Empowering young agri-entrepreneurs
Youth are the future of food security. With an agricultural sector characterized by an ageing labour force, involving youth in agriculture is a pressing challenge. Yet, few young people see a place for themselves in agriculture due to challenges such as inadequate access to land, credit and markets. In addition, they are affected by high unemployment rates and often migrate from rural areas looking for better opportunities.
FAO works with different stakeholders to empower youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture, following the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems. This is done by creating institutional, policy and incentive frameworks that account for the needs of youth, as well as equipping young agri-entrepreneurs with the skills they need to make their businesses thrive.
The following publications have been designed to facilitate this process.
Empowering youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: Rapid capacity assessment tool
This tool helps practitioners, such as government agencies, youth organizations, or development partners, to carry out multi-stakeholder assessments of existing and needed capacities to engage and empower youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems.
Empowering youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: Guidance for organizers and facilitators of the rapid capacity assessment tool
This document provides guidance to support the utilization of the Rapid Capacity Assessment Tool. It includes relevant information on how to plan, design and conduct the capacity assessment, and suggestions on how to prepare and facilitate multi-stakeholder discussions
Empowering youth to engage in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from six African countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda)
This report aims to enhance understanding on the main challenges and opportunities to engage youth in responsible agricultural investment by giving voice to those most concerned. It summarizes key findings from a series of multi-stakeholder capacity assessment workshops with participants from six African countries.
Empowering Youth to Engage in Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems
The capacity assessment tool explained in a nutshell.
Further reading
Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems: Why it matters
The FAO Umbrella Programme “Supporting Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems”
The CFS principles for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems fact sheet
FAO Publications