Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

This member contributed to:

    • (1) What are the potential entry points for government to address challenges and foster the development of digital agriculture?

      Developing policies which can promote Open Data for Agriculture at all levels by followith the FAIR Principal.

      (2) How can the establishment of the Digital Council address the numerous barriers to adoption of these technologies?

      The digital council will help to advocate, lobby and influence policy formulation at International, Reginal, National and Local level

      (3) Do you think that the roles identified for the Digital Council are suitable for facing the agrifood systems challenges outlined above?

      Partly yes but there is a need to critically look at the diverse challenges faced by smallholder farmers in the Global South and the central government budget allocations to the Agriculture sector. This will give you a clear picture.

    • Based on your experience, what are the specific challenges rural youth aged 15-17 face (different from those over 18) in making a (current or future) living in agriculture and related activities?

      My Organization Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organization (KIRUCODO) is operating in rural communities of Uganda and we who usually move around the villages this is what we see on the ground:

      In Uganda, most of the elderly people live in rural communities. Their main job is to look after their grandchildren (left behind by their deceased children or by their children who cannot afford to look after them) and growing food for home consumption. Most of the children begin to stay with their grandparents at a tender age and when they reach age 15-17 they are unruly as their grandparents are too weak to always be on their neck or simply are (grandparents) very busy looking for food for the family. This age range (15-17) of the youth is mostly unserious with life simply because they grow up having all the liberty and decide on what to do even if it is not helpful. They are unserious in that at times you find their grandparents busy in gardens but for them are just relaxing busy betting, etc. Not all the youth are like that but majority in our villages are like that. In rural Uganda the problem is not land (land is available and most of the people of all ages have access.) but unserious youth who don’t want to work yet they need to have good life. This is like this because in Uganda most of the youth falling under this age group (15-17) are usually helped by their parents or guardians. So you find that most of the youth cannot think beyond being helped by their parents but always to wait to be provided for by the same.

      Majority of the rural households are small-scale farmers and they mostly grow food for home consumption. Though most of the rural household farmers are always busy in the field, majority of them are still living in poverty. To the youths who have been watching their parents struggling with life, they always distance themselves from any agricultural-related activities. On the other hand, some of the youths between 15-17 years attend school and they have no time to engage in agriculture because they always keep at school from morning up to evening.

      How can policies and programmes overcome the challenges faced by rural youth in a cost-effective manner? 

      If they target older youth, how could we apply them to support those under 18? Please share relevant examples and lessons from your experience.

      Now that majority of the rural youths under 18 years usually don’t get proper guidance while growing up, there is a need for governments to begin creating Youth Community Recreation Centers at every sub-county. These centers can be utilized to offer life skills, mentorship and leadership programs to the youths with a focus of helping them to change their mindsets and begin to look at things in a different way. This can be initiated by engaging area Members of Parliament, and youth Members of Parliament. The youths themselves can be mobilized to forward in their petition to the parliament through their respective area Members of Parliament, youth groups and youths Members of Parliament.

      What are the most binding capacity constraints that you or your institution/organization encounter when designing, implementing and evaluating policies and programmes aiming to address the issues affecting rural youth under the age of 18?

      * Lack of necessary key skills in advocacy

      * Lack of required exposure to the policy environment

      * Lack of financial resources 

      What are the data gaps regarding the challenges affecting rural youth employment and livelihoods that you periodically encounter?

      * In Uganda, it is hard to find data on the number of unemployed rural youths in a particular village, parish, sub-county or county.

      * In Uganda, it is hard to find data on the number of rural youths who don’t live with their real parents.

      * In Uganda, it is hard to find data on the number of rural youths who have no access to land.

      * In Uganda, it is hard to find data on the number of youths who lost their parents.

      * In Uganda, it is hard to find data on government employment opportunities.

      How can education and vocational training in rural areas be improved to support rural adolescents and youth to productively engage in agriculture or related activities?

      Though Agriculture is one of the subjects taught in secondary schools in Uganda, it is more theory than practical. There is a need of creating an Agricultural Demonstration Field (ADF) at every Primary and Secondary school. The skills gained by the youths from such ADF need to be implemented practically by youths themselves and it is from this implementation that a youth in school can be examined. The implementation does not require a youth to own land but to have where he or she stays. For example at my Organization we usually train youth how they can plant tomatoes in plastic bottles and be able to earn a living:  (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153591330298212&set=pcb.510449...) 

      Marks awarding can be based on: innovation exhibited while implementing, field organization and management, implementation costs verses anticipated profits, etc. So in this case, the respective educational institutional curricular need to changed in a way which encourages hands-on learning for that particular youth. 

      What are the skills and support they need?

      * Agricultural extension skills

      * Agribusiness and entrepreneur skills

      * Profitable Small-scale Agriculture management skills

      What does the school-to-work transition for rural youth aged 15-17 look like and what works to effectively support rural youth during this transition?

      The guiding principal need to work towards changing the mind-sets of the youths and begin to look at Agriculture as a profitable venture for any youth anywhere in the world. Schools need to prepare the youths in the direction they should confidently take from that moment not to wait till they finish school. For this to happen, there is a need for new policy directions to be undertaken and a strong political will. Lastly, there is a need of preparing the youth before and in respect to the new life-changing directions they need to systematically follow.

      What approaches are most effective in overcoming the additional challenges rural youth under the age of 18 face in accessing decent jobs, including (decent) green jobs (e.g. skills mismatch, health and safety conditions, discrimination, exclusion) or becoming entrepreneurs (e.g. barriers in access to finance, producers organizations and markets)?

      There is a need to sensitize the youths under 18 and to equip them with key information they need while accessing decent jobs or becoming entrepreneurs. This needs to be done right from schools, then at the Community Youth Recreation Centers, etc.

      With sensitization I  base on our practical experience at KIRUCODO with our small-scale profitable poultry keeping. With this project, before engaging any youth, we first sensitize him or her on how to keep chicken as a business not as their parents used to do with the free-range poultry keeping system which was more of keeping chicken with no major commercial objective. From this experience and based on the tangible results on the ground, we now know that a properly sensitized youth is far better in business than unsensitized one.