http://www.fao.org/rural-employment/en/ Presentations delivered on the 7th of September 2015 in Barbados, during the launch of the new FAO project “Strengthening decent rural employment opportunities for young women and men in the Caribbean”, developed in collaboration with the IFAD. The project will operate for 3 years in 9 countries of the Sub-region, namely: St. Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Haiti, Belize, Cuba and Dominican Republic. The programme is an example of effective inter-agency cooperation and aims to promote rural youth employment opportunities in the Caribbean by facilitating the development of targeted policies, partnerships and investments. The project will be implemented by the FAO Sub-regional Office for the Caribbean, in Barbados. The presentations show the perspectives and contributions of the different partners involved in the project. ©FAO: http://www.fao.org

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
IFAD's engagement with rural
youth
Andrea Marchetti - IFAD

2. Overview
Context
 What is IFAD
 Challenges/Opportunities in
Agriculture and Rural Development
 IFAD in the LAC region
IFAD’s engagement with rural youth
 General Outlook
 Strategic priorities
 IFAD’s work on youth in the LAC
countries
A key partnership for the Caribbean

3. What is IFAD
 IFAD is the only global IFI/UN Agency exclusively
dedicated to rural development. Its goal is to
empower poor people to achieve higher incomes
and improved food security
 IFAD works with governments and with rural
communities, while being a catalyst for partnerships
and alliances, bringing in co-financing from other
organizations and the private sector
 IFAD provides financing, through loans and grants,
to governments, NGOs and research institutes for
the promotion and impact of rural development
activities.

4. Challenges in Agriculture and Rural
Development
• Rural Population
– A large proportion of the most
entrepreneurial rural workforce has
migrated.
– The rural adult population is ageing...

5. ◦ …and farmers’ children don’t necessarily want to
continue being farmers. Rural youth aspirations are
now similar to those of urban youth
Challenges in Agriculture and
Rural Development

6. Latin America and the
Caribbean
 Predominantly made of Middle Income
Countries (MICs), mainly in continental Latin
America, plus Small islands developing
states (SIDS) in the Caribbean.
 Increasingly urban, with high levels of
disparities vs the rural areas.
 Highly vulnerable to climate change effects
and natural disasters.
 High rates of unemployment in the rural
areas, particularly for women and youth,
resulting in migration of skilled labour force

7. IFAD
CURRENT
INVESTMENT
PORTFOLIO
IN LAC
IFAD in
LAC

8. IFAD and the LAC region

9. IFAD’s engagement with Youth
 IFAD has currently no corporate strategy on
youth…
…HOWEVER
 In 2010, IFAD adopted its 2011-2015 Strategic
Framework which points at "the creation of
viable opportunities for rural youth" as one of
its principles of engagement with its clients

10. IFAD’s engagement with
Youth
• Since then, IFAD addressed the issue of rural
youth in a number of corporate and global
events
2011 IFAD
Governing
Council
2012 Farmers'
Forum
2014 – The
International Year
of Family Farming

11. IFAD’s engagement with
Youth
• Currently, there are 40 ongoing IFAD-financed projects
worldwide with focus on youth
• LAC is the most covered region with 10 projects

12. IFAD’s engagement with Youth
Focus on:
Policy dialogue
Strengthening and sharing
knowledge
Entrepreneurship and
employment

13. Policy
dialogue
2010 IFAD's Cartagena
workshop on rural youth:
creation of the Global
Youth Innovation Network
(GYIN), to foster
participation of young
people in public policies
processes
IFAD Grant for inclusion of
young people in policy
processes:
training of 40 young leaders
from Argentina, Brazil, Chile,
Paraguay and Uruguay (2013)
2012 Farmers’ Forum:
Adoption of Youth
Declaration for future
inclusion of at least 30%
of young farmer
representatives in future
Farmers’ Forums

14. Strengthening and
sharing knowledge
Partnership with
ILO:
2013 Report on
impact of
decent
employment
policies in rural
areas
Policy Briefs on
youth
A guide to
provide policy-
makers with
practical
advices for
addressing rural
youth issues
(2012)
IFAD Lessons
learned:
Supporting
rural young
people in
IFAD projects
(2014)
Joint IFAD/FAO/CTA
publication:
Youth and agriculture -
key challenges and
concrete solutions
(2014)

15. Entrepreneurship and
employment
promotion through its
projects:
Colombia’s
Oportunidades and
Sierra Norte created a
Learning Fund to
promote youths’ access
to resources for
economic initiatives
IFAD in El Salvador:
In 2014 and 2015, IFAD’s
activities in the country: (i)
supported training to
approx. 2,000 young
people; (ii) provided 45
scholarships and (iii) co-
organized 5 business fairs
on entrepreneurship skills.
Child Labour in
Agriculture:
IFAD is member of this
Partnership, involved
in safe agricultural
practices to reduce
hazardous work and
dependence on child
labour

16. A key partnership for the Caribbean
Strengthening decent rural employment opportunities for
young women and men in the Caribbean (FAO-FIDA
Youth CARIBE)
 US$ 1.8 million grant to FAO to implement the three-
year regional programme, entirely focused on youth
 Strategic partnership between two UN agencies (FAO-
IFAD) in the Caribbean
 Possibility for scaling up successful experiences from a
closed grant-financed project in the DR-Haiti border,
financed by IFAD and implemented by FAO DO and
PROCASUR

17. FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE
Focus on:

18.  6 initial participating countries (Belize, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Grenada, Guyana and Haiti) + 3 other (Barbados, St. Lucia and St.
Vincent and the Grenadines) expected to participate
 3-year programme implementation period
 120 mini-projects funded through a grant competitive process
FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE : Some figures
FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE
IFAD (Grant): US$ 1.8 Million
FAO: US$ 0.5 Million
PROCASUR: US$ 0.1 Million
Part. Govts: US$ 0.5 Million
Total: US$ 2.9 Million

19. FAO-FIDA Youth CARIBE
 Aligned with IFAD’s approach in SIDS as it aims to
enhance opportunities for smallholder agriculture to
become a vibrant business for youth
 Implemented by FAO SLC, a full-fledged and highly
dynamic sub-regional office, based in Barbados
 Will encourage strong partnerships with other
organizations in the region (ILO, CAFAN etc.)
 Will work in collaboration with Governments of
participating countries

20. Closing Remarks
"The key to meeting the world's future food needs is to
create an environment that will encourage and enable
young women and men to remain in their communities. They
need opportunities to improve their own lives, obtain decent
work and pursue prosperity."
IFAD President, Kanayo F. Nwanze.
IFAD:
Investing in
young
rural
people

21. THANK YOU