon, Malawi, Niger.

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- National and regional research institutions (e.g. CGIAR centers, IFPRI, ILRI).

At the Global level, FAO will ensure that linkages are established with global mechanisms and networks such as the Inter Agency Network for Youth Development (IANYD), the YUNGA network, and the Global Migration Group (GMG).

Implementation arrangements

FAO will lead the implementation of the programme from its regional office in Accra, Ghana. Implementation hubs will also be established in the sub-regional offices. Several units in Headquarters will support the implementation, in particular: ESP, ESN, AGP, NRC and TCE. Depending on the specific entry points identified in each country, support will be leveraged in the respective technical units responsible for agricultural subsectors (e.g. crop, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, and forestry).

The Program will work with regional and sub-regional partners as listed above. Final decisions on specific partnerships for implementation shall be made during inception. The programme will have a rapid inception phase of 3 months, during which a choice will be made on the specific entry points for the programme for each country. As indicated before in the document, possible entry points are: 1. Youth employment and entrepreneurship in selected agricultural value chains or sub-sectors; 2. Overall youth inclusion in food systems, including through the promotion of responsible agricultural investments; 3. Green jobs in CSA and natural resource management, including public work programmes for land rehabilitation and water management; and 4. Emergency employment programmes to build resilience in countries in protracted crisis. Specific partnerships for implementation will therefore depend on the specific entry points selected.

Programme staff will be placed in regional and possibly sub-regional offices, and national full-time consultants will be recruited in all implementing countries. The Program will be conducted over five years (2016–2020). It will initially target a group of 10 countries covering the different SSA sub-regions. In the medium term, the programme could be expanded to benefit 20-25 countries, depending on resource mobilization. Potential initial focus countries are: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The estimated total cost of the Program is USD 30 million to be mobilized as Trust Funds. The Program will be conducted in 10 countries where FAO has ongoing activities and strong relations with key stakeholders. The participating countries are expected to contribute, in resources or in kind, to at least 5% of the total.

Across the headquarters and regional and sub-regional hubs and participating countries there will be a Project Management Team to be headed by a senior Project Coordinator in the FAO Regional Office for Africa in Ghana, supported by an M&E specialist and few other staff and consultants, depending on need.

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References

AfDB/OECD/UNDP/UNECA. 2012. African Economic Outlook 2012. Special theme: Promoting youth employment.

AUC/ECA/AfDB/UNDP. 2013. MDG Report 2013: Assessing progress in Africa towards the Millenium Development Goals. Food Security in Africa: Issues, challenges and lessons.

FAO. 2012. World Agriculture Towards 2030/2050: The 2012 Revision. ESA Working Paper No. 12-03. Rome.

FAO, 2014a. Paper prepared for the FAO Regional Conference for Africa. African youth in agribusiness and rural development. 28th Session, Tunis, Tunisia, 24-28 March 2014.

FAO. 2014b. Developing sustainable food value chains – Guiding principles. Rome (p. 20)

FAO, 2014 (DRAFT) Action plan for the FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) on decent youth employment and entrepreneurship in agriculture and agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa. 2015-2017

FAO, 2015. The State of Food and Agriculture. Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty. Rome

FAO-CTA-IFAD. 2014. Youth in Agriculture: Key Challenges and Concrete Solutions. Rome.

FAO, IFAD and WFP. 2015. The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress. Rome, FAO.

IFAD, Youth and land website, http://www.ifad.org/english/youth/regional/land.htm

International Monetary fund (IMF), 2015. Regional economic outlook. Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C

ILO, 2012. Working towards sustainable development: opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy. Geneva.

ILO, 2015a. Global employment trends for youth 2015: scaling up investments in decent jobs for youth. International Labour Office. Geneva.

ILO. 2015b. World Report on Child Labour 2015: Paving the way to decent work for young people. Geneva.

ILO, 2015c. World employment and social outlook 2015: The changing nature of jobs Geneva.

ILO, 2015d. Youth and rural development: evidence from 25 school-to-work transition surveys / Sara Elder, Hein de Haas, Marco Principi and Kerilyn Schewel. Geneva.

UN, 2013. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2013.

UN, 2015a. World Population Prospects: 2015 revision. New York.

UN, 2015b. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015.

UNESCO. 2010. Trends in Tertiary Education: Sub-Saharan Africa. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

WB, 2007. World development report 2008. Agriculture for Development. Washington, D.C.

WB. 2012. Structural Transformation and Rural Change Revisited: Challenges for Late Developing Countries in a Globalizing World. African Development Forum series. Washington, D.C.

WB. 2014. Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Washington, D.C.

