Background

Co-hosted by CTA and the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) and supported by an impressive array of international organisations, the international conference ICT4ag offers participants the opportunity to discover exciting opportunities and cutting edge technologies. Representing the public and private sector in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific and further afield, delegates will discuss how increased investment and adoption of ICTs in the agricultural sector will contribute to improved value chains as well as more effective advocacy and policy processes in agricultural and rural development. In addition, they will share ideas and knowledge, discuss new approaches, best practices and experiences. Issues related to ICT trends and their impact on agriculture, capacity building, enabling environments, scaling up and sustainability will also be discussed. For more information, see: http://www.ict4ag.org.

The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and Faculty of Agriculture (University of Mauritius), are convening a National Agricultural Youth Policy Dialogue on the 12 April, 2013 at the University of Mauritius, Reduit. The objective of the dialogue is to deliberate on the issues of youth involvement in agricultural policy processes and especially those policies aimed at mainstreaming youth. A number of studies point to the fact that youth do not necessarily play a major role in the development of policies.

ICTs have proved to be effective tools in stimulating young people’s interest in agriculture. The added value of these technologies for youth in agriculture lies at least at three levels: ICTs offer new marketing tools to enhance more than in the past (youth-led) agricultural businesses; ICTs help promote agricultural interest and opportunities for youth, and finally, they bring about new jobs linked to agricultural software and ICT-based agribusinesses (mobile applications (mAgri), market information systems, etc).

Since CTA held its first Web2.0 training event in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009, demand has simply exploded. Between 2009 and 2012, 1,684 people from around the ACP regions were trained. In 2012 alone, 695 people from 32 countries took part in 31 learning events, branded as “Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities”, two of which were offered online through a partnership with UNITAR and FAO. This represents a 509% increase in participation on 2009!

Interview with Sithembile Ndema Mwamakamba, from Zimbabwe, who works at the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) where she coordinates the Youth in Agriculture project. She also manages the Women Accessing Realigned Markets (WARM) project designed to strengthen the capacity of women farmers to influence agricultural policy development in Southern Africa.

"With a greater focus on value chains in recent years, there are now far more opportunities for young people to find rewarding careers in the food and farming sector. However, governments need to formulate policies that capitalise on the energy and entrepreneurship of the youth to successfully attract them to the sector."

CTA’s web2.0 training programme has sparked enormous interest across ACP countries. Organisations and individuals have shown themselves hungry to learn about social tools and platforms which can support their collaborative work, and how social media can be adapted to their particular contexts and needs. But which groups are the most enthusiastic adopters of web2.0 tools, and what impact does that adoption have, in terms of personal development, institutional changes, and new opportunities for beneficiaries in the context of development?

The CTA/UNITAR/FAO online tutored course entitled: "Innovative Collaboration for Development" on the use of Web. 2.0 tools for development will take place from 4 March to 3 May 2013  (in English and French).

A course to empower development professionals to use social media tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their work.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation ACP-EU (CTA) is a joint international institution of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union (EU). CTA operates under the framework of the Cotonou Agreement and is funded by the EU.

CTA's mission is to advance food and nutrition security, increase prosperity and sound natural resource management. We do this by providing access to information and knowledge, facilitating policy dialogue and strengthening the capacity of agricultural and rural development institutions and communities in ACP countries.

CTA now has an exciting opportunity for a young marketing professional!

About 25 young professionals, youth champions from ACP countries and partners from international organizations working on Youth in Agriculture and Rural Development were brought together by the CTA from 14th to 16th November 2012 in Wageningen, The Netherlands, to participate in its Strategic Youth Stakeholder Workshop.

The first part of the workshop consisted of different panels, whereby the objective was to learn from the partners.  To open the day, CTA presented key elements of its 2011-2015 Strategic Plan.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), an international organization based in Wageningen, The Netherlands, has an opening for an intern for a period of 6 months, renewable only once. The intern will work as a member of the CTA “Policies, Markets and ICTs” Team.

CTA’s mandate puts emphasis on facilitating access, exchange and dissemination of information in the fields of agriculture and rural development. The “Policies, Markets and ICTs” (PMI) Programme and its ICT for ARD sub-Programme play a critical role in the realization of the above.

The intern will assist in supporting the ARDYIS (Agriculture, Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society) project and in other ICT for rural development activities for ACP countries.