Colombia meeting promotes inter-generational dialogue

Cartagena, 19 November 2010 - The 1st Meeting on Youth Entrepreneurship and Rural Micro-enterprising ended in Cartagena, Colombia today with a series of recommendations that will help the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and its partners develop and implement policies that can create more favourable conditions for young people’s micro enterprises.

The five-day knowledge sharing and policy dialogue event was organized by IFAD, the Oportunidades Rurales programme of the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture, and the Regional Program to Support Rural Afro-Latino Populations (ACUA).

Along with more than 20 senior and project staff of the three development partners, some 30 young entrepreneurs coming from Argentina, Bosnia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Nicaragua, Madagascar, Peru, Senegal and Syria participated in the workshop, which was opened by Mohamed Beavogui, Director of IFAD’s West and Central Africa Division.

In a message to the workshop, HE Juan Camilo Restrepo Salazar, Minister of Agriculture of Colombia, welcomed the participants to his country, offering “greetings with enthusiasm to all participants coming from various parts of the world for choosing to hold their workshop in Colombia.”  

“On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of Colombia, we wish you the best of success in your deliberations and in achieving concrete results with the hope that the enthusiasm which brought these young people here will be further reinforced,” Restrepo said.

According to IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Colombia, Roberto Haudry, promoting inter-generational dialogue, improving access to financial instruments and markets, and investing in education were the main proposals arising from the discussions with the young people.

“The proposals made by the young entrepreneurs during the event, including policy hints, activities and tools, will be reproduced exactly as they were expressed,” Haudry said.

The closing session ended with an announcement that a special event similar to the Cartagena Youth workshop will be held in Africa in 2011 as part of a global consultation process with young rural people.

Press release No.: IFAD/75/2010

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).