With the primary objective of strengthening the ecosystem of responsible investment in agriculture and food systems by and for youth in Mauritania and Tunisia, the RAI project is continuing its activities through the organization, on February 23 and 24 in Tunisia, of a "Workshop to analyze the learning needs of the mentors and coaches of youth and experts working with them. The results of this workshop represent a first milestone for the design of a learning program curriculum and the development of a reference manual to integrate the Principles for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems (CSA-RAI) within the methodology and practices of coaching youth.

In Tunisia, FAO, in the framework of its innovative tripartite partnership with the Agency for the Promotion of Agricultural Investments (APIA) and the National Institute of Agricultural Research of Tunisia (INRAT), aims to implement this capacity building program during the year 2023. Approximately 30 Tunisian coaches and mentors will benefit from this program, which is organized in conjunction with the activities of the second edition of the Pole agri-accelerator of Beja. The Pole is a support structure and accompaniment for young agri-entrepreneurs with projects being installed or in development.

For Mauritania, this same capacity building program will be organized during the second half of the year, in partnership with INRAT, the agency TECHGHIL and the Ministry of Economy and Promotion of Productive Sectors (MEPSP).

The participatory approach in the spotlight

The workshop, held at INRAT, brought together about thirty participants, including coaches and mentors of young agri-entrepreneurs from Mauritania and Tunisia working in public or private incubators or gas pedals, or as freelancers certified by a recognized public agency; experts supervising or collaborating with the coaches and mentors; and policy makers.

Following an introductory session on the context and application of the CSA-RAI Principles in Tunisia, as well as feedback on the first edition of the Agri-accelerator Hub, all participants took part in a series of group discussions. The exercise allowed the groups to identify the necessary knowledge and know-how of each target and to translate them into concrete learning needs. Finally, the participants were able to prioritize the proposed activities through a hierarchy of themes, taking into consideration the differences between the Mauritanian and Tunisian contexts.

In addition to the proposed curriculum for coaches and mentors, participants identified additional training that could be organized for related professions, such as policy makers, institutional experts, project coordinators and scientific experts.

A constructive Tunisian-Mauritanian exchange

The workshop, held at INRAT, brought together some thirty participants, including coaches and mentors of young agri-entrepreneurs from Mauritania and Tunisia working in public or private incubators or gas pedals, or as freelancers certified by a recognized public agency; experts supervising or collaborating with the coaches and mentors; and policy makers.

The heterocycle dispatching of the working groups composed of Mauritanians and Tunisians allowed, among other things, to promote the sharing of knowledge and good practices on responsible agricultural investment: the space for reflection especially favored an exchange between Mauritanian and Tunisian coaches and mentors based on feedback from the field.