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Annex 1

Indicative activities by component of the programme

programme components Indicative activities

1. Mapping, knowledge generation and sharing for evidence-based policy and programme development.

- Map out existing frameworks, policy dialogues and fora, studies and initiatives planned by key players for youth employment in agriculture and agribusiness, (e.g. ADB), identify gaps, and establish linkages (e.g. the Continental Agribusiness Strategy);

- Based on the analyzed gaps, document policies, approaches, methodologies and models for youth employment in agriculture and agribusiness that have been successful in reducing poverty and enhancing decent youth employment opportunities in rural areas (e.g. innovations in access to land, financial services, knowledge, markets, social protection, reduction of hazardous work; good practices by agricultural sub-sector; school and non-school based (e.g. FFS) agricultural and agribusiness skills development methodologies; different models for incubation and mentorship such as Agribusiness and Clusters );

- Finalize and disseminate FAO study on Youth in African Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship;

- In the target countries, conduct a rapid gender and age-sensitive scoping exercise to identify the main entry points for employment creation and entrepreneurship promotion in agriculture and agri-food systems. Entry points have ben groups into four areas: 1. Youth employment and entrepreneurship in selected agricultural value chains or sub-sectors; 2. Overall youth inclusion in food systems, including through the promotion of responsible agricultural investments; 3. Green jobs in CSA and natural resource management, including public work programmes for land rehabilitation and water management; and 4. Emergency employment to build resilience in countries in protracted crisis.

- Based on the main angle of the programme in each country, support related knowledge generation: improved data and info collection, youth-sensitive value chain assessments, and/or green jobs potential in rural areas and related skills needs; trends and issues related to youth rural distress migration, youth access to social protection, protection of workers in the 15-17 age group, labour standards in rural areas, matching instruments in the rural labour markets, identification of opportunities for diaspora/remittances investments; etc;

- At the demand of countries, support policy dialogues for greater coordination among stakeholders on youth in agriculture and agribusiness (e.g. for the development of rural youth employment policies or strategies or for mainstreaming youth issues into agricultural strategies under development);

- Facilitate knowledge sharing exchange among countries as needed.

2. Capacity development and institutional strengthening to build systemic capacities for youth employment in agriculture and agribusiness promotion in agriculture

- Institutional capacity strengthening for addressing youth employment and entrepreneurship in agriculture and agribusiness (e.g. strengthening the capacities of national partners to design, implement and monitor pro-poor and youth-sensitive agricultural and agribusiness policies, strategies, programmes and investment plans);

- Support FAO Country Offices and Sub-Regional Offices in the formulation, mobilization of resources and implementation of youth employment projects and programmes and other rural poverty reduction initiatives targeting the youth;

- Facilitate south-south cooperation and experience sharing between countries to up-scale good models on decent youth employment and rural poverty reduction in agriculture and rural areas;

- Support governments in enhancing and monitoring rural youth employment and poverty reduction impacts of public and private investments, contributing to investment screening and selection and the private sector to adopt responsible business principles as regards youth inclusion (e.g.

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application of RAI and FAB principles, Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, etc.);

- Develop policy briefs and Handbook on decent rural youth employment in agriculture and agribusiness for poverty reduction in SSA;

- Support the strengthening or establishment of a regional platform/hub to leverage technical support on pro-poor and youth-friendly extension and business development services, financial inclusion, agri-business incubators, apprenticeship programmes and inclusive business models.

3. Support to the upscaling of successful approaches through programme formulation and the facilitation of multi-stakeholder partnerships

- Support selected national processes of design and/or implementation of youth-specific large-scale country programmes or the integration of youth aspects in broader agricultural investments, strategies and plans;

- Under the point above, support increased multi-stakeholder coordination and policy coherence among agricultural and agribusiness, trade, climate change, employment and social protection policies: Cross-sectorial stakeholder consultations; Cross-sectoral policy dialogue between government ministries and key stakeholder groups;

- Under the points above, in particular, facilitate improved partnerships with the private sector: facilitate enterprises’ participation in national vocational training systems and training programmes through interventions aimed at facilitating the transition of young people to the world of work (e.g. enterprise-based training); Facilitate special training schemes organized by employers, individually or collectively, outside the framework of national training systems in order to generate the skills required by the agro-industry; Partnerships for the development of youth-friendly financial products and business development services;

- Support the mainstreaming of youth employment and entrepreneurship in the FAO Regional Initiatives and work programme in SSA.

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Annex 2

Examples of successful approaches to lift youth constraints in engaging in agriculture and agribusiness development

Typical constraints faced by youth

Potential approaches to lift youth constraints

Access to land and water

Advocacy towards implementing existing laws and regulations granting youth access to land (e.g. in the frame of agrarian reforms). E.g. In Burkina Faso, advocacy campaigns targeted the local traditional authorities, such as the village chief and the land chief, to release some of the land to young women.

