LAUNCH AND POLICY DIALOGUE

REGIONAL FAO-IFAD ProjectSTRENGHENING DECENT RURAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND MEN IN THE CARIBBEAN

7 - 9 September 2015Bridgetown, Barbados

IFAD's engagement with rural youth

Andrea Marchetti - IFAD

OverviewContext

What is IFAD

Challenges/Opportunities in Agriculture and Rural Development

IFAD in the LAC region

IFAD’s engagement with rural youth

General Outlook

Strategic priorities

IFAD’s work on youth in the LAC countries

A key partnership for the Caribbean

What is IFAD

IFAD is the only global IFI/UN Agency exclusively dedicated to rural development. Its goal is to empower poor people to achieve higher incomes and improved food security

IFAD works with governments and with rural communities, while being a catalyst for partnerships and alliances, bringing in co-financing from other organizations and the private sector

IFAD provides financing, through loans and grants, to governments, NGOs and research institutes for the promotion and impact of rural development activities.

Challenges in Agriculture and Rural

Development

• Rural Population

– A large proportion of the most

entrepreneurial rural workforce has

migrated.

– The rural adult population is ageing...

◦ …and farmers’ children don’t necessarily want to continue being farmers. Rural youth aspirations are now similar to those of urban youth

Challenges in Agriculture and

Rural Development

Latin America and the

Caribbean

Predominantly made of Middle Income

Countries (MICs), mainly in continental Latin

America, plus Small islands developing

states (SIDS) in the Caribbean.

Increasingly urban, with high levels of

disparities vs the rural areas.

Highly vulnerable to climate change effects

and natural disasters.

High rates of unemployment in the rural

areas, particularly for women and youth,

resulting in migration of skilled labour force

IFAD

CURRENT

INVESTMENT

PORTFOLIO

IN LAC

IFAD in LAC

IFAD and the LAC region

IFAD’s engagement with Youth

IFAD has currently no corporate strategy on

youth…

…HOWEVER

In 2010, IFAD adopted its 2011-2015 Strategic

Framework which points at "the creation of

viable opportunities for rural youth" as one of

its principles of engagement with its clients

IFAD’s engagement with

Youth• Since then, IFAD addressed the issue of rural

youth in a number of corporate and global

events

2011 IFAD Governing

Council

2012 Farmers' Forum

2014 – The

International Year of Family Farming

IFAD’s engagement with

Youth• Currently, there are 40 ongoing IFAD-financed projects

worldwide with focus on youth

• LAC is the most covered region with 10 projects

IFAD’s engagement with Youth

Focus on:

Policy dialogue

Strengthening and sharing

knowledge

Entrepreneurship and

employment

Policy dialogue

2010 IFAD's Cartagena workshop on rural youth:

creation of the Global Youth Innovation Network

(GYIN), to foster participation of young

people in public policies processes

IFAD Grant for inclusion of young people in policy

processes:

training of 40 young leaders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay (2013)

2012 Farmers’ Forum:

Adoption of Youth Declaration for future

inclusion of at least 30% of young farmer

representatives in future Farmers’ Forums

Strengthening and sharing knowledge

Partnership with ILO:

2013 Report on impact of

decent employment

policies in rural areas

Policy Briefs on youth

A guide to provide policy-

makers with practical

advices for addressing rural

youth issues (2012)

IFAD Lessons learned:

Supporting rural young people in

IFAD projects (2014)

Joint IFAD/FAO/CTA publication:

Youth and agriculture -key challenges and concrete solutions

(2014)

Entrepreneurship and employment

Entrepreneurship promotion through its

projects:

Colombia’s Oportunidades and

Sierra Norte created a

Learning Fund to promote youths’ access

to resources for economic initiatives

IFAD in El Salvador:

In 2014 and 2015, IFAD’s activities in the country: (i)

supported training to approx. 2,000 young

people; (ii) provided 45 scholarships and (iii) co-organized 5 business fairs on entrepreneurship skills.

Child Labour in Agriculture:

IFAD is member of this Partnership, involved

in safe agricultural practices to reduce hazardous work and

dependence on child labour

A key partnership for the Caribbean

Strengthening decent rural employment opportunities for young women and men in the Caribbean (FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE)

US$ 1.8 million grant to FAO to implement the three-year regional programme, entirely focused on youth

Strategic partnership between two UN agencies (FAO-IFAD) in the Caribbean

Possibility for scaling up successful experiences from a closed grant-financed project in the DR-Haiti border, financed by IFAD and implemented by FAO DO and PROCASUR

FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE

Focus on:

6 initial participating countries (Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana and Haiti) + 3 other (Barbados, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) expected to participate

3-year programme implementation period

120 mini-projects funded through a grant competitive process

FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE : Some figures

FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE

IFAD (Grant): US$ 1.8 Million

FAO: US$ 0.5 Million

PROCASUR: US$ 0.1 MillionPart. Govts: US$ 0.5 Million

Total: US$ 2.9 Million

FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE

Aligned with IFAD’s approach in SIDS as it aims to enhance opportunities for smallholder agriculture to become a vibrant business for youth

Implemented by FAO SLC, a full-fledged and highly dynamic sub-regional office, based in Barbados

Will encourage strong partnerships with other organizations in the region (ILO, CAFAN etc.)

Will work in collaboration with Governments of participating countries

Closing Remarks

"The key to meeting the world's future food needs is to

create an environment that will encourage and enable

young women and men to remain in their communities. They

need opportunities to improve their own lives, obtain decent

work and pursue prosperity."

IFAD President, Kanayo F. Nwanze.

IFAD:

Investing in

young

rural

people

THANK YOU