Young men and women constitute one of the most important elements for facilitating the development of rural areas. Their potential should be supported to create vibrant and healthy rural societies and economies. Unfortunately, the population of rural areas in many European countries has been in decline, due in part to the outmigration of young men and women. The rural population is thus ageing, and the innovation and energy of rural youth as a strong viable human resource is lost, underutilized, or underacknowledged.
To promote and facilitate the adoption of appropriate and sustainable policies for sound rural development, governments need, inter alia, to identify and prepare local agencies to be the engine for the development of rural areas. Governments should support the appropriate social and economic motivation, legal and financial incentives, and an adequate institutional framework that would attract rural youth to farming and/or off-farm income generating activities.
In some market-oriented countries, mechanisms have been developed to encourage rural youth to remain, engage in productive activities and establish their families in the rural setting. Such positive experiences could be useful in the creation and realization of rural development policies and programmes in those countries where rural outmigration of young men and women has risen dramatically, particularly in the European countries in transition (ECTs).
In Commitment One of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, signatory governments committed to "enact legislation and establish institutional structures that provide opportunities for youth and enhance the special contribution that women can make", in partnership with all actors of civil society.
The FAO Working Party on Women and the Family in Rural Development of the European Commission on Agriculture recommended at its Eighth Session in 1996, in Akureyri, Iceland, that a study be conducted on mechanisms for increasing the involvement of young people in rural development in European countries. This recommendation falls within the stated goals of both the World Food Summit and the Beijing Platform for Action. As a result, this study, supported by FAO's Regional Office for Europe (REU) in collaboration with the Women in Development Service (SDWW), was organized to outline effective programmes and approaches that integrate young rural men and women into the policy and programme framework of their communities.
This publication, Increasing the Involvement of Young Men and Women in Rural Development In Europe, coordinated by the Institute for International Relations (IMO) in Zagreb, provides an analysis of the general situation in the EU and ECT countries, and the applicability of EU initiatives and experiences to the situation in ECT countries. Three case studies follow from Portugal, Slovenia and Northern Ireland (UK), which recount local initiatives in rural areas, launched in order to stimulate growth and put an end to the social and economic marginalization of rural youth.
The intent of this document is to encourage decision-makers at all levels in European countries to push the issue of the integration of young men and women in their respective communities to the forefront, thus tapping into rural youth as a dynamic and necessary human resource for rural development.
Manfred Lindau
Regional Representative for Europe
