Youth Engagement in Agricultural Value Chains Across Feed the Future: A Synthesis Report

This report aims to inform Feed the Future (FTF) efforts moving forward to more strategically and deliberately engage youth in market systems by providing insights from current FTF country programs. Commissioned by USAID’s Bureau for Food Security/Office of Country Strategy and Implementation, a research team with the Leveraging Economic Opportunities (LEO) activity scanned all 19 FTF countries and analyzed four FTF country programs in more depth through site visits to Guatemala, Liberia, Nepal, and Uganda. These countries were chosen based on 1) their relatively high youth involvement in the portfolio; 2) youth mention in Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS) and FTF strategy documents; and 3) geographic diversity. Case studies and success stories from these countries accompany this report and cover the following themes: Uganda - Adaptive Program Models; Guatemala – Engaging Rural Youth through Experiential Education; Liberia –Building Youth Resilience in Weak Market Systems; and Nepal – Household Approach to Reaching Youth.

Min Ma, Eliza Chard, and Claudia Pompa served as contributing authors to this report.