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"From 25 to 26 October 2013, the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED) in collaboration with UNESCO-UNEVOC, Chengdu Municipal Education Bureau, and Dujiangyan Municipal Government organized a conference on rural skills development through Information Communication Technologies (ICT). The conference's objective was to share policies, strategies and good practices on rural skills development through ICT, with the aim to develop and improve the information and practical guidelines for further enhancing the access to and outreach of ICT in rural areas."

The work of agricultural researchers and development workers in Africa has the potential to significantly improve the lives of the poor. But that potential can only be realized with easy access to high-quality data and information. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research & Development highlights the ubiquitous role of smallholder agriculture in Africa; the many factors shaping the location, nature, and performance of agricultural enterprises; and the strong interdependencies among farming, natural-resource stocks and flows, and the well-being of the poor.

How do European development agencies fare in aid spending, transparency and commitment to development? Explore our map

What are the priorities of the Practitioners' Network for European Development Cooperation? The group meets annually to discuss how to put aid policy into practice, and includes 13 member organisations who account for 70 per cent of the official development assistance of the European Union.

"The 30th Brussels Development Briefing will take place on 4th March 2013 (8h30-13h00) on the important issue of Agricultural resilience in the face of crisis and shocks, highlighting proven approaches and successes in key areas of agriculture and rural development of ACP countries and other parts of the world. We will organise it in in collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington."

"The African Union Commission (AUC) and the NEPAD Agency will hold the 9th Comprehensive African Agriculture Development (CAADP) Partnership Platform (PP) from March 25 to 26, to evaluate progress and achievements made in implementing CAADP. CAADP is the Continent's main development programme to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty through agriculture. It has a clear objective to raise agricultural productivity in Africa to at least 6 per cent annually and requires African countries to commit at least ten per cent of their national budgets to agricultural development. The PP is an annual high-level partnership platform, bringing together key stakeholders such as African governments, policy makers, civil society organisations and farmers' organisations to assess progress made in implementing the CAADP goals."

"Contrary to conventional economic theories, the relationship between income growth and agricultural employment is extremely diverse, even among regions starting from similar levels of development, such as Asia and Africa. Due to its labor-intensive green revolution and strong farm-nonfarm linkages, Asia's development path is mostly characterized by fast growth with relatively slow agricultural exits. In contrast to Asia, urban biased policies, low rural population density, and high rates of population growth have led a number of African countries down a path of slow economic growth with surprisingly rapid agricultural exits. Despite this divergence both continents now face daunting employment problems. Asia appears to be increasingly vulnerable to rising inequality, slower job creation, and shrinking farm sizes, suggesting that Asian governments need to refocus on integrating smallholders and lagging regions into increasingly commercialized rural and urban economies. Africa, in contrast, has yet to achieve its own green revolution, which would still be a highly effective tool for job creation and poverty reduction. However, the diversity of its endowments and its tighter budget constraints mean that agricultural development strategies in Africa need to be highly context specific, financially sustainable, and more evidence- based"

The key messages in this brief are as follows: 1) Engineering can help Africa unlock its huge potential for economic growth and development and make faster progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. 2) However, there is a serious lack of engineering capacity in Africa and heavy reliance on imported expertise in engineering. 3) Higher education institutions need to change their approach to teaching engineering so that graduates are creative problem-solvers. Engineering courses also need to be oriented towards market and development needs. 4) Women are under-represented in engineering education, constituting less than 10 percent of the student population in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe in 2010. 5) Few African countries have established a robust accreditation system. In addition to improving national accreditation, regional accreditation of engineering professionals should be encouraged so that engineers have greater mobility within Africa. 6) A proposed World Bank initiative, the Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) will build capacity for technical, vocational and higher education in African countries.

"Using statistical analysis, this African Development Bank's publication titled 'Youth Unemployment and Political Instability in Selected Developing Countries' shows that in a given context, an exceptionally high youth unemployment rate makes African countries more prone to political instability. The authors studied a sample of 24 developing countries from the period 1980 to 2010. They found that in Africa, youth unemployment is made worse by a large youth population, weak national labor markets and persistent poverty. "

"PCF7 at a Glance: Commonwealth Of Learning's (COL) Seventh Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning (PCF7) will be held in Abuja, Nigeria from 2 - 6 December 2013, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). The Forum will address "Open Learning for Development: Towards Empowerment and Transformation" through five themes: "Girls' and Women's Education", "Skills Development", "Promoting Open Educational Resources (OER)", "Innovation and Technology" and "Institutional Development". We look forward to meeting you in this forum and working together constructively on the various ideas and concepts that emerged. "

"The Agriculture Economist will assist the AFTA 1 Sector Manager in delivery of the unit's work program, assurance of quality, interaction with internal and external clients, including the private sector, staff development and partnerships. The primary responsibility of the Agriculture Economist will be to provide technical and strategic support to the development and implementation of the AFTA 1 program in Cote d'Ivoire. In particular, the Agricultural Economist will : * Contribute to policy dialogue on agricultural and rural issues and interactions with the client and partners, and alert management (both country and sector) to issues requiring attention ; * Lead/initiate/participate in analytical and strategic work pertaining to agricultural growth and productivity, including work managed by AFTA1 and that managed by other units, but requiring input from agricultural staff, such as public expenditure analysis ; * Assume an active role in the Cote d'Ivoire country team with the aim to ensure adequate and appropriate integration of relevant aspects of the agriculture and rural development agenda in core Bank products, including country assistance strategy, country economic memorandum and the like"

"Bonn, 27 Nov 2013. Rethinking rural development__ Opportunities for new partnerships and territorial approaches in a changing rural environment is the lead theme for the Platform annual general assembly in Paris on 22/23 January. Important challenges and new opportunities for development agendas bring about a need for a more inclusive approach to agricultural development. At the moment donors are not always equipped to address the inherent complexity. Could a modern territorial approach be the solution?"

