Job opportunities for youth in Africa’s agricultural transformation

Youth comprise an increasingly high portion of Africa’s population. Yet a large part of Africa’s youth are currently unemployed. The Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) together with the INCLUDE Platform for Inclusive Development Policies have written a policy paper that looks at the potential of promoting youth employment within processes of inclusive agriculture transformation.

The policy paper serves as input for the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual conference in Lusaka, Zambia this week. The paper is presented at a side-event of the AfDB’s conference, organized by INCLUDE. The panel is entitled ”Jobs for women and young people – the transformative potential of agribusiness” and looks at the concept of agribusiness, which lies at the heart of the AfDB’s strategy for transforming Africa’s agriculture sector.

The co-written paper builds on earlier work that has been done by both Platforms on youth in agriculture. The F&BKP has made an inventory of the ambitions of key international organizations in the field of development that engage with youth in food systems, as well as a mapping that provides an overview of the work being done. Both can be found by clicking this link. INCLUDE’s dossier on youth employment looks specifically at the potentials in agriculture and is published here.