The theme for International Youth Day 2020, Youth Engagement for Global Action, highlights the various ways in which the engagement of young people at local, national and global levels enriches national and multilateral institutions and processes.

Up to 60% of Africa’s youth face challenges such as limited employment opportunities, financial constraints to access land and adequate technical equipment. However, agriculture is increasingly providing options. Through it, young people are participating and leveraging on new technologies that can optimize farming systems and create employment.

This photo essay depicts youth in on-farm and off-farm activities across East and Southern Africa. These young men and women are innovators and adopters of improved technologies such as small scale mechanization, appropriate farming practices, employment opportunities and research innovations implemented by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).

In Embu County, Kenya, 25-year-old Jackline Wanja stands in a demonstration plot of high-yielding, drought-resilient and fast-maturing maize varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Beyene Chufamo (28) is a two-wheel tractor technology service provider based in Meki, Ethiopia. In 2016, with the support of CIMMYT, he started providing repair and maintenance services to service providers in different areas. (Photo: Ephrem Tadesse/CIMMYT)

Beyene Chufamo (center, in green t-shirt) provides technical training on operation, safety, repair and maintenance to machinery hire service providers in different CIMMYT operation sites. His participation in small mechanization supply chain enables service providers and farmers to effectively use their machinery and significantly reduce the downtime of their machinery. (Photo: Ephrem Tadesse/CIMMYT)

Nancy Wawira (29) stands among ripening maize cobs of high yielding, drought-tolerant maize varieties on a demonstration farm in Embu County, Kenya. Involving young people like Wawira helps to accelerate the adoption of improved stress-tolerant maize varieties. (Photo: Joshua Masinde/CIMMYT)

Rose Salimanja (34) from Nyanga District, Zimbabwe, operates a two-wheel tractor and trailer during a trailer operations training course. Under the Zimbabwe Building Resilience Fund (ZRBF), CIMMYT is implementing appropriate small-scale mechanized solutions and services for smallholder farmers and service providers. (Photo: Dorcas Matangi/CIMMYT)

Targeting youth in interventions such as the Farm Mechanization and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification (FACASI) project provides pathways for training in appropriate mechanized solutions to support farmers in rural areas. The enterprising Mwanga Youth Group members Pinnot Karwizi (28), Shepherd Karwizi (26) and Masimba Mawire (32) provide grain shelling services to farmers in Makonde District, Zimbabwe. (Photo: Shiela Chikulo/CIMMYT)

Zvikomborero Karimudengu skillfully operates a two-wheel tractor and trailer during a training session in Nyanga South district, Zimbabwe. Small scale mechanization services are proving to be immensely useful during the COVID-19 pandemic as services can be provided while adhering to social distancing regulations and without requiring additional labour. (Photo: Dorcas Matangi/CIMMYT)