Young Africa Works Summit Report Released
The Mastercard Foundation held its second Young Africa Works Summit on February 16–17, 2017, in Kigali, Rwanda.
The event brought together more than 300 actors from the international development community, including African thought leaders and youth agripreneurs, to discuss how young people are leading agricultural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The event honed in on three relevant sub-themes: technology, gender, and climate-smart agriculture.
A cohort of almost 50 youth delegates attended the Summit, which included a pre-Summit workshop and mentoring program. Young agripreneurs brought energy, expertise, and enthusiasm, making up a third of the speakers on the agenda. They were at the heart of the Summit for two days: challenging panelists, sharing experiences in the agricultural sector, and calling into question the assumption that young people do not want to work in agriculture.
High-level discussions recognized that young people have a vital role to play in modernizing, and ultimately, transforming the agricultural sector. However, the importance of an enabling environment was emphasized and policymakers were called upon to better involve youth in decision-making processes.
Key take-aways from the Summit include:
- Young people can transform agriculture and the continent, but they need to be involved in programming and decision-making;
- Youth unemployment is a complex issue that requires multidimensional, multifaceted solutions; and
- To ensure the agricultural sector reaches its full potential, cultural and legislative barriers must be addressed.
Whether you attended the Summit and or were not able to attend, highlights and key points from the Summit are available in our Summit report.
