IFAD, FAO and PROCASUR promote learning exchange for youth empowerment and generational relief in rural areas of Guyana
Guyana, 15th February 2017 — The “Rural Employment and Self-Employment Initiatives” Learning Route just started with an opening workshop in St. Paul’s Retreat, Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast of Demerara.
For the first time in Guyana, it will be held along the country till February 22 and it has been designed and organized by the global no-profit organization PROCASUR, within the framework of the Strengthening Decent Rural Employment Opportunities for Young Women and Men in the Caribbean Project, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
This knowledge management initiative is being implemented in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment, and has received valuable inputs from the institutions members of the Project’s Steering Committee such as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA), the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA), and the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN).
During the “Rural Employment and Self-Employment Initiatives and Opportunities” Learning Route, the 15 routeros, aged between 19 and 27, half of them women (here the list of participants), will be able to learn from individual, collective, institutional and private experiences that have implemented good practices proven to be successful in contributing to improve the rural youth employment situation and develop entrepreneurial opportunities in rural territories.
The possibility for young people to develop agricultural and non-agricultural productive activities in their rural areas is central for them to stay in their rural localities rather than migrating to the city or to the interior for more lucrative employment. The large majority of these young people do not have sufficient economic resources, knowledge or experience to develop economically sustainable activities. For this reason, a number of initiatives have been developed by different entities to promote business development for youth as an alternative to unemployment.
Recognizing the situation and constraints of rural young people, the Strengthening Decent Rural Employment Opportunities for Young Women and Men in the Caribbean Project aims to contribute to poverty reduction among rural youth by promoting an enabling regional policy environment for rural youth employment in the Caribbean.
The Opening Workshop counted with the participation of Mr. Fransen Jean, Technical Officer for FAO, the PROCASUR staff and many governmental authorities among which Mr. George Jervis, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Aubrey Norton, Presidential Advisor on Youth Empowerment; Mrs. Melissa Carmichael-Haynes, Director of Youth at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports; Ms. Gillian Edwards from the Small Business Bureau at the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, representatives from the private sector completed the 3 panels organized to share perspectives on challenges and opportunities for rural youth in the country, such as for example Mr. Vishnu Doorga, president of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Ms. Ida Sealy-Adams, Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC); and also Ms. Jewel Collier-Swan, CARICOM Youth Ambassador. (To see all the workshop participants and the thematic panels, download here the Program in PDF format).
The Opening Workshop ended with the Experiences’ Fair where the 15 routeros had the opportunity to showcasing what they and their organization are implementing, also sharing some of their food and handicraft products.
During the learning exchange journey , participants will identify good practices, innovative solutions and strategies in favor of an enabling environment for rural youth employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and will analyze the challenges and opportunities for employment and self-employment opportunities in rural areas, through proven good practices and strategies for the promotion of entrepreneurial activities.
Therefore, the participants will get hands-on experiences and real life learning situation through peer-to-peer dynamics with Local Champions, such as (1) Successful young entrepreneurs that have developed their own rural income generating activities (backyard, shade house, hydroponic garden, chow mein and snack production); (2) AMCAR, a well-established private company that successfully developed a niche market (heart of palms) for the export market; (3) Surama Eco Lodge, a community-based ecotourism enterprise that conserves and enhances the biodiversity of the North Rupununi and creates sustainable livelihoods, with particular focus on youth; (4) Blue Flame Women’s Group, part of the Women’s AgroProcessors Development Network (WADN), a network of small-scale women’s agro-processor groups producing a wide range of items.
Through an in-depth case study of each innovative local knowledge-based initiative, participants will analyze the importance of networking and creating and maintaining strategic partnerships and alliances; identify innovative strategies to develop a unique, high quality product or service; and analyze different strategies to access and secure markets locally and abroad.
The Learning Route methodology will also insure the correct design and presentation of the participants’ Innovation Plans at the end of the initiative, inspiring the replication and allowing an effective dissemination and scaling up of the learned innovations through their projects, organizations and communities of origin for sustainable and inclusive rural development initiatives.
PROCASUR Corporation is a global organization specialized in harvesting and scaling-up homegrown innovations shared through customized local knowledge-management tools and methodologies, connecting global institutions with local champions and providing them the structured learning platforms necessary to spread innovation.
Since 1999 the no-profit organization facilitated, within South to South Cooperation schemes of intervention, learning exchange opportunities in over 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean, making a difference in lives and livelihoods of thousands of rural people across the globe.
More than 150 Learning Routes and other learning and knowledge management initiatives have been organized in the last ten years, supporting directly over 4,000 development workers, grassroots leaders, local champions and policy makers of 50 different nationalities.
In its mission to build up learning paths to end rural poverty, PROCASUR has partnered with IFAD, FAO, UNDP, the International Land Coalition, the Global Water Partnership, and the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement among others, in capitalizing on knowledge management for rural sustainable transformation.
Here the article published by the GINA — Guyana Government Information Agency.
