Facilitating youth’s access to

rural activities

Philippe REMY - 24 May 2012

1 - Put more trust on young rural people

• Youth need more consideration and more trust must be put on them

• Do not try to fix them in villages, to force them to become farmers

• They must be part of the decisions on their own life • Help them to better dialogue with other generations

and to collectively reflect on their potential future at village level and on other opportunities

JFFLS

2 - Help the Youth think broader• Intergenerational• the whole value-chain• Non-farm activities• Explore niche-markets • mobility• reduce rural / urban fracture • Pluri-activity• agent of change / environmental stewards to

promote sustainable agriculture

Ghana

3 - Help the young build their own capacities

• youth education level still very low• training centres better adapted to their needs • revise curricula in a participatory manner • include education on agricultural production but also

on all the professional activities along the value chain

Songhai

… and 4 - their collective strength

Youth organisations:• Relatively new phenomenon• Lack resources and experience• Lack visibility and network• Rather small (less than 200 members)• Usually informal/not registeredYouth within Farmer Organisations• Low involvement in decision-making, especially for

young women • Problematic transitional leadership

.

What is needed?• human, technical and financial support to build and

strengthen their own organisations• youth sections within mixed FOs • Direct participation in policy dialogue• involvement in decision making processes from

design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation

case of Togo

5 - Trust must go as far as finance.

• Develop youth savings services• Innovate youth adapted financial services• Combine training with financial support and

vice versa• Launch youth innovation funds with technical

and financial support

As a conclusion…• Youth do not see a prosperous future in

agriculture and in rural areas if conditions remain as they are now

• but have the willingness and the capacity to create a new rural reality

• We have to keep in mind this positive message from young farmers and try our best to build on their recommendations to make their project become reality.

Thank you for your attention!