The concept of working with youth as a target audience has been evolving at a rapid pace since the 1960s. It is now fully apparent that youth make up a social group with its own identity, needs and aspirations.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), by its name and purpose places an emphasis on agriculturally related programmes. FAO support for youth programmes is mainly focused on young men and women in the rural areas. There is specific interest in carefully defining the needs of rural youth and supporting activities that involve youth in the rural development process.
In defining the term youth, there has evolved a common denominator that youth is that period in an individual's life which runs between the end of childhood and entry into the world of work. The United Nations, for statistical purposes, has defined youth as young men and women between 15 and 24 years of age. Using this statistical definition, one out of every five of the world's inhabitants is a youth.
The present global youth population is estimated to be 922 million or 19.4 percent of the total world population. These figures represent an increase of 79 percent from 515 million in 1960. The size of this population group is projected to exceed 1,000 million near the end of the 1930s and to increase to 1,062 million by the year 2000.
Four out of Five Youth Live in the Less Developed Regions of the World
In 1984, 187 million (20.3%) youth lived in more developed regions of the world and 734 million (79.7%) lived in less developed regions. In other words, four out of every five young people between the ages of 15 and 24 live in the less developed regions of the world. Of the 922 million youth in the world in 1984, 512 million (56%) lived in rural areas. Eleven out of 20 young people live in the rural areas where many are confronted with problems such as: inadequate educational and training opportunities, lack of social services and amenities, contradictions between new aspirations and traditional attitudes and systems, limited access to land and the introduction of new techniques in agriculture, old and new marriage systems (including relevant financial constraints) and traditional, attitudes with regard to the status and role of girls and women in society.
Employment and Training
A major problem which exists across the different regions of the world is that of youth unemployment and the lack of appropriate training. The problem is magnified in the rural areas where community oriented, competency-based learning has little support in an atmosphere of theoretical teaching geared to advancing students up the ladder of academia. Rural students drop out and or leave school with little or no preparation for the task of earning a living in or near their home communities. The issues related to the employment of young men and women include unemployment, underemployment and the migration of young people from rural to urban areas. Education for self-reliance is a concept which must include elements of functional literacy, vocational training, entrepreneurship, income generating activities and a basic "can do" philosophy that encourages self-employment in the rural sector. There is a need for a unity of national, regional and international initiatives which will support old and perhaps new approaches to the solution of problems which have an effect on over half of the less industrialized world's population.
It is hoped that this record of an international consultation will serve to stimulate interest and action in support of better programmes and increased opportunities for rural young men and women. The principal issues are how can the needs, rights, potential and responsibilities of youth be effectively addressed in national and local development plans and programmes and, how can opportunities for young people be created and increased for meaningful participation in the development of their communities and countries?
The overall purpose of the consultation was to enable experts to discuss the problems facing rural youth and young fanners and to suggest a course of action for consideration by governments and FAO.
More specifically the consultation objectives were:
1. To review the nature and extent of the needs and problems of rural youth and young farmers;
2. To review the nature and extent of the needs and problems facing organizers and leaders of programmes for rural youth and young farmers;
3. To identify priority areas for government action;
4. To advise on the major elements of a course of action which can enable FAO to most appropriately assist governments in strengthening programmes for rural youth and young farmers.
The agenda and timetable of the consultation are given in Annex A.
The consultation brought together a total of 19 senior government officials, academic faculty members, NGO representatives and a representative from the International Youth Year (IYY) secretariat. Also present were representatives from FAO regional offices and several divisions from the secretariat.
Except for the opening session, the various plenary and working group sessions were chaired by consultation participants. Working groups were drawn together to discuss the issues. The list of participants is given in Annex R.
The major issues discussed can be summarized in this series of four questions:
1. What are the major problems faced by rural youth and young farmers?
2. What are the problems and constraints faced by the leaders and organizers of programmes for rural youth and young farmers?
3. How can governments best address the problem areas related to appropriate programmes for rural youth and young farmers?
4. How can FAO, as a technical organization with limited resources, be of assistance in strengthening programmes for rural youth and young farmers?
