ProAgro YOUTH : Support to integrated agribusiness hubs in Madagascar, Malawi and Côte d'Ivoire

Youth unemployment and underemployment is a significant and growing problem in Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Malawi, particularly in rural areas (See Annex 4, Annex 5 and Annex 6 for detailed information on country contexts for Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Malawi). The formal private sector creates few jobs, and vocational training institutions do not adequately prepare their graduates for the existing positions. Thus, even within a context where labour supply vastly exceeds demand, companies cannot find qualified employees to hire. The most likely option for youth is a job within the informal sector which is low-paying and often precarious. Opportunities for self-employment are similarly limited and show reduced economic productivity due to a lack of training in enterprise management and poor access to finance. ProAgro YOUTH represents the vision of the consortium, led by the International Labour Organization (ILO), of engaged collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), private and public sector leaders, and youth to enact systemic labour force and industry change in the rural economy, resulting in measurably improved youth economic opportunities in the evolving agribusiness sectors of Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar and Malawi. The project's overall goal is to increase decent self and wage employment for rural youth through integrated agribusiness hubs. The two main objectives of the project are: 1. To develop sustainable agricultural capacities of rural youth by though sustainable and innovative agribusiness hubs 2. To generate empirical evidence of the developed and tested integrated agribusiness hub models to inform policy to drive scaling up the models to create jobs for youth. In collaboration with implementing partners and key stakeholders in each of the three countries, ProAgro will directly target opportunities in fast-growing value chains and identify approaches to address major policy barriers to youth employment within them. The ILO will lead the consortium in each of the three countries where the project will be implemented. In Côte d’Ivoire, ILO will work with implementing partner, Agence Cote d’Ivoire PME Agency (Côte d’Ivoire SME Agency), the leading governmental entity to promote the creation, growth and consolidation of productive, competitive SMEs. In Madagascar, ILO will coordinate a consortium of 5 members; FIFAMANOR (Fiompiana Fambolena Malagasy Norvéziana), the “Centre de recherche et de développement rural en agriculture“,CAPFA , “Centres d’Appui et de Formation Professionnelle Agricole”,SEFAFI (Sekoly Fambolena Fiompiana), and FIHARIANA. In Malawi, the ILO will coordinate a consortium with two implementing partners, TEVETA (Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority) and FAFOTRAJ (Farmers Forum for Trade & Social Justice). Through working with implementing partners, the project will host agro-business hubs in each of the countries, supported by satellites in the projects’ target regions. ProAgro will create new agribusiness enterprises or take up quality employment across the agriculture value chains in the expanding local processing to capture greater value-added. The project will offer technical, vocation & business training, followed by coaching, business development and job placement (apprenticeships) support to young people resulting in 4,000 directly created jobs of both wage workers and entrepreneurs. ProAgro will feature extensive private sector engagement throughout the program, including skills needs assessments, curriculum and trainer-of-trainers development, experiential training, and coaching. Together with the broader farming communities (policy makers, farmers’ organizations, agribusiness firms, employers, public organizations, private investors, service providers, cooperatives, and youth), training, internship, incubation, and finance opportunities will provide hands-on experience with advanced agricultural techno

Project symbol

RAF/21/18/IFA

Admin unit

CO-Antananarivo
CO-Abidjan
CO-Lusaka
RO-Africa
CO-Algiers

Start date

19/05/2022

End date

30/06/2025

Total allocation

4563541

Total expenditure

Status

Active

4563541

Development Partners

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Country/Countries

Madagascar
Cote d'Ivoire
Malawi
Africa - regional
Algeria

Outcomes

Outcome 3: Full and productive employment for just transitions
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises for inclusive growth and decent work