Delegates during the stakeholder workshop on enhancing access to finance for youth in agrifood systems.

The stakeholder workshop on enhancing access to finance for youth in agrifood systems, held from 12th to 13th August 2024 at Serena Beach Resort, Mombasa, Kenya, was a crucial event aimed at designing the Agricultural Finance Accelerator Facility (AFPAF). The event brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from government, financial institutions, development organizations, and youth groups, to address the financial barriers faced by youth in the agrifood sector. The event commenced with opening remarks from representatives of the African Union Commission’s (AUC) Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy, and Sustainable Environment (DARBE), who emphasized the urgent need for innovative financial inclusion strategies to empower youth within the agrifood sector. A significant portion of the workshop focused on identifying and addressing public sector barriers to youth access to finance. Participants identified several key barriers, including bureaucratic inefficiencies, inadequate follow-up mechanisms, misalignment between public sector initiatives and the needs of young entrepreneurs, and a lack of awareness and capacity among public sector institutions to effectively support youth in agrifood systems. The discussions also focused on AFRACA’s unique position to host the Public Development Banks (PDB) platform for Africa, which would be instrumental in enhancing the effectiveness of public investments in agrifood system finance. It was agreed that AFRACA could lead efforts in several key areas such as hosting the PDB platform in Africa to foster knowledge exchange, technical support to the AUC DARBE in establishment of AFPAF within AUC, research, capacity building and knowledge dissemination.