Welcome to 2020: Re-evaluate, renew and realign

It is the year 2020! Happy new year!

For YPARD, all hands are already on deck. Many young professionals are already back to the grind. It is an opportunity to start strong with increased potentials for better returns, as the new year transitions from days of public merriments and vacations to periods of evaluation - “what progress have I made this year?”  

Based on this maxim, “be real and adjust your strategy according to honest results”, popularized by Charles Colton, the YPARD GCU looked back into 2019. 
Some notable results of 2019 are:

• YPARD structure is renewed and strengthened. Illustrations include the revision, updating and democratic approval of the YPARD charter in July 2019 and the renewal of the Steering Committee in accordance with the YPARD charter.
• The conceived YPARD task force is taking shape. Thanks to the awesome work of YPARD Asia-Pacific team and under the coordination of Dinesh Panday, YPARD TF for Maize is growing stronger. Others in development (to different degrees) include the YPARD Biodiversity Youth Task Force and Agro-ecology Youth Task Force. These two concepts are ongoing, in partnership with the Biodiversity Mainstreaming Platform and FAO Agro-ecology [here and here]
• Implementation of young farmer initiative programs. These include the knowledge sharing workshops for young African farmers in East Africa and West Africa, which was organized in May and October 2019 respectively, through a partnership between YPARD, Rikolto and FAO. Other examples include YPARD Europe collaboration with Agrinatura for a workshop during TROPENTAG 2019 and the Project SIMPLE (for Europe – Asia, with YPARD Europe as an associate partner). The project terminated in 2019, and we hope for a follow-up project with more partners and countries involved in the nearest future.
• And many more. If you have been on this ride with us, you know that 2019 has been an exciting year.

We also faced some limitations in 2019, especially as it relates to managing YPARD GCU’s integration in the FAO’s institutional space while seeking operational autonomy remains a challenge. 

For the purpose of being real and based on the results of 2019, the GCU will be reviewing our hosting arrangement. The goal is to build on past lessons for re-inventing a stronger and functional network. As we do this, we will be reaching out for the contribution of the larger YPARD community. We aim to ensure that necessary insights from the community perforate through the YPARD operational levels into this review process. 

Dear YPARDians, I look forward to where this review process leads us and to sharing the journey, as well as the outcome, with you. I encourage you all to keep building the momentum on the ground. Connect with like-minded and similar goal-oriented organisations for future collaborations. Grow your enterprises. Contribute to your community. Feed the world.

As I write this, I look forward into the new year, with hopes to have many good days and with the strength to stand more united with you. 

Best wishes for 2020.

Yemi Adeyeye, Director.