By Lamarana S Jallow
Mr. Mbye Saine, Project Coordinator of The Gambia Songhai Initiative (GSI), is attending the Africa Agribusiness Youth Strategy (AAYS) meeting in Lomé, organised by the African Union. The meeting aims to address challenges limiting youth participation in agribusiness.
The AAYS framework provides opportunities to empower Gambia’s youth, focusing on skill development, entrepreneurship, access to finance, and public-private partnerships. The strategy also promotes climate-smart agriculture for sustainable farming practices.
Gambia’s involvement allows the country to benefit from shared expertise, fostering youth entrepreneurship and contributing to economic growth, food security, and future agricultural leadership. Joining Mr. Saine are Ebrima Jarra from Soil Solutions and Aisha Darboe from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Africa, with its high youth population, faces challenges like unemployment, especially in agriculture. The 2014 Malabo Declaration emphasised creating jobs for youth in agricultural value chains.
AAYS, launched in 2022, aims to enable youth entrepreneurship across Africa.
The Lomé meeting promotes the strategy’s implementation in West Africa, gathers input for a Youth Agribusiness Performance Index (YAPI), and identifies challenges in executing youth-focused programmes.
The meeting aims to raise awareness, align national youth strategies with AAYS, and establish mechanisms for monitoring youth initiatives in agribusiness. Additionally, it seeks to validate the AAYS roadmap and ensure regional col.
