- Guyana has a youth unemployment rate of around 40% and poverty amongst youths is 36% compared to the regional average of 25%. Only 22% of males and 6% of females aged 15-24 are employed. - The agriculture sector provides 22% of total employment but youth face challenges accessing resources like land, capital, and training. Educational and training opportunities exist but are insufficient to address the scale of youth unemployment. - New initiatives like the FAO-IFAD project aimed at strengthening rural employment could help overcome challenges and allow more youth to contribute to Guyana's development through agricultural involvement.

1. LAUNCH AND POLICY DIALOGUE
REGIONAL FAO-IFAD Project
STRENGHENING DECENT RURAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND MEN IN THE CARIBBEAN
7 - 9 September 2015
Bridgetown, Barbados
Status of Youth Unemployment and Participation in
the Agricultural Sector of Guyana
Christopher Ross / Ministry of Agriculture

3. • The Country has a land area of approximately
216,969 square kilometres (83,000 square
miles)
• Guyana is divided into ten Administrative
Regions.
• It is the home of the CARICOM Secretariat.

4. Youth Unemployment in the Region
• Youth age range in Guyana is defined as persons between 10
and 35 years old (as defined by the National Youth Policy
2015)
• The adult unemployment rate across the Caribbean Region
averages 8%.
• Youth unemployment rate in the Region averages nearly 25%
(CDB 2015 Report)

5. Unemployment in Guyana
• Guyana's unemployment rate is currently around 11%.
• Since 2000, the country's youth unemployment rate has
consistently been hovering around 40 %.
Poverty amongst youths currently stands at 36%

6. Employment disaggregated by gender
( The last National Census was done in 2002)
• 22 % of the male working-age population is not engaged in
any type of activity to earn an income compared to 66 % of
females.
• On average, for the whole population, 44 % of the persons of
working-age are not engaged in any economic activity.

7. Youth Policy
• A draft of the National Youth Policy 2015 has been completed.
• The Guyana National Youth Policy 2015 outlines a vision and
plan for youth development by the Government of Guyana,
developed collaboratively with youths and other stakeholders.

8. • There is a designated Minister for Youths, Sports and Culture
under the Ministry of Education.
• Within the Youth Policy, a separate segment has been allotted
for youth employment. Further it details information on the
various programs targeting youths in agriculture and various
fields of involvement.

9. • Presently, all Ministries are being renamed and restructured
to cope with critical issues and these include youths in
national development.
• The agricultural sector, comprising commercial and
subsistence agriculture workers, provide 22 % of total
employment (50,911 workers) .

10. Challenges for Youths in Guyana's Agriculture Sector
• 1. A large proportion of the country’s young farmers do not
have access to technical support on-site due to the size of the
country and number of trained officers.
• 2. Lack of enterprise development training particularly in
value added activities such as food processing and packaging.
• 3. Difficulty in accessing resources (land, capital, affordable
and reliable information access)

11. • 4. Inability of youth farmers to produce products in commercial
quantities to satisfy specific/lucrative markets.
• 5. Limited academic background of rural youths prevents them
from utilizing modern technology and equipment, hence higher
production costs. Modern practices are not incorporated into
teaching curriculums.
• 6. Absence of advocating bodies to represent youths' interests
and concerns.

12. • 7. Frequent flooding creates severe destruction of crops and
livestock. A young farmer with limited resources may not
recover from such events.
• 8. Youth representation is limited on decision making bodies at
Regional and National levels.

13. Opportunities for Youths in the
Agriculture Sector in Guyana
Educational Institutes
• Three educational bodies, Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA),
University of Guyana (UG) and GUYSUCO Training Centre
allows for further qualification in agriculture. These are in
addition to several Government Technical Institutes.
• As of 2015 over 3,200 students have graduated from GSA in
six programmes at an average of 115 per year.

14. • GUYSUCO Training Centre specifically caters to the skills and
competencies required by the sugar industry and to date has
trained over 2,800 persons.

15. Training Opportunities of the Ministries of
Government
• The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport conducts the Youth
Entrepreneurial Skills Training (YEST), New Opportunity Corp
and Kuru Kuru Training Centre.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs offers the IDB Citizen Security
Programme (CSP).
• The Ministry of Labour, through its Board of Industrial Training
(BIT) conducts the National Training Project for Youth
Empowerment (NTPYE)
• The United States Embassy has a Youth Ambassador
Programme (YAP)

16. Other Institutions
• Adult Education Association (AEA) provide a series of training
programs and certification to other Training Institutions.
• University of Guyana Community Outreach Programme offer
responsive training through the Institute for Distance and
Continuing Education (IDCE).

17. • USAID Skills and Knowledge Transfer for Youth Empowerment
(SKYE) Project offers remedial, job readiness, the Be Your Own
Boss (BYOB) training as well as grants for new businesses.

18. • The Rural Enterprise Agriculture Development (READ)
Project supported farmers and rural entrepreneurs using an
Enterprise Development Fund that provided grants and loans
through IFAD.
• The Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED)
created The Guyana Youth Business Trust (GYBT) in 2000. This
NGO provides financing to young people (age 18-35) who
want to become entrepreneurs.

19. • The local Commercial Banks also offers loans and financial
training.
• Food for the Poor Guyana has been offering materials,
equipment, funding and training to disadvantaged youths.

20. • The "Strengthening Decent Rural Employment Opportunities
for Young Women and Men in the Caribbean" is a timely
project for the youths of Guyana due to present and emerging
challenges. Overcoming these would mean youths
contributing to national development through agricultural
involvement.
• We look forward to this Project benefitting the youths of
Guyana soon!!

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