In May this year, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation started the Young Africa Works-IITA Project. This project is designed to advance agribusiness opportunity to over 40,000 Nigerian youths especially women. It focuses on providing skills development, decent employment and entrepreneurship opportunity for youth to secure dignified and fulfilling work in agri-food value chains for the next five years.
The project is working with partners in various sectors;
- To strengthen agricultural training for young people
- Provide youth particularly young women with skills needed to better compete for decent employment and develop their own successful businesses in agriculture and agro-processing,
- Develop youth-sensitive loan and agribusiness support programs in collaboration with financial institutions that recognize the specialized needs of youth as agricultural borrowers.
- Transition youth vocational training centres into youth agribusiness parks that offer workspace, experiential learning, opportunities and collective services to youth
The Young Africa Works-IITA project is currently seeking applicants within Kaduna, Kano, and Lagos, to build their capacity to be trained and work within the supported value.
ELIGIBILITY
- Aged 18 – 35 years
- Must be ordinarily resident in the respective municipal area (and live within 5km radius of a cluster)
- Must have attained at least Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS3) for entrepreneurship track & a diploma for employment track
- Willingness to commit at least 6 weeks for the training
- Must demonstrate passion for agriculture
- Interest in the project focus commodities
- Must have access to a functional mobile phone
- Affiliation to a registered association is an added advantage.
DEADLINE: December 12, 2020