Thumbnail Image

Opportunities for youth in Africa

Accelerating job creation and entrepreneurship in agriculture and agribusiness

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 2p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Africa has the world’s youngest population, with more than 600 million people under the age of 24 and more than 750 million under the age of 35. Given the right opportunities, youth could drive inclusive economic growth across the continent. Young people account for around 35 percent of the workforce in sub-Saharan Africa and 40 percent in Northern Africa, of which about 40 percent are women. The growing youth population is challenging Africa’s ability to meet the demand for jobs, which has pushed many to migrate out of rural areas and across borders. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), therefore, have forged an initiative to facilitate and accelerate efforts to create jobs for young Africans, in particular, by supporting the development of agribusinesses and fostering agricultural entrepreneurship including through leveraging public and private investment in agriculture. The 2018 Conference on Youth Employment in Agriculture called for greater efforts to create jobs for African youth. This initiative adopts an integrated and multi-faceted approach to generating quality on- and off-farm work for young people in agriculture and agribusiness. It leverages the central role of agriculture in Africa’s development alongside the need to empower African youth to drive growth across the continent. It engages with the public and private sectors at continental, sub-regional and national level to provide young people opportunities for capacity development and access to resources, to improve stakeholder coordination and to facilitate the generation.

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Boosting Decent Employment and Self-Employment Opportunities in Agriculture and Agribusiness for Youth in Africa - GCP/INT/920/MUL 2024
    Also available in:
    Africa has the world’s youngest population, with more than 600 million people under the age of 24 and more than 750 million under the age of 35. The growing youth population is challenging Africa’s ability to meet the demand for jobs, which has pushed many to migrate out of rural areas and across borders. The agricultural sector in Africa can play a key role in solving the youth employment challenge that threatens stability and growth in many countries across the continent. Against this background, in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) developed the comprehensive Opportunities for Youth in Africa (OYA) joint programme, in response to a dedicated call for accelerating efforts on job creation for African youth, especially through agribusiness and entrepreneurship development. This OYA project was implemented in six pilot countries: Cabo Verde, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, and Zambia.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Multi-Country Support to Promote Employment Opportunities for Youth in Agribusiness in Africa - TCP/RAF/3802 2023
    Also available in:
    With over 750 million people under the age of 35, Africa has the youngest population in the world. Many of these youth lack stable economic situations and are mainly employed in the informal economy, such as contributing family workers, subsistence farmers, home-based micro-entrepreneurs or unskilled workers. However, job opportunities for youth are in agricultural value chains, including through agro-processing and innovative marketing models. Creating jobs for African youth through the development of agribusiness and entrepreneurship is fundamental in driving Africa’s inclusive economic transformation and development. This project aimed to contribute to accelerating the efforts in job creation and employment of African youth by undertaking key assessments in the target countries’ enabling environment and supporting existing programmes related to youth employment in agribusiness. These will assist in the identification of concrete actions for closing the gaps, building on existing target country priorities and specifically considering the crisis caused by COVID-19. The encouragement of major investment in youth in agriculture was the main goal of this project, which also aimed at supporting the implementation of youth employment initiatives. It served as a resource-matching tool that contributed directly to countries’ youth programmes, helping to reach potential investment partners, financial institutions, private sector and civil society.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Project
    Expanding Youth Employment Opportunities along Aquaculture and Cassava Value Chains in West Africa - GCP/RAF/254/MUL 2020
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Youth unemployment and underemployment are growing concerns in West Africa with wider implications for socio-economic growth, peace and stability in the region. As such, the creation and promotion of sustainable employment options for young rural men and women remains a prominent feature on the development agenda. Prior to the project, it had been estimated that half of Africa’s population was under 25 years of age and that 11 million young Africans were expected to join the labour market each year. Fittingly, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union declared 2009–2018 as the Decade on Youth Development in Africa, which encouraged countries to pursue policy initiatives that support job creation for the youth. Notably, in the short-to-medium term, agricultural-related activities had been identified as the most immediate means of generating income for large numbers of young people in Africa. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that in countries where governments place high value on agriculture, young people are more inclined to view the sector as a positive option for their future. The project was therefore designed to promote agribusiness employment opportunities along.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.