Agriculture Policies Supporting Youth Engagement In Southern Africa

Sithembile Ndema Mwamakamba [email protected]

Youth and Agriculture in Southern Africa

• Africa is the world’s youngest continent, • In 2010,

70 %

of the region’s population was under the age of 30, • In 2010,

20 %

of the population were young people between the

ages of 15 to 24.

• The large majority of the youth lives in rural areas and mostly employed in agriculture, accounting for

65%

of total employment.

Regional Efforts in Creating Youth Policies

•

NEPAD Youth Desk

– Launched in 2005 by New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to give youth a platform for dialogue and enable them to contribute to policy debates.

•

The African Youth Charter

– Adopted July 2006 at the 7th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of States and Government – Lays the pedestal for national programmes and strategic plans for Youth empowerment •

Youth Decade Plan of Action (2009-2018)

– Declared by the African Union Assembly in January, 2009, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

– Framework for multi-sectoral and multidimensional engagement of all stakeholders towards the achievement of the goals and objectives of the African Youth Charter.

Status of the African Youth Charter

Youth Charter and Agriculture

Article 14: Poverty Eradication and Socio-economic Integration of Youth

• Train young people to take up agricultural, mineral, commercial and industrial production using contemporary systems and promote the benefits of modern information and communication technology to gain access to existing and new markets; • Facilitate access to credit to promote youth participation in agricultural and other sustainable livelihood projects

Article 12: National Youth Policy

•

State Parties shall obliged to develop a comprehensive and coherent national youth policy as follows:

– The policy shall be cross-sectoral in nature considering the interrelatedness of the challenges facing young people; – The development of a national youth policy shall be informed by extensive consultation with young people and cater for their active participation in decision-making at all levels of governance in issues concerning youth and society as a whole; – The policy shall advocate equal opportunities for young men and for young women;

FANRPAN’s Youth In Agriculture Work

• September 2011 – FANRPAN convenes a Regional High Level Multi-stakeholder Food Security Policy Dialogue on “

Advocating for the Active Engagement of the Youth in the Agricultural Value Chain

”

Background

•

November 2011

FANRPAN commissioned case studies in Malawi, Mauritius, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to assess current and emerging youth policies and initiatives with a special focus on links to agriculture.

Evodius Rutta

Executive Director TAYEN Tanzania

Calvin Kamchacha

Executive Director FAFOTRAJ Malawi

Mduduzi Dlamini

President Swazi Youth in AgriBusiness Swaziland

Nawsheen Hosenally

Agriculture Graduate Mauritius

Obert Mathivha

Executive Director CAYC South Africa

Tavaka Nyoni

Consultant ORAP Zimbabwe

Study Objectives

• Establish

baseline data

on youth policies and initiatives currently in place in the case study countries.

•

Identify

gaps and

opportunities

for developing national youth and agriculture policies within agricultural sector and make appropriate policy decisions.

• Investigate the current

participation level

rural and urban youth in agriculture and their towards the sector and coverage of

perceptions

• Investigate and assess how the

key institutions

as well as current tools, and

mechanisms

and

policy instruments

available have mainstreamed youth agenda • Profile

investment opportunities

the agricultural value chains for youth engagement in

Youth and Agriculture Policies - Malawi

• National Youth Policy reviewed in 2010 aimed at promoting youth participation in key development activities namely – education, science, technology and environment, health and nutrition, social services, recreation, sports and culture, youth participation and leadership and youth economic empowerment.

• Youth policy has failed to link youth to agriculture • Opportunities for mainstreaming or integrating agriculture within the identified sectors exist

Youth and Agriculture Policies - Mauritius

• Four policies were identified as being relevant to the youth: – Blueprint for a Sustainable Diversified Agrifood Strategy for Mauritius (2008-2015) – Strategic Options in Crop Diversification and Livestock Sector (2007 2015) – Multi Annual Strategic Plan for the Sugar sector (2006-2015) – National Youth Policy (2010-2014).

• These policies identify several general opportunities for the youth – Introduction of the “Young Agricultural Entrepreneurial Scheme”(YAES) tailored to provide young entrepreneurs with incentives to acquire agriculture based training skills at all levels.

• The National Youth Policy (2010 - 2014) was prepared in consultation with the National Youth Council

Youth and Agriculture Policies – South Africa

• 15 key policies, 10 specific to agriculture entirely focused on youth development and 5 • The National Youth Development Agency Act, 2008 advocates for an Integrated Youth Development Approach across all the sectors.

• Prior to this Act, the youth (especially those in the rural areas) were hardly ever involved in policy decision and planning processes.

• Policies mostly top bottom approaches and the green and white papers on agrarian transformation have no links youth

Youth and Agriculture Policies - Swaziland

• Youth programmes are guided by a national youth policy which has no direct link with agriculture • Policy proposes the establishment of a special fund for youth to engage in entrepreneurial initiatives • Other relevant policies are : – The Swaziland Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) Compact – The Food Security Programme (FSP) - provides for vocational agriculture at high school level through the Schools Agriculture Program – Poverty Reduction and Strategy and Action Programme (PRSAP) seeks to establish a Youth Fund to address business development opportunities for the youth.

Youth and Agriculture Policies - Tanzania

• National Youth Development Policy of 2007 is the only one that specifically addresses youth issues. • • Other recent initiatives include – the Agriculture Sector Development Strategy (ASDS) which recognizes the central role of the youth in providing active labour force. the KILIMO KWANZA (Agriculture First) strategy , addresses youth issues by proposing: – – – introduction of the agricultural loans; providing land to agricultural graduates; providing full scholarships or loans to agricultural undergraduates; – – developing incentives to attract and retain youth in agriculture; mainstreaming of gender issues; and strengthening the position of women in agriculture.

Youth and Agriculture Policies - Zimbabwe

• National Youth Policy is aimed at empowering the youth in a comprehensive, coordinated multi-sectoral manner • The policy prioritizes a number of options for implementation, among which are: – training youth in agricultural production using contemporary systems and modern information and communications technology, – provision of land and mining rights to youth and youth organizations to encourage socio-economic development, – facilitation of access to credit to promote youth participation in agricultural projects, – the centrality of education and skills development programmes for wealth creation, socio-economic integration and empowerment, – enhancing the attractiveness of rural areas to young people by improving socio-economic infrastructure.

Engaging Youth in Policy Development

•

What Needs to Happen

Capacity Building of youth – There is need for training and skill building opportunities for young people that can prepare them for active participation in decision-making processes.

• Engage youth actively -Youth must be recognised as major stakeholders and need a platform where their voices can be heard on issues that directly concern them.

• Link youth to planning and policy efforts. This can be accomplished by involving youth in the examination of existing policies as well as determining and evaluating potential policy alternatives

Engaging Youth in Policy Development

•

What Needs to Happen

Allow youth to identify their own interests. Within the greater framework of agriculture policy making, youth may have expertise or interests in specific topics.

•

Facilitation - Youth Communication, Advocacy and Networking.

There is need to guide youth in terms of how to communicate their challenges, ideas, and experiences.

•

Institutionalising Youth Policy Engagement from Primary –

Secondary - University Levels – There is need to learn from other programmes that have been successful in engaging young people in different sectors (e.g SIFE, 4-H).

Nothing for the Youth Without the Youth