2. A global platform of young professionals under 40 years of
age active in Agricultural Research for Development (ARD)
What is YPARD?
3. Ageing ARD population
Age distribution by agency and gender, 2007
At these three agencies over half were between the ages 51 and 60. This aging pool of well-
qualified researchers, many of whom will retire in the next decade, is a major area of concern.
Sources: Calculated by authors from ASTI-AWARD 2008/09.
Senegal
5. Why YPARD?
Insufficient participation of young professionals
in dialogues addressing critical development
issues
• Limited access to professional opportunities for
youth
• Absence of a support network or platform to
voice young professionals’ ideas, opinions and
concerns
• Declining interest in agriculture among youth
• The need for sustainable ARD
7. Objective One: Facilitating the exchange of
information and knowledge among young
professionals across disciplines, professions, age
and regions
How does YPARD engage its youth?
8. Objective Two: Broadening opportunities for
young professionals to contribute to strategic ARD
policy debates
11. Africa Science Week 2013
Over 40 young professionals supported
to attend through:
Youth and women side event
Young agro-entrepreneurs
Social media reporters
12. Additional successes
4 regional coordination units, 35
national representatives
implementing activities locally;
Youth representatives on steering
committees and advisory councils
(EFARD, FORAGRO, GFAR)
Youth and the CAADP meeting
13. But…the bigger picture
Source: Small-scale farming and youth in an era of rapid rural change: Felicity Proctor and Valerio
Lucchesi, based on UN World population prospects, Revised 2010 edition
14. Youth and Gender mainstreaming
Join forces for greater strength
Youth advocates can learn from the
extensive experience of gender
mainstreaming
Focus on engaging young women
together
15. Where to now
Mentoring programme with focus on young
women and entrepreneurship and agribusiness
Stronger regional programs with a wider impact
More youth on Steering Committee and
Executive Committees
Young people as a regularly consulted
stakeholder group
More young people turning to ARD because of
interest and the number of possibilities
What is YPARDWhy YPARD?youth are often doing a lot of the work but not getting adequate recognition and their voice and key concerns are not heard nor taken into consideration. ‘Silent’ performers; passive participantsLimited access to trainings, meetings aor attending conferences like this one.It’s not always easy for youths to speak up in their organisations, to give their viewpoint, to ask questions or to voice their concerns. YPARD can help to allow them to discuss these issues with other youth are the key stakeholders for the sustainability of the ARD arenaYoung professionalsandstudents
Ageing with several issues related to countries with hiring freezes, which leads to a lack of mentorship for new people coming into the organisation. We thus, need to support our young staff and not to lose the knowledge and experience. We need to look at how to engage young people in this area and work with them to ensure that there is interest for the future as well.
Youth are an asset and yet they are often viewed as inexperienced and unable to contribute to discussions. They provide new ways of thinking and enable us to question our current methods. enthusiastic, open and frank, at ease with change and complexity, have good computer literacy, build collaboration and partnerships and tend to reject traditional hierarchical and inter-institutional relationships Youth often not selected to attend meetings and workshops due to their inexperience
Collect data on the declining interest of young people in agriculture Work with others to develop concrete steps for addressing the issue Involve youth in these discussions, decisions and planning processesMay include helping organisations to understand youth aspirations, helping to frame reward systems for young people, and creating concrete steps on better youth engagementImplemented a study on assessing the new skills that are needed for emerging young professionals to contribute effectively to an improved ARD. Study will be released at the end of this month. Wanted to provide a youth perspective on those skills that young people entering the workforce feel they needed and did not receive in school. This was compared to a limited group of employers who also provided responses. Many soft skills came out, ability to network and communicate across disciplines. Entrepreneurship skills also came out strongly, surely in light of several people who have not been able to find work after their studies. Giveexampleforfarmers in switzerland
Organising capacity building opportunities targeting the expressed needs of young professionals in collaboration with partners Encouraging others to include more young people in their trainings Information services to members: newsletter, funding opportunities and information relevant to YPs in ARDNeeds are region specificPromote organisations to initiate capacity development trainings on topics required by young professionals. (varies according to region but may include grant writing, public speaking, entrepreneurial skills, etc.)
No simple answers, requires a bigger, comprehensive approachYouth (15-35) are 35% of the African population. Why are youth issues constrained to side events?Advocating for entrepreneurship is not a simple answer. This is a complex series of conditions and policies that require many actors to address. What are some realistic expectations?
Challenges – disparate group of peopleBy starting with young women we start to change the mindsetThey both revolve around power relations so have many similarities