Promoting livelihood opportunities for rural youth - IFAD

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Abbreviations and acronyms CIS EGMM EU FAO IFPRI ILO MDGs NENA PRSP SSA UWESO WDR YEN Commonwealth of Independent States Employment Generation and Marketing Mission European Union Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations International Food Policy Research Institute International Labour Office Millennium Development Goals Near East and North Africa Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Sub-Saharan Africa Uganda Women’s Effort to Save Orphans World Development Report Youth Employment Network 3
Introduction This paper 1 reviews the situation of rural youth in developing countries and presents options for improving their livelihoods in light of the many growing challenges they face. The main geographical focus is sub-Saharan Africa and the Near East and North Africa. Rural youth in developing countries make up a very large and vulnerable group that is seriously affected by the current international economic crisis. Globally, three-quarters of poor people live in rural areas, and about one-half of the population are young people. Climate change and the growing food crisis are also expected to have a disproportionately high impact on rural youth. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that nearly half a billion rural youth “do not get the chance to realize their full potential” (FAO, 2009). The 2005 International Labour Organization (ILO) report on Global Employment Trends for Youth states: “today’s youth represent a group with serious vulnerabilities in the world of work. In recent years, slowing global employment growth and increasing unemployment, underemployment and disillusionment have hit young people hardest. As a result, today’s youth are faced with a growing deficit of decent work opportunities and high levels of economic and social uncertainty” (ILO, 2005). The lack of decent employment rather than open unemployment is the central issue in the majority of rural locations. In overall terms, four times as many young people earn less than US$2 a day than are unemployed. Youth are particularly vulnerable in conflict and post-conflict countries. Very high youth unemployment coupled with rapid urbanization has fuelled civil conflict in many countries. It is widely recognized that smallholder agriculture and non-farm production in rural areas are among the most promising sectors for youth employment in the majority of developing countries. However, harnessing this potential remains an enormous challenge. While the crisis of ‘youth unemployment’ (particularly in urban areas) has been a persistent concern of politicians and policymakers since the 1960s, youth development has remained at the margins of national development strategies in most countries. We are now witnessing, however, a resurgence of interest in youth, the reasons for which stem from a growing realization of the seriously negative political, social and economic consequences stemming from the precariousness of youth livelihoods. For many, this amounts to a ‘youth crisis’, the resolution of which requires innovative, wide-ranging ‘youth-friendly’ policies and implementation strategies. 1 The original version of this paper was shared as a background paper at the round table on “Generating remunerative livelihood opportunities for rural youth” at the Thirtieth Session of IFAD’s Governing Council held 13-14 February 2007 in Rome, Italy. It has been revised to take into account the latest developments in this area, especially IFAD support for rural livelihood programming. 4
Page 1 and 2: Investing in the future Creating op
Page 3: Table of contents Introduction 4 Wh
Page 7 and 8: A worker packages decorative plants
Page 9 and 10: Who are rural youth? Age and locati
Page 11 and 12: Key features of rural youth livelih
Page 13 and 14: Future labour demand in rural areas
Page 15 and 16: Improving youth livelihoods in rura
Page 17 and 18: According to the sustainable liveli
Page 19 and 20: BOX 3 Farmer Field Schools in East
Page 21 and 22: Training and capacity-building acti
Page 23 and 24: A young man makes and repairs shoes
Page 25 and 26: Partnerships to promote youth rural
Page 27 and 28: Concluding remarks The urgent need
Page 29 and 30: References Amin, S. (2008) Enhancin
Page 31: 30 International Fund for Agricultu

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