I am incredibly proud and satisfied by what we have achieved at YPARD in the last seven and a half years. When I first began in 2010 youth was rarely mentioned and we were lucky if we managed to secure an ill-attended side event. Youth organizations were limited in scope and rarely seen. But now youth is central to the agenda.... More

Today’s youth have experienced more rapid change than any previous generation. According to the United Nations, in 2016 there was 71 million youth unemployed globally. While there are many reasons for migration, the search for work continues to be a significant driver. This youth demographic is a particularly important one as ideas around migration are shaped at a young age. With... More

From February 14th to 16th, over 130 participants from 25 countries gathered in Addis Ababa to confirm partners and priorities at the launch meeting of the CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals (GLDC). Dr Peter Carberry, the Director of GLDC, set the framework from the start, underlining that the Program’s approach is how it can add value to... More

In my years of working with youth and agriculture, the landscape has changed considerably. When I first began in 2010, youth as rarely a topic for discussion, we lobbied for young people as part of delegations, part of discussions and as a topic. Every once in a while, we secured an ill-attended side event.  But it remained ‘novel’ and never did... More

I recently returned from the 5th TAP partners assembly in Laos Thailand. What is that? And what does this mean for YPARD? TAP an acronym for the Tropical Agriculture Platform  is a capacity development platform that seeks to build stronger capacities for individuals and institutions to engage in agricultural innovation systems (AIS). It was born out of the need to provide soft... More

The sustainability of agriculture and food production relies on young people remaining in rural areas and engaging in agriculture, in particular in challenging areas like drylands and mountain areas, and in countries of high youth migration like Morocco. However, the lack of engagement of youth in agriculture, compounded with a declining interest among young professionals in pursuing agriculture-related careers has resulted... More

A high level meeting, informing the G20 on rural youth and innovation? How could YPARD not take part?  By 2017 we really have seen a shift in attention towards youth, with a significant focus on how agriculture fits into the picture. At the ONE World no hunger meeting, high level panelists gave presentations on the importance of attracting youth to the... More

The future of agriculture depends on attracting young, talented people who are prepared to balance risk and reward in order to deliver the healthy food we need in a way that gives them sufficient return for their labor and capital.  Agriculture, however, is not seen as a profitable career: it’s expensive to finance, the necessary land capital is difficult to access,... More

As more and more  organizations begin to explore how they can more strongly engage youth in their work, members of YPARD are continuously being approached to provide their experiences and insights to inform discussions and decision-making.  Such was the case of researchers from CIMMYT who are exploring how they can best understand and provide the research to address issues related to... More

By Courtney Paisley and Marina Cherbonnier Happy new year to our restless community and its supporters! We take the opportunity to look back at YPARD’s key achievements for 2016. A big thank you to all of you who made these possible. These are great and they are the hallmark of a truly engaged and dynamic network.  Our 11 achievements for 2016... More

by Courtney Paisley and Karin Reinprecht One in five youths, or 125 million, are working but live in extreme poverty (on less than US$1/day). 70 percent of the world's poor (youth) live in rural areas with agriculture as main source of income and employment. Youth make up 40% of the world's unemployed in 2013. A new study – the first of its kind... More

In 2016 YPARD is celebrating ten years since its official launch at the GFAR Triennial meeting in New Delhi, November 2006.  It was born from the challenges facing young professionals in agricultural development and the need for a support structure. This year is the occasion to celebrate YPARD’s 10 year achievements and reaffirm our focus on supporting youth in today’s fast-paced,... More

There is a first time for everything and this was a first for a meeting focused solely on engaging youth within the programmes of the CGIAR.  The meeting comprised of colleagues from several CGIAR centres including IITA, ICRAF, IFPRI, ICRISAT, Bioversity, CIP, IWMI, AfricaRice as well as partners including YPARD, SLU, SNV, GYIN, Mkulima Young, CTA and AgriProFocus . It aimed... More

I think that YPARD has really come of age in 2014. As we started the year, I found that my role in creating a space for young professionals in agriculture was truly starting to pay off. I am reflecting on how the movement’s organic growth and its compelling narrative had attracted young professionals in agriculture to reach out to each other... More

Rationale Agriculture plays a significant role in achieving global food and nutrition security, increasing economic growth, and attaining environmental sustainability. Representing close to 40% of the global workforce, agriculture is the world’s largest provider of jobs, employing over 1.3 billion people. The emerging global trends such as globalisation, increasing population, climate change and environmental impacts, technology advancement, new institutional arrangements, and... More

The Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture is advertised by the organisers as ' the world's award winning sustianable agriculture event'.  There were indeed many innovative and interesting products on display, from vertical farming to glasses that enable farmers to see problems with their crops. But, was it really promoting sustainable agriculture? One major thing that was missing was a good number of... More

Let’s make 2015 the year that youth are making a truly active contribution to agricultural development! Thank you for being part of a very successful year and I hope you are ready to take on 2015. At YPARD we have been developing the capacity of young professionals, advocating for their involvement in agricultural development and ensuring that they have a place... More

FARA recently hosted a meeting October 20-22, 2014 in Nairobi, Kenya on FARA/CGIAR Collaboration Workshop on Climate Change, Youth Engagement, Food Security and Agricultural Transformation in Africa.  The meeting took 1.5 days to discuss Climate Smart Agriculture and the second 1.5 days to obtain youth input on the development of a FARA youth strategy. It was great to see so many... More

Agricultural development specialists and policymakers around the world are concerned that young people are not interested in remaining in rural areas and taking up farming. Agriculture is rarely the first choice of many who study it. Agriculture holds no prestige and young people taking it up as a livelihood are not considered success stories in their communities. While there will always... More

The YPARD Team sends you their very best wishes for 2014! Thanks to all of you who contributed to making 2013 a year of great achievements.  We are ready to kick off 2014 with a strategic planning meeting, to set out a longer term vision and strengthen YPARD’s ability to bring significant youth input into discussions that are key for their... More