This year’s International Youth Day marks the importance of “green skills” developed by youth that include “knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”. Young agricultural leaders and entrepreneurs are key actors to achieve many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as they support food safety and security, generate jobs and improve livelihoods by engaging responsibly in their farms and businesses. They are also leading the transition towards an environmentally sustainable and digital agriculture sector.
It is of crucial importance to support capacity development as entrepreneurs and business owners need a wide range of skills that are constantly evolving. Capacity building is critical to economic growth and ensures that the latter is truly inclusive. COLEAD supports young agricultural business owners, farmers and leaders by strengthening the resources youth can access. Through its development programmes, COLEAD provides, technical assistance (online and in the field), vocational training and support services in regulatory monitoring, market insights, partnerships, research and innovation and access to finance. COLEAD also organises online agrifood partnership sessions with the PAFO, IICA and the OECD to share good practices among entrepreneurs, opportunities to be seized on different value chains and markets, as well as support opportunities provided by finance, regulatory or development organisations.
To highlight African and Caribbean youth, COLEAD has co-organised two sessions with partners to focus on their factors to success. To re-discover featured entrepreneurs, click on the links below!
PAFO-COLEAD Innovations Session °8: Catalysing young African agri-entrepreneurs’ investments
COLEAD has also co-organised – with key partners such as FARA, IFAD, GFAR and YPARD – two sessions focused on youth at the 8th Africa Agribusiness and Science Week (AASW). The side event on Unlocking business opportunities for young entrepreneurs featured four inspiring African entrepreneurs who presented their innovations for addressing malnutrition, engaging farmers, adding value to local produce and offering safe, healthy products to consumers. To continue the dialogue, the parallel session on Knowledge Management, Digitalisation and Youth Entrepreneurship focused on understanding the main challenges that youth entrepreneurs face, and how digitalisation can help to overcome these. As digitalisation alone is not a panacea for all challenges faced by youth, the panellists – including from YPARD’s and COLEAD’s networks – discussed how to maximize the potential of digital solutions and skills carried out by youth in agriculture.
You can watch the recordings of the two sessions by clicking on the link below:
Throughout its activities, COLEAD works to promote youth operating throughout the agricultural value chains in African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries and worldwide. More will be developed, stay tuned!
