Over a third of the 169 SDGs highlight the role of young people and the importance of their empowerment, participation and well-being. This is due to the realization that they are a typically neglected group that is equally affected by climate change and political decisions that fail to address their needs. In addition, more than 64 million young people are unemployed worldwide and 145 million of those working live in poverty (ILO, 2017).
Young people make up the largest population, with over 2.3 billion people – a third of humanity between the ages of 15 and 24 (AGRA, 2015). In Africa and across Asia, there is a growing population of young people comprised of adolescent and young adults (Yeboah, 2018). Nearly 1 million people turn 18 every month in India (Yeboah, 2018). This youth bulge is going to place tremendous pressure on those nations to generate investments that address youth.
Youth are two to three times more likely than adults to be unemployed. Rural youth, especially young women and girls, are often excluded from decision-making and political processes. Relative to their urban counterparts that are better educated and have access to better education and to the labour market, rural youth face disadvantages in terms of unemployment and underemployment (IFAD, 2007). This disadvantage is further compounded by factors such as threats of conflict in their areas and major health-related issues including malnutrition, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, they have inadequate access to land ownership, water, markets, finance and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Rural youth have been deemed to have the potential to become the driving force for inclusive rural transformation (Zeldin, 2004). Creating decent job opportunities for rural young men and women and leveraging on their potential for innovation and entrepreneurship will transform the youth bulge in developing areas into a “demographic dividend” (IFAD, 2014e). Investing in young people generates significant social and economic returns, making them an effective target for development and cooperation.
IFAD has adhered to this by committing to achieve inclusive rural transformation through increased work to encourage and facilitate private investments in rural areas while empowering poor rural people to participate in the benefits of dynamic rural development. As part of its commitment to execute development that ensures “no one is left behind” in line with the SDGs, IFAD is leveraging on the value of investing in youth by mainstreaming this demographic in its operations and implementing interventions that seek to harness the youth’s ability to drive inclusive rural transformation. This study aims to support this work by developing and applying an analytical framework to in-depth case studies of projects funded by IFAD to engage youth to drive inclusive rural transformation. The objective of this analysis is threefold:
(1) to provide a comprehensive review of youth actions that lead to inclusive rural transformation
(2) to document the types of youth-related activities IFAD is undertaking to drive inclusive rural transformation