FAO supports entrepreneurship amongst rural youth in Honduras
“We have received training in gender, which is very important because we help each other and exchange ideas with our female colleagues in the group. We have been given all the material so that we can perform at business and community level,” explains one
© FAO / Luis Mazariegos, Marielos Narváez
In Honduras, rural youth face considerable challenges in accessing productive and decent employment opportunities. The rural labour markets are often characterized by low productivity, informality and high levels of unemployment. This is particularly the case for young people under 24 years of age, who constitute more than half of the country’s unemployed population.
Also, about 40 percent of all young workers are paid less than the minimum wage and work long hours without access to social protection or adequate representation. Consequently, many young people have sought opportunities elsewhere. In 2010, the number of Hondurans legally living abroad was equivalent to about 7.5 per cent of the country’s total population.
In 2009, the United Nations Joint Programme (UNJP) set forth a US$ 595 000 initiative to generate decent employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for vulnerable youth aged 15 to 29. In this framework, FAO led a component focusing on rural youth aiming to disincentivize youth migration by supporting them to launch and run their own micro-enterprises. Under the programme component, 2 180 young women and men were trained in agricultural and entrepreneurial skills and pitched their proposed microenterprises to credit and seed capital funds. In addition, FAO and its partners worked with the beneficiaries to form youth business associations with increased emphasis on gender equality and revaluing cultural roots.