Youth tells about Migration for Development - International Youth Day (IYD2013)

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 emigration phenomena.

We have been amazed by the thoughtful and inspiring pieces that came in! We received 19 blog posts in English and French. "Follow" our Young professionals from very different parts of the World: from Benin, to Brazil, to France, Fiji Islands, Nepal, Trinidad etc !

These are individual stories showing different perspectives of migration. Each author had his/her own reason(s) to leave…and to come back sometimes. They lived both the positives and negatives of rural-urban migration and emigration.

Stories from Nigeria particularly highlight the urge to leave Nigeria for pursuing better education. Apeh claims the need for better recognition of youth talents, which he finds abroad but not in his country. Olawale sees no other choice but to go abroad to study for returning with proper skills that would help his peers to get involved in agriculture and his country to fight food insecurity. Raymond, Zimbabwe also highlights the role of Diaspora to bring back knowledge. In another hand, Adebola warns that one has to have a proper purpose for migration – abroad is not an Eldorado, and success is not always at the corner.

While giving a big picture of the reasons and consequences of migration in Nepal, Mahat focuses his key message on the need for better support to youth and science and technologies in Nepal.

Enricka, from Trinidad, moved for employment and raises the negatives of migration : missing family, hardship to settle in town etc. In her opinion, Government must help rural areas to be more attractive and thus prevent migration.

Frejus, Benin, also emphasizes the lack of attractiveness of rural areas and the need for support from the Government and Private sector to enable more opportunities in the country side and in the agricultural sector. Arsène talks about the push-pull factors of the rural-urban phenomena and the role of ICTs in migration dynamics in Benin. Sofa discusses this as well, by presenting the case of Modogan. Ben gives the example of some young rural boys who chose to become taxi-moto drivers in city instead of staying in the village.

Rebeca, Brazil, shares with us that her dad’s migration inspired her own experience. Particularly, by living in some other countries, she found out the importance of Food Security to help Life of millions of people in Brazil and beyond, and how much agriculture is actually cool ! For Grace, Kenya, her migration experience as a Student in the UK was an « eye-opener » - she realized that she had to and wanted to go back home and work for food security on-the-ground.

Moses, from Uganda, calls his peers to stay and work on what they can do for their own country and their individual success: youths are their best asset. Furthermore promoting agriculture and its opportunities is a way to tackle rural-urban migration. Inoussa, Burkina Faso,tells the success story of a young entrepreneur who decided to leave school and move to a village in order to start agricultural activities.

Dinesh, Nepal, and Olga, Benin, call for youth to get better education and more voice on policy level in their country. They should also exploit the power of ICTs to make agriculture sexy and more innovative. Andrew from Fiji and Yvon, from Benin, present their initiatives aiming at keeping young professionals in rural areas, focusing on better marketing opportunities and diversification.

Marina, France, draws a paradisiacal picture of rural areas. However, she discusses the importance of migration in order to broaden people’s perspectives and think « global », towards working on a Sustainable Development for All. She sees ICTs, internet and social media mainly, as a hope towards this purpose, while avoiding desertification of country side.

This collection of testimonials doesn’t aim at giving an answer to youth migration as a possible way to move development forward. We hope this mosaïc of experiences will give some « food for thoughts » and a representation of how complex the theme of migration is.

Please, do comment on the different blog posts: have you experienced the same situations and feelings; how do you foresee your own future in term of migration; etc?

Enjoy the reading and looking forward to hearing your feedback!

Full list of contributions

• Migration: a development journey... , Grace Muinga, Kenya
• How my dad’s rural-urban migration affected my ideas about agricultural research , Rebeca Souza, Brazil
• “I Left Nigeria Once, I will Leave Again”, Olawale Ojo, Nigeria
• Migration, a pledge for "Living local, Thinking Global"?, Marina Cherbonnier, France
• Youth Migration: The Paradox of Brain Drain, Apeh Omede, Nigeria
• Get Youth Involved and They will stay!, Dinesh Panday, Nepal
• Rural – Urban Migration in Trinidad - my experience , Enricka Julien, Trinidad
• Migrating ; what for? , Adebola Adedugbe, Nigeria
• Migration is not a Solution: Youth have potential to be their own biggest assets, Moses Owiny, Uganda
• Scenario of Youth Migration In Nepal, Mahat Bivek, Nepal
• Moving Development Forward - The reverse of youth migration, Raymond Zvavanyanger, Zimbabwe
• Working with young farmers to avoid the urban drift, Andrew Shaw, Fidji

And also in French:

• Chauffeur de "taxi-moto", oui ; Agriculteur, non!, Ben Kpanou, Benin
• La migration s’impose t’elle aux jeunes ruraux en Afrique? , Olga Abloutan, Benin
• Zoom sur Modogan - l'exode rural au Bénin, Sofwaan Bakary, Benin
• Migrations agricoles : causes, enjeux et implications pour le développement au Bénin , Arsène Agossadou, Benin
• Jeunesse et Ruralité : Alliance efficiente mais presque utopique , Yvon Saroumi, Benin
• A quel prix les jeunes citadins retourneront au village ?, Thoto Frejus, Benin
• Migration : un gage pour vivre « local » ; penser « global » ? , Marina Cherbonnier, France
• Réussir là où d’autres perdent espoir , Inoussa Maiga, Burkina Faso