South Africa urged to embrace FAO’s Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programmes
Initiative to harness contribution of young people in fighting hunger and malnutrition
20 November 2017, Johannesburg, South Africa – Stakeholders in South Africa have been urged to embrace FAO’s Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programmes.
The programmes proactively and strategically target citizens of FAO Member Nations, especially from the Global South, to contribute to ending hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity. They enable the participants to gain a better understanding of FAO’s mandate and programmes and provides the Organization with the assistance of qualified individuals specializing in relevant fields in connection to FAO Strategic Objectives and to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Given the prominent global standing of South Africa and its academic institutions, FAO seeks to significantly increase the number of diverse participation from South Africa”, said Lewis Hove, the FAO Representative for South Africa, a.i.
Hove was speaking at a one-day seminar that was organized to popularize the programmes by the FAO Representation in South Africa and the Partnerships and South-South Cooperation Division of FAO Headquarters, with the support of the South African Government on 17 November 2017, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The seminar was attended by over 40 participants drawn from the government, universities, National Youth Development Forums, Pan-African Parliament, development partners and the private sector.
Low participation of Africa
It was noted, in the seminar that the participation of people in Africa in the FAO Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programmes was very low, compared to other continents. For example, of the 1 500 interns recruited for FAO in the past five years, only 10 percent on average were from Africa. Moreover, there has been no participant from the universities based in South Africa.This was partly attributed to inadequate knowledge about the programmes in the country.
Kazumi Ikeda-Larhed, FAO Deputy Director - Partnerships and South-South Cooperation Division, informed the participants of the relevance of the FAO Internship, Volunteers and Fellows Programmes to the South African national development, youth development and its international cooperation strategy including South-South Cooperation.
“The programmes provide opportunities for young people to become agents of change and global citizens while contributing to fighting hunger and malnutrition and the realization of SDGs”, she said.
Strengthening partnerships for youth development
Participants pointed out the importance of collaboration among stakeholders, including the government, academia, research organizations, private sector as well as the regional organizations such as the African Union, Pan-African Parliament and the Regional Economic Communities (e.g. Southern African Development Community) in advancing youth engagement and fighting hunger and malnutrition.
They noted that while there are thousands of young people graduating from universities and higher education institutions every year, employers still face a challenge of finding people with the right skills, competencies and practical experience.
They recommended regular interface between employers and Universities and training institutions so that appropriate programmes that meet the needs of the country and prepare young people for the job market are developed.
They also called for alignment of the FAO and South Africa government skills building programmes for young people in order to maximize their effectiveness. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) operates the Experiential Training, Internship and Professional Development Programme with the objective of eliminating unemployment and poverty among the youth of South Africa. The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) provides young entrepreneurs an opportunity to access both the financial and non-financial business development support to establish their survivalist businesses. The programme focusses on youth entrepreneurs who are just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential but not yet fully developed.
South Africa’s unemployment rate has been rising for the past nine years. At 25.9 percent in 2016 and 27.7 percent in 2017, the rate is higher than other African countries also classified by the World Bank as upper-middle-income countries.
Harnessing skills to fight hunger and malnutrition
Bonga Msomi, the Deputy Director-General, Food Security of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) of South Africa said initiatives like the FAO Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programmes enable young people to gain skills that are crucial in tackling the current problems in the food and agriculture sector
“These programmes enable our young people to improve their skills, gain experience and network and be exposed to more opportunities. We need skills at all stages of the food value chain in order to feed the nation”, he said.
Bonga challenged the youth to embrace agriculture, saying eradicating hunger and malnutrition was a challenge of their generation.
In his closing remarks, Ambassador Nthutang Khumoetsile Martin Seleka from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa thanked FAO for reaching out to South Africa to popularize the Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programme. He called for coordination of the FAO and government of South Africa’s youth development programmes.
“We need to work together in advancing the skills of young people so that they are prepared for the job market”, he said.
Way forward
FAO will continue working with the government of South Africa in pursuing collaboration and among stakeholders and popularizing the Internship, Volunteer and Fellows programmes in order to increase the participation of South Africans.