In Mali, 40 percent of the population is aged between 15 and 40 and youth unemployment rates are extremely high in the rural areas which represents a clear threat to social cohesion and food security within the communities. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to implement "Youth at Work: Reducing Rural Poverty (2014-2016)”, a programme which aims at generating attractive and decent job opportunities for rural youth with a specific attention to girls and young women, a key contribution to strengthening resilience for food security and nutrition and reducing rural poverty in Mali.

SOME KEY TAKEAWAYS

• On value chains: FAO worked with the Ministry of Agriculture to implement “Youth at Work: Reducing Rural Poverty (2014-2016)”, aiming at generating attractive and decent job opportunities for rural youth with a specific attention to girls and young women, through different segments of six agricultural value chains (livestock fattening, milk production and collection, fisheries, vegetable, rice and poultry production). The programme was based on a holistic approach to facilitate young people’s access to credit, productive resources, markets and producers’ organizations, while building on FAO’s successful experience in Tanzania with the innovative model of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) for youth employment promotion. PPPs create a win-win situation: private sector actors (including producers’ organizations) gain new skilled young members while the public sector reduces the rate of unemployed, underemployed and precarious youth.