Why are the issues around rural youth employment important to the donor community?

16 December 2021. 

Why are the issues around rural youth employment important to the donor
community?

An Interview with the Co-Chairs of the Thematic Working Group on Rural Youth Employment of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development

 Co-Chairs Frank Bertelmann and Sven Braulik from GIZ, and Anna Befus and Peter Wobst from FAO, explain the issue and illustrate how diverse members come together to unlock the topic’s equally diverse potentials.

RURAL YOUTH EMPLOYMENT is one of the most crucial and important issues in our partner countries, especially in Africa. With a rising youth population and the need to create 20-25 million jobs per year, there's no doubt about its relevance.

It is also crucial to many thematic areas in development cooperation because of its direct links to education and skills development, economic and sectoral policies, and entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology.

Youth are the main actors in shaping a sustainable food system transformation and rural youth employment has direct links to a broad spectrum of thematic areas in development cooperation. This makes it one of the keys to achieving the SDGs, and in particular SDG2.