agricultural university

15 February 2019 . Devex.  Agriculture task force takes aim at EU investment plan for Africa  An expert group convened by the European Union to offer advice on how to create jobs in African agriculture will point to shortcomings in the EU’s flagship initiative for the African continent, the  External Investment Plan , or EIP. Created in February 2018 , the Task Force Rural Africa met  five times  last year,  charged  by the European Commission’s agriculture and development departments with accelerating “responsible EU private investment in support of African agriculture, agri-business and agroindustries.” They will publish their report on  March 7.  An overview of the task force’s  recommendations  was presented at a  meeting  of European and African officials in Vienna in December. Tom Arnold , the Irish agricultural economist who chaired the group of  11 experts  from Africa and Europe, explained that the...

23 January 2019 . Wageningen, the Netherlands.  Fifth Community of Practice (CoP) Youth meet-up . Judith Francis from CTA, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation, and Jennie van der Mheen from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) presented a comprehensive framework and brief on “ supply and demand factors impacting youth employment & entrepreneurship ” The purpose of this model and the brief is to propose a systems approach and to serve as a guide for those who are deciding where to best intervene or for their investments to have greatest impact on youth employment and entrepreneurship in agrofood systems . The participants of the CoP meet-up were invited to reflect on the draft framework.  Does it capture the multiple issues and address the most effective ways to overcome the challenge of youth under- and unemployment?  Does it expand youth entrepreneurial opportunities?  Can it help guide meaningful interventions?  Which sugges...