Young African Works IITA Project & Training Program 2020 at IITA - International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation is inviting applications from suitable candidate for its 2020 Young African Works IITA Project & Training Program 2020 for young Nigerians

Background
Young Africa Works - IITA project - an innovative approach to agribusiness training and start-ups for Nigeria’s young people. 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 chain of rice, soybean, maize, cowpea, poultry, vegetable, mushroom, groundnut, fish and livestock.

The project and training will focus on; Entrepreneurial and Employment track:

• Entrepreneurship Track: The programme has identified several enterprises and successful agribusiness models attractive to youths. This will guide the intended beneficiaries to produce a bankable business plan at the end of this training track. The Young Africa Works-IITA project has partnered with financial institution such as Sterling Bank, NIRSAL to facilitate access to sources of finance and credit. Access to post training support will be facilitated by the project.
• Employment Track: The program is aware of the skills gap between youth and potential employers, as a result, this training aims to better match these two interests. This will be conducted through commercial internships and mentorship in order to further advance skills development and find better jobs. Youth emerging from employment-track training are provided assistance to find decent jobs through professional placement services.

Eligibility Criteria

• 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