Lessons learned: Supporting rural young people in IFAD projects

IFAD has always adopted a proactive approach to the targeting of poor rural people of all ages in order to reduce the social and economic inequalities that help generate and perpetuate poverty. 

Until fairly recently, the attention given to specific needs and vulnerabilities of young people1 was limited for they were not perceived as stakeholders in their own right but rather as subordinates, indirect beneficiaries, and hence invisible. 

Such perceptions have changed radically, and IFAD-financed projects are increasingly making explicit provisions for pro-youth development.