Halfway on the GCARD3 Youth journey

In one month, the GCARD3 Global event will be kicking off. GCARD3 is not a mere event, it is a process. While the preparation of the global event involves shaping up the program and the delegations, the communications coverage, logistics and tutti quanti, collective agricultural development directions are already discussed throughout national and regional consultations, ahead of the global event. At YPARD, we are making sure that the youth is part of the whole process.

Youth inclusion into GCARD3 national and regional consultations

Young professionals participated in different GCARD3 national and regional consultations. Around 10 YPARD delegates are contributing to workshops in DRC, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Tunisia, Nepal, Uganda, Niger; 24 young professionals engaged in the Mediterranean dialogues (in Milan, Volos, Montpellier and Alexandria) and 11 young enthusiasts took an active role in regional consultations - not only as young delegates but also as trained social reporters.

Our 43 YPARD delegates not only committed to represent effectively the voice of the youth during the meetings but also to share – online - their experience, findings and messages with the rest of the YPARD community and beyond. Read their contributions at the end of this blog post, and follow the discussions on Twitter: #GCARD3.

Youth at GCARD3 global event

GCARD3 Youth Delegation

Within two weeks, 96 young professionals from every region of the world applied to be part of GCARD3 Global event’s youth delegation. The team will be given the mission to be the voice of the youth: to be part of the discussions online and onsite, to solicit their peers to contribute with their own input, and to particularly express those youth specific aspirations, challenges, needs and opportunities they see for the youth to be actively part of agricultural developments at all levels.

The delegation will benefit from a 3day training on social media and will play a key role as social reporters during the conference. In order to assess our candidates’ communications flair and aspirations about the GCARD3 process, we asked them to submit a blog post as a means for expression of interest. Outstanding storytellers and bloggers were unveiled; while some pieces may have missed some genuine understanding about GCARD3 despite the obvious efforts to know more about it, a series of inspiring individual stories deserved to be shared with the world. Check our YPARD Community Blog section for our candidates’ blog posts.

YAP: Youth Agri-preneurs project

We are proudly supporter of GFAR and CGIAR’s YAP project, showing the two entities’ increasing commitment to integrate, stimulate and mentor the involvement of youth in all of their collective programs. At #GCARD3, we will pilot the “YAP”, the Youth Agripreneurs Project. Young agripreneurs from all over the world are sending their business idea. Selected projects will be provided a seed fund to facilitate the startup of their project. During one year, we will mentor these young agripreneurs within their project, linking them with seasoned researchers and practitioners, by integrating them in the YPARD mentoring program. We also want to train them on new ways to advocate and network using innovative communication tools. Over 200 projects have been submitted so far. Have a look at them, like and comment – YOUR voting counts for their selection!

Youth inclusion at GCARD3 Global event

YPARD has been strongly involved in the Task Force groups responsible for the organisation of the GCARD3 Global Event. Young participants will have some key roles throughout the GCARD3 as speakers, technical reporters, social reporters. Some YPARD representatives from different regions of the world will also take part in the GFAR's partners assembly. Also, it will particularly be the occasion to celebrate face-to-face YPARD 10years with our members and partners.

Learn more about GCARD3 and check the program calendar

A list of good reads by our national and regional reporters

National consultations

• Our participation at the CGIAR consultations in DRC - #GCARD3 (DRC)
• Integration for Food Security and Poverty Alleviation (Nigeria)
• Youth at the national consultations on integrating CGIAR sites in Mali (Mali)
• The agricultural youth in the national consultations of the GCARD3 in Niger (Niger)
• CGIAR on Engaging Possible Stakeholders in Nepal (Nepal)
• Developing an Integration and Coordination Mechanism for CGIAR Research in Ghana (Ghana)
• YPARD Uganda at the GCARD3 National Consultations in Uganda (Uganda)

The Mediterranean dialogues

• When the Mediterranean youth takes the lead (Milan)
• What is the Mediterranean area's future? (Volos)
• Mediterranean rural communities in times of crisis (Montpellier)
• Second Preparatory Meeting for the 2015 Global Congress How to integrate agricultural communities in the Mediterranean region (Alexandria)

The Bangkok’s Asia and Pacific regional consultations

YPARD presence at GCARD3 Social Media Training in Bangkok

The Bishkek’s Central Asia regional consultations

Read these two masterpieces:

• Meet Nodar, not your ‘Typical’ Farmer
• And then I asked a question…

Picture: YPARD Team at the GCARD3 Bangkok regional consultations