Rehabilitation and subsequent distribution of land to young people (e.g. when there is a scarcity of arable land as piloted in Ethiopia);

Leasing or loans specifically targeted at youth for acquiring land, associated with training (e.g. in Mexico);

Often these mechanisms involve an intermediary – e.g. a women leaders’ group in Burkina Faso or a private company in Uganda – to facilitate communication between the youth and the elderly regarding the transfer of land. It is also essential to involve all community members in the discussion process and to break the silos between generations. Where government resources allow, one option is to give older community members incentives to transfer (part of) their land to the young generations (e.g. encouraging early retirement of farmers).

Access to finance

Experience of the Grameen Bank demonstrating that it is possible to lend to the poor, including youth with no land or collaterals of any kind;

Grouping in informal saving clubs can also help rural youth to improve their means for generating savings and increasing their borrowing power (e.g. the Friends Help Friends saving group in Cambodia). It is important to develop policies that offer incentives or subsidies to open and use a savings account;

Youth-dedicated products are beginning to be offered by some commercial banks, for example, the partnership between the DFCU Bank, Stanbic Bank and Centenary Bank with the Government of Uganda and its Youth Venture Capital Fund;

Nevertheless, youth are still generally regarded to be an excessively risky client group. Lowering the risk of lending to young people can be achieved through various guarantee mechanisms: risk funds, guarantee groups and other partnerships;

A number of initiatives providing youth with access to finance are still managed or initiated by development partners. This means that they may depend on donors for funding. It is therefore crucial to include governments and other national organizations in creating a youth-friendly policy environment that encourages the design of suitable financial services for youth as well as the provision of low-cost delivery channels like mobile and school banking programmes;

Financial education is very important and should be coordinated amongst government entities, Financial Service Providers, and youth stakeholders.

Knowledge and technology (including entrepreneurial skills, sustainable agricultural practices);

For youth to successfully participate in the agricultural sector, access to both information and education are crucial. In addition to knowledge of agricultural production and processing techniques and the relative know-how, young farmers need access to information about finance, land and markets;

Education in rural areas can include agriculture in primary and secondary school curricula. In Uganda, practical activities associated with the integration of agriculture in the school curriculum through school gardens successfully informed youth about the different ways of engaging in the agricultural sector;

Agricultural education and training must reflect the needs of the agricultural labour market and enhance the familiarity of young women and men with the world of work. Young Malagasy are offered apprenticeships in rural microenterprises and support to set up their own businesses or become paid workers after completion of the programme (see PROSPERER programme). In Rwanda, youth receive customized advice and are linked up with business partners and farmers so that their ICT-based agricultural solutions can fit the needs of the users;

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New training approaches for youth are more effective when they focus not only on agriculture in the strictest sense, but on “sustainable socio-economic entrepreneurship”, including the development of human skills (e.g. cultural, social, technical, organizational and economic) and the linking of agriculture to industry and services. The Songhai Centre and FAO Junior Farmer Field and Life School (JFFLS) are widely known for this training approach. Training needs to be tailored to the farmer and training curricula developed in a participatory way, as is the case in Pakistan, where youth from different communities took part in consultative workshops to define the activities of the Women Open Schools;

Modern ICTs have high appeal to young rural individuals. The Internet is becoming an increasingly important medium, including in the poorest regions, to acquire access to information and allow producers to be better connected. ICTs have also been instrumental in the development of new training techniques. In Brazil, a free online training programme for farmers is operational, and, in Ghana, young farmers use ICTs for extension services. In both cases, the use of ICTs is combined with face-to-face support. In various developing countries, rural information centres, such as the Ndola Youth Resource Centre in Zambia, have been set up to improve access to modern ICTs.

Markets and value chains

ICTs can facilitate access to financial services and markets. For example, MFarm in Kenya provides farmers with information regarding prices through SMS services and connects them with traders and consumers. Meanwhile, the mobile-based sales system developed by Vivuus Ltd links women retailers in urban markets with producers in Ghana, improving distribution, lowering prices and allowing farmers to sell more;

Education and training are essential if youth are to seize marketing opportunities and create their own business. Mentoring programmes, such as the one for young coffee producers in Colombia, enhance knowledge and competencies to comply with market requirements, specific skills development, and confidence;

There is increasing evidence that being a member of a (youth) producers’ group can help young people overcome the challenge of accessing markets. Producers’ organizations (POs) can enhance youth bargaining power, reduce transaction costs and realize economies of scale when buying agricultural inputs and selling agricultural produce. Acting collectively may enable youth to deal with transportation and storage issues, acquire technologies and certificates to comply with required quality standards, and reach the necessary scale to supply the desired quantity of their products in order to access larger markets. It is important to introduce incentives for youth to enter POs as in the case of NASFAM collaboration with FAO in Malawi;

