RYAF signs MoU with USAID Funded Hinga Weze

This week the Administration of Rwanda Youth in Agriculture Forum (RYAF) represented by Hategekimana J. Baptiste as chairman has signed an MoU with Daniel GIES the Chief of Party of CNFA/Hinga Weze USAID funded project that will last 12 months.

The purpose of this agreement is to create a partnership and expand the cooperation between CNFA /HINGA WEZE and RYAF to strength the capacity of agribusinesses members of RYAF and to contribute to breaking the barrier for youth participation in agribusiness and looking to co-invest in agribusiness.

RYAF Mission is to establish an effective, sustainable nationwide youth in agribusiness forum that promotes, informs, advocates and mobilizes Rwandan youth to engage in agribusiness, leveraging on support and facilitation from stakeholders, resulting on a stable food market, decent jobs and sustainable and inclusive development

Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) is implementing a five-year USAID-funded ‘Feed the Future’ project titled ‘HINGA WEZE Activity.

The overall goal of the CNFA/HINGA WEZE activity is to sustainably increase smallholder farmer’s income, improve nutritional status of Rwandan women and children, and increase the resilience of the agriculture and food systems to the changing climate.

To achieve the goals of the Activity, five agricultural value chains were targeted. These include maize, Irish potato, high-iron beans, orange-fleshed sweet potato and horticulture in ten (10) districts of Rwanda (Kayonza, Gatsibo, Ngoma, Bugesera, Nyabihu, Ngororero, Rutsiro, Karongi, Nyamasheke and Nyamagabe).

CNFA/Hinga Weze works to improve its youth inclusion approach across its three components by integrating them in each implementation of its activities in all the five value chains – maize, high iron beans, orange sweet fresh potatoes, Irish potatoes and horticulture, by strengthening Youth participation and empowering them by supporting as much as possible their development initiatives.

RYAF will contribute in the following activities:

1. Young graduates Internship Program; RYAF will collaborate and coordinate the implementation of HW young graduates internship program through the CDE housed within the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) to identify and place University level interns in various education domains that match HW requirements.
2. Identification/mapping of Youth farmer groups/cooperatives; within HW value chain crops in the Hinga Weze 10 districts of operations.
3. Implement a rapid training needs assessment
4. Mobilize youth farmers to participate
5. Provide Management support;
6. Technical backstopping to cooperatives, farmer promoters, FFS facilitators and other extension service providers;
7. Support ICT4agriculture, farmer’s mobilization, season preparation and implementation;
8. Conduct Outreach Youth Champions campaign;
9. Identification of RYAF members existing and ongoing projects