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The new FAO project Rural youth migration, social protection and sustainable value chains in Kenya, funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, aims to boost employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for Kenyan rural youth along selected value chains. The final objective is to provide alternatives to migration, while also strengthening links with existing social protection programmes.

Exploring the links between migration, agricultural and rural transformation processes is an area where FAO has a comparative advantage thanks to its strong technical expertise and close relationship with governments and relevant stakeholders. The project "Reducing distress migration through local value chain development", funded by the Italian Development Cooperation, aims to address the root causes of distress rural out-migration of youth, by creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities along food value chains and strengthening linkages with existing social protection programmes.

This publication provides an overview of the methodology and best practices developed during the implementation of the Rural Youth Mobility Project (RYM) in Tunisia and Ethiopia, while decsribing the results acheived at country level. The Project was launched in 2015 to address the drivers of rural out-migration of youth - such as poverty, food insecurity and unemployment - while at the same time harnessing the development potential of migratory movements. With funding from the Italian Development Cooperation, RYM strives to shed lights on the drivers and patterns of rural migration and enhance governments’ capacity to better address migration issues in the context [...]

Each year, rural areas lose a promising share of their workforce, as youth leave their homes and migrate to cities or move abroad in search of a better future. The distress induced by poverty, food insecurity and a lack of employment opportunities push many youth around the world to search for jobs elsewhere.  By addressing the links between distress migration and rural development, FAO is making a difference in Tunisia and Ethiopia. With funding from the Italian Development Cooperation, the Rural Youth Mobility Project (RYM) was launched in 2015 to provide unemployed youth in migration-prone areas the two countries with the [...]

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.  To address this challenge, FAO launched the Integrated Country Approach (ICA) for decent rural employment. The overall objective of ICA is to help country create more and better employment [...]

Each year, rural areas lose a promising share of their workforce, as youth leave their homes and migrate to cities or move abroad in search of a better future. FAO, together with the Tunisian Government and the Italian Development Cooperation, supports young Tunisian entrepreneurs in rural areas through the provision of trainings, technical support and equipment.  

After years of steady decline, child labour in agriculture has started to rise again in recent years driven in part by an increase in conflicts and climate-induced disasters. This worrisome trend, not only threatens the wellbeing of millions of children, but also undermines efforts to end global hunger and poverty. FAO Rural Livelihoods Officer Bernd Seiffert elaborates on ways to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child hazardous labour.

Ce bref de huit pages résume les principaux résultats d’un étude réalisé dans le cadre de du projet «Favoriser les investissements productifs afin de créer des emplois agricoles et non-agricoles décents pour les jeunes ruraux dans les zones du Sénégal enclines à la migration». L’étude se base sur des enquêtes menées auprès de 1000 ménages ruraux dans les régions de Matam et Kaolack et a pour but principal de générer des informations sur les caractéristiques, dynamiques et moteurs de la migration se déroulant dans les zones rurales du Sénégal. Cette étude participera à informer les politiques économiques sectorielles, d’emploi des [...]

While international migration attracts most attention, since the late 1990s, internal and in particular temporary migration flows increased significantly in Senegal. These migratory dynamics, whose modalities have diversified alongside migrants' profiles and trajectories, are the result of the combined effect of population growth and underemployment, of a continuous degradation of the natural environment and of migration policies of OECD countries limiting international mobility. Internal migration largely comes from rural areas. This is indicative of a state of structural crisis that marks the agricultural sector but also reflects the low diversification of the national economy. The migrations flows reshape the national [...]

This two-page infographic highlights the main results of the study "Characteristics, Dynamics, and Drivers of Rural Migration in Senegal" and was carried out in the framework of the project "Fostering productive investments to create decent farm and non-farm jobs for rural youth in migration-prone areas in Senegal”. This infographic provides information on the main facts and statistics of rural migration in Senegal, the drivers of migration and the characteristics of migrants and migrant households