"Washington, 30 Mar 2014. platformPlatform Irish Aid focal point Earnan O'Cleirigh reports to Platform members on the 2014 Germany High-Level Symposium on "Accountable and effective development cooperation in a post-2015 era". In an online conference Earnan briefed his fellow PLatform focal points on the large preparatory meeting for the upcoming ministerial in July in Mexico, which he had attended in Berlin on 20/21 March. Here are his key takeaways, important for Platform members' work on the post-2015 development framework."

Download n° 10 - Spring-Summer 2014 Putting learning into practice In 2006, just eight years ago, the European Commission held a first transnational meeting in Oporto, Portugal, to launch a new "territorial approach" to addressing the challenges faced by Europe's fisheries. Axis 4, as it became known, was born and in 2014 we are starting to see the results and learn from this first experiment in local development for fisheries communities. Zoom: Peer-to-peer learning and mentoring Three examples from Sweden. Report: Partners of the sea Forging a common maritime identity through animation and collective project support in Marennes Oléron (Poitou-Charentes, France). People: Rita Pamplona Report: Axis 4 of the EFF, at the forefront of sustainable development in Romania Two examples in the Danube Delta and South Dobrogea. Four innovative, area-based development projects in fisheries areas. Spotlight:Towards a successful implementation of Axis 4 A study on Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) in 15 Member States estimates that considerable employment benefits and some important qualitative results have already been achieved by FLAGs and beneficiaries.

"Last month, consultant Yves Leenaerts, working with colleagues from the EuropeAid Rural Development, Food Security, Nutrition Unit, borrowed the capacity4dev video camera and editing suite, creating two new videos. This month we're featuring the second interview, which was conducted in person with Professor Philippe Lebailly, who works in the Economy and Rural Development Department at the University of Gembloux in Belgium. This interview is in French."

Sent: 2014-05-20 13:49 #1 Subject: Successful initiatives to curb youth unemployment in Africa From: UNESCO-UNEVOC [unevoc@unesco.org] Dear e-Forum members, We are happy to share with you four videos - published by the UNESCO Office in Dakar - that showcase successful initiatives of technical and vocational training projects that give youth a better chance to find decent work. The videos focus on innovative projects in Benin, Nigeria and Senegal, which have proven effective in providing youth with skills and competences in demand. The series of the videos present: The Songhai Centre in Benin is a sustainable micro-enterprise that trains young Africans. It is considered a best practice model for rural development, sustainable development, employment and training for young people, and the self-financing of business creation. http://youtu.be/Z4K68WYtqXg The recognition of skills acquired in informal training in Senegal is an initiative that cater for the numerous young people who are being trained in the informal sector, such as car mechanics, tailors etc. The aim of the initiative is to put in place structures that allow for this training to be recognized at the same level as formal training. http://youtu.be/6RBSh5HtJgk Auchi Polytechnic in Nigeria is an Institute that facilitates the integration into the formal sector of some 30,000 graduates every year. Some years ago, a CEDAP village, which is center for entrepreneurship development, was created within the Polytechnic. Students are equipped with necessary skills in areas such as fish farming, carpentry, making of soap, shoes and pottery. http://youtu.be/NkievLtALug Sectoral centres in Senegal: public and private partnership are the result of a public/private partnership, which has proven efficient to provide training based a competency-based approach.It's currently present in three different areas. http://youtu.be/Hm_sD_-2pZw Best regards, UNESCO-UNEVOC

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Managers of universities and colleges across Africa have pledged to accelerate reforms in agricultural education. This follows successful completion of a 4 year programme on Strengthening Africa's Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID). The programme was implemented by ANAFE through 16 pilot institutions across Africa and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

" Youths, farmers and other actors along agricultural value chains require training to achieve the scale and scope of agricultural development that will transform the continent and make it food secure as well as reduce poverty. However, the provision of agricultural skills development and vocational training in Africa has been largely inadequate across the value chain resulting in losses - both in productivity and potential income. To address this, the NEPAD Agency's Agriculture Technical Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) Programme was developed in order to promote technical vocational education and training in the agricultural sector. The ultimate goal is to strengthen TVET in Africa's agriculture education system in order to deliver the desired numbers and competency levels of a skilled work force. This will ensure optimal productivity levels across the agriculture value chains and open up more opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship."

"Agriculture is a key focus of the rural development agenda and women now make up the majority of the agricultural workforce in developing countries. In the face of increasingly volatile agricultural conditions, due to the impacts of climate change for example, it is important that the rural poor and particularly women are equipped with the skills to cope and adapt to ensure food security and improve income levels""