Dr. George Mavrotas, Head of the IFPRI Office in Abuja and Leader of IFPRI’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP), participated (via VC) as a panelist, and on behalf of the Nigeria Strategy Support Program of IFPRI, in the FAO Rome HQs-organized strategic program workshop on “Promoting Decent Employment for Rural Youth” on 20 February 2017.
Reducing rural poverty requires a multi-sectorial approach that addresses the social, economic and political challenges that poor rural people face. To foster this approach, FAO is organising a series of workshops on key topics and initiatives aimed at reducing rural poverty, in the framework of the Strategic Programme 3 (SP3). The outcomes of the workshops will guide the development of FAO’s work plan over the next two-four years.
In this context, the objectives of the workshop were to:
- Provide a critical review of FAO’s multifaceted, integrated approach to the promotion of decent youth employment in agriculture at global, regional and country level, highlighting foreseen future developments and potential areas of improvements;
- Discuss with external actors (other International Organisations and researchers) how FAO’s approach compares with their strategies and initiatives to reduce rural poverty through the promotion of decent youth employment, and explore opportunities for potential synergies;
- Exchange ideas on how to incorporate the main aspects of the discussion into FAO’s future work on youth employment and how to scale up or reorient our on-going activities based on country/regional needs.
Dr. Mavrotas was invited to participate in the main panel of the workshop reflecting on the above with a particular emphasis on the NSSP’s recent and ongoing research work on the youth employment and agricultural transformation nexus in the case of Nigeria. Other panelists included Valter Nebuloni (Head of Youth Employment Program Unit, ILO), David Suttie (Policy Analyst, Global Engagement, Strategy and Knowledge Division, IFAD), James Thurlow (Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI HQs), Iftikhar Mostafa (Senior Agriculture Economist, World Bank), Sabine de Bruijn (Rural Development and Global Supply Chains Officer, ILO), and Carmine Soprano (Gender/Youth & Trade Specialist, World Bank).
