YPARD Community Solutions Projects are evidence of projects ripe for scaling with quality finance.
Our Country Chapters actively engage with local communities, collaborating on projects tackling specific challenges within food systems. Working in concert with diverse stakeholders, young professionals provide access to knowledge and facilitate capacity building on a range of sustainable food systems practices. Through these collaborative efforts, YPARD aims to empower communities, fostering resilience and promoting the adoption of climate change mitigation, adaptation and socially responsible approaches to agriculture and food production.
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A YPARD Global Cafe is a virtual/hybrid space of experience sharing and knowledge exchange among young practitioners in the agriculture and food systems sector.
The goal of the Series is to open up a space for audiences to engage with ongoing agricultural projects, and have discussions with experts from other organizations on food systems and agricultural sustainability topics. The Series also covers technical sessions aimed to promote capacity building on different themes.
The cafes are hosted on 1.5 hour long Zoom meetings, once every month, and are held in collaboration with external partners.
YPARD cafes are spaces of knowledge sharing and capacity building in local or regional communities. Young practioners hold cafes with members of the community and locally based organizations, sharing best practices on agriculture, discussing professional skills, and agripreneurship ideas.
Typically, these cafes are held in person with the aim of practically engaging participants.
The 'Global Programme for Small-scale Agroecology Producers and Sustainable Food Systems Transformation (GP-SAEP)' project is a component of a broad funding initiative led by the European Commission (EC) and the Belgian Development Cooperation. Its primary objective is to overcome critical barriers hindering the adoption of agroecology and the transition to sustainable food systems among small-scale producers, including farmers and agri-food Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (LAC).
YPARD, in partnership with the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) and Access Agriculture, is responsible for Component 3 of the project, namely: “Increasing Access to Knowledge and Empowering 10 000 Small-Scale Farmers in Agroecological Transition through Participatory Rural Advisory Services (RAS) and Farmer to Farmer joint learning” (AERAS).
The Consortium Europe-Africa on Research and Innovation for Food Systems Transformation (CEA-FIRST) is a 4-year project that comes under the AU-EU Research and Innovation Cooperation. This is a follow-on Coordination Support Action to the LEAP4FNSSA that developed and launched the International Research Consortium (IRC). The IRC is intended to be the AU-EU (African Union- European Union) long-term platform to address the problem of fragmentation of research actions and in investments that has led to low impact of research outcomes.
YPARD and West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF), supported by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Ghana (CSIR), Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement (CIRAD) are leading the development of the CEA-FIRST/ IRC Gender and youth specific strategies ensure the CEA-FIRST project and the IRC work are youth and gender-sensitive
EIT Food, the Seeding The Future Foundation, the FutureFoodMakers, and the Young Professionals Platform (YPP) are co-organizing the Menu for Change Challenge – a competition designed for young changemakers with innovative ideas to revolutionize Europe’s food system.
This challenge empowers teams of young visionaries to develop solutions that align with the Menu for Change, a manifesto created by the FutureFoodMakers. The manifesto highlights six key priorities to drive positive change in Europe’s food system.
After a competitive application process, 5 teams were selected to join the Challenge. The teams are currently receiving mentorship and training to develop and scale their business ideas.
YPARD Incuba is a incubator program focused on developing applied competencies through training and mentoring for the development of startups or ventures, or agricultural and livestock enterprises with an agroecological approach.
Ten teams were selected to be part of the incubation program, where they received training from agribusiness specialists for the development of their business ideas. The program concluded with a 'Demo Day' where teams presented their projects to a distinguished jury panel. Based on this demo, 5 winning teams were selected for seed funds, mentorship, and further training.
This project is a collaboration between the YPARD LAC team and the Wadhwani Foundation, with financial support from the U.S. Department of State through the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship and strategic allies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the International Land Coalition (ILC).
The 2023 Youth Hackathon for Green Low-Carbon Agriculture (#YouthforGLCA) aimed to bring forth the creativity and problem-solving nature of young people to provide solutions for global agricultural green development, as well as agricultural carbon emissions reduction and carbon sequestration by adopting innovative and inclusive methods with the sense of “New Technology, New Pattern, and New Service.”
This was a joint effort of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) China Office, the Department of International Cooperation of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the Center for International Agricultural Research of CAAS, and YPARD.
In an act of unity and commitment, representatives of various rural youth organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in Palmira-Valle del Cauca, Colombia, on November 15-16, 2023, under the framework of the "Latin American Meeting of Youth for Rural Development".
The meeting was organized by the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development Network (YPARD), the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Bioversity and CIAT Alliance, the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (AGROSAVIA), the International Land Coalition (ILC-LAC), the delegation of the European Union (EU), the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (CIAT) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).
The objective of the program was to strengthen the capacities of youth in strategic issues, including advocacy, agroecology, green transition, access to land, rural extension, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as to facilitate spaces for integration.
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