Project/programme – Integrated country approch (ICA) for boosting decent jobs for youth in the agrifood system

To date ICA has contributed to the following: i. It has supported seven countries in developing strategies or programmes aimed at engaging youth in agrifood systems, like the National Strategy for Youth Employment in Agriculture (NSYEA, 2017) in Uganda or the Rural Youth Strategy in Guatemala; ii. It has partnered with more than 40 institutions on youth employment strategic planning, and with at least 8 national or regional youth networks and associations to reach more rural youth and scale up impact; iii. It has benefitted more than 5 000 young agripreneurs or youth cooperatives through pilot models tested for youth’s access to finance, training and mentorship, such as the MIJA rural entrepreneurship platforms in Senegal or the Youth Inspiring Youth initiative in Uganda ; iv. adapting to the post-COVID-19 scenario, in the last biennium (2021-2022), it reached around 4 000 youth through its digital platforms, like the regional African Youth Agripreneurs platform (AYA) or ChispaRural in Guatemala; v. ICA also played a critical role in the overall mainstreaming of decent work and youth priorities within FAO’s own programme of work. It has contributed to develop a Toolbox of resources, like the recently issued Youth-sensitive value chain analysis and development guidelines or the guidance on Incorporating decent rural employment in the strategic planning for agricultural development.