Our Story-eyp
From the IYA Initiative to the ENABLE Youth Program (EYP)
The ENABLE Youth Program is a continental scale-up of the IYA Model. ENABLE is used for “Empowering Novel Agri Business-Led Employment for Youth in African Agriculture”. The Program which combines the vision of IITA and the African Development Bank (AfDB) is implemented by IITA, with funding from AfDB.
ENABLE Youth is a program that aims at developing the next generation of African entrepreneurs in agriculture. The overall goal of the Program is to contribute to job creation, food security, nutrition, rural income generation and improved livelihoods for youths in both urban and rural areas. The ENABLE Youth program ensures that young entrepreneurs approach agriculture purely as a business, with the central objective of establishing viable and profitable enterprises.
One key outcome is a powerful mechanism for empowering graduate youth and directing them to careers in agribusiness based upon the “Agripreneurs” (Agricultural Entrepreneurs) initiative. Another one is their placement and support within agribusiness incubations and financial empowerment.
Through these interventions, ENABLE Youth mobilizes the energies and ambitions of youth as engines for: employment generation, agricultural transformation, reduced migration to urban areas, and improving their image among themselves, within their communities, and across society.
The program spans the entire agriculture value chain – research and information services; production, including in key commodities and staples, livestock and aquaculture; processing and value addition, including biofortification; input supplies, including equipment leasing, seeds and fertilizers; marketing, including buying and selling of agricultural produce and exports.
ENABLE Youth is implemented in about 20 African countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, DRC, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc.