IFAD sponsors youth entrepreneurship conference for the leaders of tomorrow

Rome, 12 November 2010 – The First Meeting on Youth Entrepreneurship and Rural Micro-enterprising will be held in Cartagena, Colombia on November 15 to 19. Co-sponsored by the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Regional Program to Support Rural Afro-Latino Populations (ACUA) the workshop will look towards young rural entrepreneurs to help shape its approach on youth.

The meeting will be opened by the Colombian Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ricardo Sánchez López.

Over 35 successful young entrepreneurs from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa will participate in the First Meeting on Youth Entrepreneurship and Rural Micro-enterprising.

“This meeting provides us with a unique opportunity to engage directly with today’s rural young people on issues such as jobs, market access and training”, said Roberto Haudry, IFAD Country Program Manager for Colombia.

Until recently, most development agendas and policy debates have not focused on the specific needs and vulnerabilities of young people. However, all of that is starting to change. The United Nations proclaimed an International Year of Youth starting on 12 August 2010. Through events like the Cartagena workshop, organizations such as IFAD are hoping to harness the energy, imagination and initiative of the world’s youth to create better opportunities in the countryside. 

“Creating an active dialogue with the world’s rural young people is a priority for IFAD. In many developing countries today, young women and men make up some 50 per cent of the rural population. And with limited opportunities in the countryside, they are leaving their communities behind to struggle as wage labourers or move to the big cities,” said Haudry. “We need to create more targeted interventions that aim at the particular needs of young people. After all, investing in young people is an investment in our future”.

The young people attending the meeting will also have the chance to share their experiences and activities by exhibiting their products at the conference’s Youth Ventures Fair. Following the event, they will go for a two-day knowledge sharing exercise, organized by the IFAD-supported organization PROCASUR, to learn from the successes of young micro-enterprisers in the Colombian countryside.

Putting youth first

“IFAD support is providing youth with better opportunities. For example, ACUA is teaching young people in Ecuador to produce and sell organic cacao and chocolate. This is bringing in more money and creating jobs that will help young people build a better future,” said Haudry. “Furthermore, the Rural Micro-enterprise Assets Programme (Oportunidades Rurales) in Colombia will provide some 32,000 families with the training and skills they need to build successful businesses”.

Run by the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Oportunidades Rurales focuses on investing in rural micro-enterprises, capacity building and knowledge sharing. This US$32 million program has US$20 million in IFAD funding. In addition, the IFAD-funded ACUA program benefits from a US$2 million IFAD grant.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, IFAD currently funds 33 ongoing programs. There are projects in 20 member countries with a total investment portfolio of US$696 million. The organization also has 25 grants in the region, with a total value of US$20 million.

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Notes to editors:

• Reporters and correspondents in Colombia are invited to a joint press conference to be hosted by the Colombian Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ricardo Sánchez López, and IFAD Country Program Manager for Colombia, Roberto Haudry. The press conference will be held on Monday, 15 November 2010, at 10:00 a.m. at Hotel Caribe Cartagena, Cra. 1ra. #2-87, Bocagrande, Cartagena.  

• More information on the Colombia event, please visit the event’s website, or copy and paste http://www.ifad.org/events/cartagena/index.htm into your web browser. 

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Press release No.: IFAD/73/2010

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with poor rural people to enable them to grow and sell more food, increase their incomes and determine the direction of their own lives. Since 1978, IFAD has invested over US$12 billion in grants and low-interest loans to developing countries, empowering more than 360 million people to break out of poverty. IFAD is an international financial institution and a specialized UN agency based in Rome – the UN’s food and agricultural hub. It is a unique partnership of 165 members from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other developing countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).