المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

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    • Save the Children Online Consultation Contributions: Youth – feeding the future. Addressing the challenges faced by rural youth aged 15 to 17 in preparing for and accessing decent work.

      • Based on your experience, what are the specific challenges rural youth aged 15-17 face (different from those over 18) in making a (current or future) living in agriculture and related activities?*

      The challenges faced by rural youth over 18 in preparing and accessing decent work are further compounded for adolescents ages 15-17.  Some of the more nuanced challenges that are key when programming for the adolescent cohort versus older youth include deeper consideration for family dynamics, greater emphasis on life skills and employability preparation as well as protection from exploitation.  Younger adolescents are more closely tied to family dynamic and often their participation in the type of agriculture livelihoods opportunities is defined by family and their role within the family unit. Adding awareness building activities that work with families and communities have proven to help younger adolescent engage in rural livelihoods activities and be better supported by their families.  Life skills and employability opportunities are particularly important to the younger cohort of adolescents because they allow them to build personal competencies such as confidence, leadership and resiliency that are crucial in this key developmental period. Furthermore, life skills combined with project-based learning allows adolescents to practice their skills and gives them access to opportunities that are not always available to youth 15-17.  All Save the Children life skills and employability programs contain project-based methodology as well as a community capstone project.  In addition, limited opportunities to practice skills for youth 15-17 makes them vulnerable to exploitative labor. Ensuring that young adolescents have access to project based learning, internships and apprenticeship is crucial (i.e.  Community garden and demonstration lots). Finally in Save the Children’s work with vulnerable, highly deprived youth population, especially in conflict and post conflict environments, the psychosocial element of working with young adolescent is essential before engaging them in any type of “learning & earning “activity.   

      • How can policies and programmes overcome the challenges faced by rural youth in a cost-effective manner? If they target older youth, how could we apply them to support those under 18? Please share relevant examples and lessons from your experience.

      Investing in multi-stakeholder partnerships for youth development is a cost effective strategy to overcome the many challenges faced by rural youth.  Understanding the role of local government, youth serving organizations and private sector and how they can work in concert for rural youth allows for greater program synergy and impact.  In addition, utilizing innovation and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) presents many solutions to the challenges faced by rural youth.  In particular, the role of innovation in agriculture by promoting the application of ICTs for value chains development. Furthermore, ICT can be used to educate and train those unable to access educational opportunities and it can be used as a tool to help young people spread knowledge, build networks, and find employment.

      Even if the programs targets older youth, including the younger cohorts in program design and evaluation are effective ways of proactive engagement. This could include activities such as youth mapping of livelihood opportunities with rural communities as well as peer-to-peer mentoring of younger adolescent by the older peers.  Similarity, allowing younger youth to have the voice and input into the demand of livelihoods programs for rural youth is equally important and effective as a way of engaging them in the program. 

      • What are the most binding capacity constraints that you or your institution/organization encounter when designing, implementing and evaluating policies and programmes aiming to address the issues affecting rural youth under the age of 18?  

      Scale and sustainability of programs for rural youth continue to be a priority and pose most binding capacity constraints for local implementing organizations and governments.  A key challenge of many initiatives is how to build on the success of the program and scale them beyond the life of the initial funding. 

      • What are the data gaps regarding the challenges affecting rural youth employment and livelihoods that you periodically encounter? Follow up with particpants ;

      Currently there is not enough data on the underlying root causes of why and when young people decide to migrate to urban and peri-urban settings.  Understanding the factors that shape the educational, career and residential aspirations of rural youth and the forces that determine success in meeting these goals is critical for better targeted rural livelihoods programming. Studies of migration streams have documented a steady net out-migration of rural youth and young adults from nonmetropolitan municipalities. Few studies include information on career and migration plans of youth that can help us to understand how migration decisions are associated with other important life decisions. These decisions ultimately affect the well-being of rural youth and rural communities. To more fully understand the aspirations, attitudes and decisions that shape the future of rural youth and communities it is essential to examine individual youth aspirations and behaviors and how these are influenced by family, peers, school and community.

