YPARD is delighted to welcome Kristina Kuznetsova as YPARD Country representative for Ukraine. "I am a little botanist from a big city, Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, Kristina says. Plants have fascinated me from an early age; I loved exploring their diversity even before I knew what the word diversity meant. Some of my favorite activities as a child included picking and... More

28 October, Online All day long my FACEBOOK news feed has been happily buzzed by “Love” messages. The group of young professionals we had put together for what became a once-in-a-Lifetime-social reporting experience, were celebrating! It was all natural that they use social media as their party ground. That is without mentioning that they are all spread all around the world... More

One month ago, Courtney and I reflected on the four recurring issues raised over and over again in events and activities with youth involved in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation, development : (1) the lack for finance, (2) unattractiveness of the sector among the youth, (3) mismatch between the education system’s deliveries and the needs of the job market, (4) the lack... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Msekiwa Matsimbe as YPARD Malawi representative. Msekiwa is taking over as Maxwell has got enrolled in an academic programme in the US. "I am a young female research scientist in Aquaculture and Fisheries Scientist (Fish biodiversity expert), working as a Research Fellow at the NEPAD Regional Fish Node, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resource (LUANAR),... More

by Marina Cherbonnier and Michelle Kovacevic In just over a month, 10 young professionals will take the challenge to deliver a TedX-style talk during the youth session of the Global Landscapes Forum – Youth: The Future of Sustainable Landscapes. The objective of this showcase is to spotlight the active and crucial role that youth play in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation and... More

The Global Landscapes Forum is giving a central place to young professionals by kicking its 2days event with a TedX-style youth session – “Youth: The Future of Sustainable Landscapes” - on the very first morning - 16 November - at the UNFCC COP19, in Warsaw, Poland. About 8 inspirational speakers will take the floor on-site to discuss the issues and actions... More

YPARD organized a two day preparatory meeting for the YPARD external review, on 18-19 September 2013. The Global Coordination Unit met the two consultants who are conducting the review.The objective of the review is to evaluate the progress of YPARD (with emphasis on the last four years since the external review of 2009) but also to determine the areas to be... More

by Marina Cherbonnier and Courtney Paisley Youth are sometimes asked to provide their input into the big issues in the landscapes sector (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, conservation, development, industry, climate change), but let’s face it — this input often stays on the sidelines and rarely influences the ‘real’ decisions that are being made. We’re hoping to change this by providing a platform... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Madhu Sudhan Ghimire as Social Media Intern. Madhu will be working on spreading the word and animating YPARD social media channels on Facebook page and group, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+. He will be working remotely from Nepal some 10-15 hours a week. Madhu is a young nepalese student enrolled in a BSc. Agriculture at Tribhuwan... More

Have you heard about the GLF COP19 Social Media BootCamp Program organised by CGIAR (the Global Agricultural Research Partnership) in cooperation with The Global Landscapes Forum ? In the frame of their continuous support to young professionals in the field of agriculture, CGIAR has waived the entry fee for 2 YPARD members (US$1,400). Mind, Candidates will still have to fund their... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Rahel Wyss as the new Country Representative for Switzerland. Because of new intense professional paths, Johanna has decided to hand over her role as YPARD Switzerland representative to another Young Professional. Read her testimonial about her experience with YPARD. Rahel Wyss has been already fully involved with YPARD in Switzerland; she substituted Johanna at a SFIAR... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome Mohamed Sippo as YPARD Sierra Leone representative. Mohamed shares with us his inspiration and what led him to work for youth in agriculture’s empowerment and to become YPARD representative. “When I worked with RESTLESS DEVELOPMENT a leading youth led Organization in Sierra Leone, I realized that youths are the solutions to problems and are not the... More

YPARD is glad to welcome Eric MAVARUGANDA as YPARD Burundi representative. Eric MAVARUGANDA is passionate about rural areas with major concern about agricultural development in Africa. He is convinced that rural areas can be attractive even more than urban centers. Therefore he created an organization in Burundi gathering rural youth : the JRCPF (la jeunesse rurale en action contre la pauvreté et la... More

Happy International Youth Day 2013 ! IYD is celebrated every year by the UN on the 12 August. The theme for this year is ‘Youth Migration: Moving Development Forward’. We asked young students and professionals in agriculture to share with us their experiences and insights about youth migration and its relation to Development. We particularly invited them to discuss rural-urban migration and... More

I come from a small village in France called "Toutlemonde"; it literally means "All the World" or "everybody". Not sure this drew my destiny but fact is that I am both representative of rural-urban migration and emigration. Rural areas, to me, are quite the opposite of what I hear from my YPARD peers in Africa or Asia. Country side for me... More

The road is long towards full inclusion of Young Professionals into strategic international actions for agricultural development. But the adventure enables you to meet and work with outstanding people who understand the critical role youth play for sustainable development. It is time to celebrate youth supporters and look at the achievement made together so far. GCARD2, 2012, represented a milestone for... More

Last May 2013, YPARD was solicited by the Chicago Council to invite some Young Professionals to take part in the live blogging and tweeting of The 2013 Global Food Security Symposium. A young live blogger would watch a panel discussion or a keynote address and then would write up summary and key points to be posted on the Chicago Council’s Global... More

Tell us about experiences of youth migration! On 12 August 2013, we will be celebrating the Youth on International Youth Day. The assigned theme for 2013 is: ‘Youth Migration: Moving Development Forward’. “Youth are recognized as one of the most mobile social groups in the context of migration – they form about 30% of international migrants!” The UN says. It is... More

YPARD is delighted to welcome YPARD representative for Canada: Beth Timmers. "I am thrilled to have been nominated as Canada’s YPARD Country representative." Beth says "I’m a Canadian economist, highly committed to promoting the interests of young Canadians in ARD. I’m currently working with the Agriculture and Food Security Team at Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as this year’s Research... More

We are delighted to welcome YPARD country representative in Russia: Iana Perevoshchikova The floor is to Iana for her to introduce herself to you: “I was very lucky with my biology teacher at school, where the interest came from. As a good specialist in the field, she ran a Youth Laboratory of Nature Research, which I attended. We went to a... More