High-value agricultural products and niche markets also offer opportunities to young farmers (e.g fair trade organic, natural, healthy, environmentally friendly and traditional products.) Young farmers can exploit these rising opportunities thanks to their creativity, flexibility and interest in addressing novel and niche markets. We Deliver Taste, founded by members of the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN), helps young smallholder farmers in southern Europe produce territorial products in a sustainable way, with respect for natural resources and traditional knowledge. Globally recognized certification schemes – environmental certification, social certification and branding – are another way of accessing markets and promoting products. YouthTrade, a youth certification scheme created by young entrepreneurs in the United States, demonstrates how a label of sustainability can have an impact on market access;

Mentorship and sustained technical advice during the early stages of agribusiness start-ups is critical for successful engagement of young people in the sector;

In Zambia, a joint ILO-FAO project is implementing the Making Market Work for the Poor (M4P) in support of youth entrepreneurship in the soy and fish value chains. The M4P approach aims to sustainably improve the lives of the poor by analyzing and influencing market systems that affect them as business people, consumers and employees. M4P focuses on systemic action: understanding where market systems are failing to serve the needs of the poor, and acting to correct those failings, in terms of pro-poor private sector development.

Social protection

Youth access to social protection, including access to universal social benefit schemes, social insurance schemes, social assistance schemes, public employment schemes and/or employment support schemes (e.g. for youth migrants) such as the Expanded Public Works Programmes in South Africa, but complemented with formal training and apprenticeship programmes that benefit from the involvement of the private sector;

Employment guarantee schemes, e.g. National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but with more explicit targeting of youth,

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Youth skills training programmes (e.g. JFFLS) and emergency employment programmes to help young refugees, pastoralists communities, IDPs and youth in protracted crises countries to quickly recover from crisis by generating livelihoods and economic opportunities, creating emergency jobs and employment in viable enterprises or self-employment e.g. ILO-FAO UNJP Jobs for peace in Nepal or FAO projects in West bank and Gaza Strip in collaboration with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA);

Public procurement of agricultural products from youth groups (e.g. partnering with WFP P4P programme or establishing “preferential procurement policies” like in Kenya where 30 percent of public expenses will be paid to enterprises owned by youth, women and the disabled);

Enabling youth access to contributory social protection through more formal agricultural employment.

Engagement in policy dialogue

In developing countries in particular, the inclusion of youth in agricultural policy-making is still in an exploratory stage and the full impact is yet to be felt. It is crucial for rural youth to organize themselves or join an existing organization, providing a sustainable channel to get their voices heard and to actively engage in policy dialogue. For example, in Togo and Senegal (see Collège des jeunes under the CNRC) effective youth structures were created within farmers’ organizations at national level;

Brazil has also institutionalized dialogues on international agreements related to agriculture with youth at different levels of the society.

Gender specific constraints under all the previous ones

Conducting gender-sensitive analyses of related skill needs and Participatory identification of value chains with young women and men beneficiaries;

Taking into account the timing and location of training, the need for female-friendly transport facilities and developing flexible curricula that fit rural young women’s needs (E.g. introduction of gender quotas for training programmes in Brazil; direct training targeted specifically at women in Pakistan; and provision of take-home food rations and introduction of flexible school calendars as incentives for families to let young women participate in training programmes);

Special measures should be taken to facilitate young women’s participation in organizations and to enhance their leadership skills. These measures could include: reducing women’s workloads; building their capacities; setting young women quotas in membership and leadership of the organization; and sensitizing local leaders about the importance of young women’s participation;

Ensuring that all actions foreseen in the project which aim at supporting an enabling environment for young entrepreneurship are gender-aware and promote young women’s entrepreneurship (E.g. by identifying systemic barriers and supporting reform of laws and regulations which may impede women’s entrepreneurship);

Promoting the engagement of organizations representing the needs of rural young women entrepreneurs and collaborating with rural women entrepreneurs’ associations, and other women groups to create synergies and improve sustainability of project interventions;

Working to address mobility constraints that may hinder young women's capacity to place their products and to identify mechanisms by which young women can access benefits for maternity leave and child care (at the processing facility).

Sources: FAO-CTA-IFAD (2014) Youth in Agriculture: Key Challenges and Concrete Solutions or CFS, FAO, IFAD and WFP (2015) publication Developing the Knowledge, Skills and Talent of Youth to further Food Security and Nutrition; ILO, 2105. Youth and rural development: evidence from 25 school-to-work transition surveys; UN Capital Development Fund 2012 Policy Opportunities and Constraints to Access Youth Financial Services.