Promoting Youth Voice in Advocacy and Decision-Making

Generation Africa members Group offers a big tent for any organization working on youth agenda to share their learning, forge linkages, and ultimately define and align behind a transformative collective effort. 

This is to enable member organizations learn from each other on how to best improve the ecosystems for agripreneurship, identify major gaps and close in on them. This synergized approach will enable a better ecosystem for young agripreneurs created by partnership and collaboration which, none of the organizations can achieve alone. The discussions and learnings assist in country-level programming that will enable countries satisfy the ever-growing demand for youth employability.

The theme for 2022 is “Responsive Programming to strengthen the ecosystem supporting young Agripreneurs in Africa”.

Agenda-Promoting the youth voice

Engaging youth in agriculture has been a prominent topic recently and has gained prominence in the development agenda, as there is a growing concern worldwide that young people have become disenchanted with agriculture. With most young people – around 85% – living in developing countries, where agriculture is likely to provide the main source of income, it is vital that young people get connected with agriculture.

Currently, the world is living in an era where rapid urbanization has led to a decline in rural populations and for the first time ever, most of the world’s population live in the cities. The UN World Health Organization predicts that “by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will live in a city, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to 7 out of 10 people” which means that more young people  are moving to cities and towns to find work, leaving few behind to work in rural areas. Additionally, an increasing number of young people need employment, yet there are limited openings in the formal employment sector. If more young people can be supported to develop agricultural enterprises and view agriculture as a viable career option, then issues of youth unemployment, food security, and rural-urban drift can be addressed.

Despite the decline in interest in agriculture as a career, there are still young farmers working all over the world. To encourage others to join the sector it is vital that they are offered a voice, and that we take note of what they have to say. The research is abundantly clear: young people benefit enormously when they have a voice in their environment. Youth voice encourages engagement, fosters feelings of self-worth, and builds leadership skills that prime young people for civic life. With overwhelming supporting evidence, we need to take action to promote and support the youth project their voice.

Learning how to contribute their thoughts and ideas is essential as young people develop, but they need the practice to build these skills. Youth programs are ideal settings for participants to practice making decisions that affect their lives and that matter to them. Supporting youth voice may include asking the youth for input and providing opportunities for youth to choose or make decisions. Particularly, this includes giving young farmers at the policy level a chance to offer their opinion and experiences. In this way, they can show other young people that farming can be a rewarding career as  well as highlight their important role of agriculture on a global scale.

In this call, we shall discuss ways in which we can support the youth in strengthening their voice.

Question to Members

• What experiences and insights can your organizations offer?
• How would you propose we harness our efforts to help us achieve greater impact together than we could act alone?