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This 2-pager identifies challenges and opportunities of migration for rural areas. It also describes FAO’s work to enhance benefits for migration, while addressing the root causes of distress migration from rural areas.

FAO defines Decent Rural Employment (DRE) as work that provides a living income and reasonable working conditions. Work should be remunerative and dignified and should enable people to provide for themselves and their families. Workers should be able to perform their tasks under safe conditions and have voice in the work place. Being central to its mission, FAO actively supports countries to promote decent employment in rural areas. This fact sheet breaks down the definition of DRE and presents it in a easy-to-understand format.

Youth un- and under-employment are critical issues facing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In spite of urbanisation and industrialisation, agriculture remains the principal employer and producer throughout SSA. Thus, a more modern and profitable agriculture sector (including aquaculture fisheries, forestry and livestock) is required to generate much needed decent employment opportunities for the Continent’s youth. 

Infographic: Youth un- and under-employment are critical issues facing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In spite of urbanisation and industrialisation, agriculture remains the principal employer and producer throughout SSA. Thus, a more modern and profitable agriculture sector (including aquaculture, fisheries, forestry and livestock) is required to generate much needed decent employment opportunities for the Continent’s youth.

This tool has been designed as a way to provide comprehensive policy support to governments and development partners in the context of FAO’s Integrated Country Approach for promoting Decent Rural Employment (DRE). 

Young people account for a large percentage of the rural population, and are often unemployed or underemployed, despite the need for labour force in agriculture. Rural youth face many hurdles in trying to earn a livelihood. They do not perceive agriculture as a remunerative or prestigious profession, and until they find meaningful economic opportunities and attractive environments in rural areas, they will continue to migrate to cities. This trend not only contributes to the emerging phenomenon of over-urbanization and growing unemployment in urban areas, but is also expected to affect global food production. Investing in young people living in rural areas is [...]

The second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) endorsed a political outcome document, the Rome Declaration on Nutrition. The Declaration commits countries to eradicate hunger and prevent all forms of malnutrition worldwide – particularly undernutrition in children, anaemia in women and children, among other micronutrient deficiencies – as well as reverse the trend in obesity. It aims to do this by increasing investments in food systems to improve people’s diets and nutrition.

This book is about Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and how important local knowledge about foods and the ecosystems that provide them can be used to improve health and well-being. The authors describe processes and activities in nine cultures of Indigenous Peoples, where interventions were developed and implemented with local knowledge, and explain how this information can benefit Indigenous Peoples everywhere, and all of humankind. Food and nutrition insecurity and the burden of high incidence of non-communicable diseases reach all corners of the globe. This “nutrition transition” is driven by changing lifestyles, loss of livelihoods for all those engaged in food production, increasing poverty and urbanization, and [...]

Identifies the links between decent employment and food security and shows how improving policy coherence between employment and agricultural initiatives and investing more in the promotion of decent rural employment will contribute highly to the interlinked challenges of fighting rural poverty and feeding a growing world population in a sustainable way.

FAO - in partnership with the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Youth Development Association and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) - has recently published a case study report on “Promoting Employment and Entrepreneurship for Vulnerable Youths in West Bank and Gaza Strip” Youth in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) face enormous challenges related to occupation, conflict, deep rural poverty, food insecurity and lack of extracurricular activities. Israeli closure policies, the construction of the Separation Wall, land confiscation, limited access to [...]