Follow discussions at the National Agricultural Youth Policy Dialogue in Mauritius

The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) and the 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 processesand 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.

In November 2011, FANRPAN in collaboration with CTA commissioned 6 case studies in Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. These case studies focusing on current and emerging youth policies and initiatives with a special focus on links to agriculture in the respective countries were conducted by youth representatives from these countries. The final report of these case studies was presented at the FANRPAN 2012 High Level Food Security Policy Dialogue in Tanzania, 3-7 September 2012.

As a follow-up to this initiative, FANRPAN is now convening National Agricultural Youth Policy Dialogues in these 6 countries to share the findings of the case study for each country with National stakeholders. On 12th April 2013, the findings of Mauritius case study will be presented. The dialogue will culminate into a policy brief that the FANRPAN focal point will consolidate and communicate to the Minister of Agriculture, including other relevant departments and stakeholders. The dialogue is expected to bring together representatives of youth bodies, businesses, policy makers, and law makers alike from various industries.

The discussions at the National Agricultural Youth Policy Dialogue will be tweeted live as from 09:00 (GMT+4) on 12 April 2013 with Hashtag: #YouthAgDialogueMu. Follow the dialogue and spread the news!