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Promoting Youth Employment in the Agricultural Sector in East Africa - TCP/SFE/3601

Year of publication 2020

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 7

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Project

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Youth represent about 45 percent (48 million) of the total population of the East African Community (EAC) Region. Many of the disadvantaged youth live in rural communities. Limited economic opportunities in rural areas make it difficult to secure decent and productive employment, hence the need to create viable economic opportunities for rural youth in the agricultural sector. Involving youth in agriculture, either through (self) employment or through entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a potential solution to unemployment, food insecurity, rural poverty and migration. Moreover, the current estimated youth bulge offers an unprecedented opportunity for governments and partners to harness the energy for increased productivity and food security, inclusive economic development and social change. For rural youth, new business creation in the agriculture sector can present an important and viable opportunity to find decent and productive work in the agricultural sector. Against this background, FAO Subregional Office for Eastern Africa (SFE), in close collaboration with the EAC Secretariat, implemented this project. Within the broader context of the African Union Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods, the project aimed to contribute to reducing rural poverty and to boosting economic growth by supporting the creation of better opportunities for youth in the agricultural sector. During the inception phase of the project, it was agreed to focus on three outputs: i) Documenting best youth agribusiness models and mapping out opportunities for investment on youth in the agricultural sector; ii) Enhancing the capacity of the EAC Secretariat,

Language English

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    Almost 88 percent of the world’s 1.2 billion youth live in developing countries. Globally, young people account for approximately 24 percent of the working poor. Although the world’s youth population is expected to grow, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for young women and men remain limited – particularly for those living in economically stagnant rural areas of developing countries. Hence, creating more productive and beneficial jobs for the rural youth is particularly urgent. The FAO Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agri-food system project, currently implemented in Senegal, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Guatemala, aims to address this challenge by creating more and better employment opportunities for youth in rural areas and agri-food systems. To do so, ICA combines different interventions, such as capacity development, institutional support, knowledge generation and partnership creation. This context analysis provides an overview of Uganda, describing youth employment challenges, policies and programmes in place as well as FAO’s priorities on decent rural youth employment. Fianlly, it also analyses the 14 to 17 age cohort involvement in the agricultural sector and country’s migration and refugee governance.
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