      • How can education and vocational training in rural areas be improved to support rural adolescents and youth to productively engage in agriculture or related activities? What are the skills and support they need? What does the school-to-work transition for rural youth aged 15-17 look like and what works to effectively support rural youth during this transition?

      Focus on a more relevant curriculum is one way to better support youth in rural areas.  Most schools lack access to training and education on farming and therefore youth are not being encouraged to perceive agriculture as a future career. One recommendation would be to incorporate project based pedagogy on how to grow high-value crops, keep livestock and how to market produce for global markets. In terms of vocational education there is a real challenge of access to the existing institutions and investing in mobile vocational training units provides a viable solution.  Furthermore, reaching out to youth with relevant training at aggregation points has proven to be a successful intervention.

      The school to work transition for rural youth is difficult mostly because the discrepancies between the supply and demand of youth labor. Rural youth have even less viable employment pathways then urban youth and hence increased training in entrepreneurship and agripreneurship are essential as a viable solution to school-to-work transition. In addition, looking at the ecosystem of value chains as a source of employment allows youth to be integrated into the value chain vertically versus the more traditional horizontal employment pathways.

      • What approaches are most effective in overcoming the additional challenges rural youth under the age of 18 face in accessing decent jobs, including (decent) green jobs (e.g. skills mismatch, health and safety conditions, discrimination, exclusion) or becoming entrepreneurs (e.g. barriers in access to finance, producers organizations and markets)?

      Youth savings programs as well as holistic, integrated programming provide effective approaches for rural youth under the age of 18.  Youth savings programs allow youth access to secure and appropriate savings services, through informal or formal approaches, in order to reduce their vulnerability and provide youth with the opportunity to invest in their future. A growing body of research has shown that enabling youth to accumulate assets, specifically savings, not only increases their resiliency to economic shocks, but also positively impacts their attitudes and behaviors, leading to better psychosocial, educational and health outcomes. The promotion of youth savings therefore has great potential for improving the confidence, economic resiliency, and livelihood opportunities of rural youth.

      The YouthSave partnerships opened more than 130,000 project-sponsored accounts for young people (mainly between the ages of 12-18), and collected and analyzed data on the savings patterns of 70,000 young account holders. YouthSave’s Ghana Experiment conducted impact analysis through the largest known experimental study on youth savings implemented globally to date. Through Save

      the Children and its partner community based organizations, YouthSave also reached over 44,000 youth with face-to-face financial education and 9,000 with SMS messages; 48,000 individuals with community-based financial education; and over 600,000 with radio-based financial education.

      Partner banks delivered additional financial education modules to account holders. Many youth used their savings to start a business or invest in further education.

      Save the Children’s Youth in Action program is an example of successful, holistic, integrated programming creating pathways to opportunity. Youth in Action is sustainably improving the socio-economic status of 44,700 rural youth between the ages of 12 and 18 in Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Uganda. The program is designed to support young people who are out of school to build skills and knowledge geared towards the market, so they can make informed decisions about their future, and start taking steps towards realizing their ambitions. This is accomplished through an innovative combination of educational and entrepreneurial opportunities in the agricultural sector.

      Youth in Action provides a three-pronged approach to its programming:

      • Learning for Life, which incorporates the Literacy Boost program, helps participating youth develop the technical and life skills – such as literacy, numeracy, financial literacy, employability, and relationship-building skills – needed to be successful in their lives.
      • Taking Action gives young people a chance to identify, select, and start on a path that will help them improve their longer term earning capacity. Pathways include continuing their education, learning an agriculture-related skill, getting a job or starting out a small business in the agricultural sector.
      • Through Mentorship and Aftercare, the program provides youth with technical, financial, and networking guidance and support to strengthen their chances of sustainable success.