What are the best levers of attractive rural livelihoods, including exits from agriculture, and 20 million rural job creation by 2030?
What will happen if farming is no longer viable under climate change? This session seeks to explore opportunities for livelihoods development in rural areas.
While the African continent is witnessing some positive growth in the agricultural sector, emerging challenges for food and nutrition security compounded with COVID19 are undermining the ongoing transformation of the food economy. At the same time, population dynamics and migration in a context of a changing climate are shifting dietary patterns resulting in new opportunities to impact the scope and effectiveness of African food systems.
Indeed, with youth populations exploding and significant out migration from rural areas (within and between countries), especially in sub-Saharan Africa, a reinvigorated rural economy is needed to spur agriculture to shift from being a direct (often subsistence) employer to a driver of rural development and growth. Agriculture must become attractive to the next generation as a sector with opportunities, not only in farming per se, but also in a rural service economy. It must also be inclusive, of both women left behind farming and next generation youth who are increasingly disenfranchised in rural areas.
In this perspective, building diversified rural livelihoods by promoting youth entrepreneurship and employment and investing in infrastructure have been identified as the major drivers of the transformation action “Prosperity through mobility and rural reinvigoration”. During this session, we will discuss key actions in COVID19 recovery, including:
- building attractive rural livelihoods including exits from agriculture
- creating 20 million rural jobs by 2030, and
- investing in infrastructure and youth.
The session will consist in a brief introductory presentation by a key expert followed by a panel discussion with regional stakeholders around (1) Opportunities for rural youth (Agriculture, employment in allied sectors, migration, entrepreneurship); (2) Transformation of the African food economy (Exiting agriculture, rural livelihood diversification, investment in rural infrastructure); (3) Policies for a successful transformation (Safety nets, accompanying programs).
Participants will be given opportunity to interact through Q&A.
 | Keynote presenter: Paul Winters, Associate Vice-President of the Strategy and Knowledge Department at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) |
 | Facilitator: Robert B. Zougmoré (TBC), Africa Program Leader of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) |
 | Panelist: Abdulai Jalloh, Director of Research and Innovation, West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) |
 | Panelist: Cheick Diarra, Technical Advisor Youth Enable, Entrepreneurship and Agribusiness, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) |
 | Panelist: Aminetou Bilal, Youth Advisory Council, African Union Youth Envoy |
 | Panelist: Seyni Nafo, Former Chair, African Group of Negociators on Climate Change (AGN) |
Where to watch the event
The around-the-world virtual relay event will be live streamed
right here on the CCAFS website. You can also watch on our
Facebook page, our
LinkedIn page, and on our
YouTube channel. The livestream will also be accessible through the Whova companion app.
Live translation will be available in French for this session. Go to the CCAFS livestream for more information.
Partners
Resources
Live translation in French and Spanish will be available for specific sessions. Go to the CCAFS livestream for more information.
Hosted from: Bamako, Mali
Local time: 13:00 – 13:45 GMT
The event will be livestreamed on our website, watch here.
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