Since the adoption in 2019 of the regional strategy on youth employability in the agroforestry and fisheries sector, ECOWAS and its partners have been stepping up efforts to make it operational. To date, the efforts have focused on training and capacity-building for young people in the acquisition of technological innovations generated by national agronomic research and vocational training centers in ecological and organic agriculture. These actions add to initiatives to promote local milk.

In 2023, the ECOWAS Commission funded twenty-five (25) community centers, including nine (09) specialized in agricultural research and innovation, six (06) in agronomic research and ten (10) in vocational training in agroecology and organic farming. With a subsidy of 1,033,991 USD, these centers were expected to train 3142 young people (men and women) in the priority areas listed above. The doubling of the subsidy in 2024 (2,434,301 USD) demonstrates ECOWAS commitment to promoting youth employment in the above-mentioned sector, and above all capacity-building for self-employment.

An experience-sharing workshop held in October 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria, assessed the progress made. Reports from thirteen (13) training centers that have were able to implement their action plans show that 2152 young people were trained against 3142 targeted, representing 68.49% of the 2023/2024 target with 60% men and 40% women trained.

For 2025, ECOWAS intends to pursue the initiative through grants to regional institutions such as CORAF, the regional Songhai Center and the West African Ecological Organic Agriculture (EOA) Secretariat hosted by the Nigeria Organic Agriculture Network (NOAN). A grant of 1,746,472 USD will enable some 3,450 young people to be trained by 2025 in various areas of production and product processing in agricultural value chains.

Other initiatives to promote youth employment are being undertaken through two major regional projects with the support of technical and financial partners. These are the Support Program for Professional Farmers' Organizations, aimed at promoting access for young men and women to decent, remunerative jobs in local milk value chains, with financial support from the Swiss Cooperation, and the Agroecology Program, co-funded by the French Development Agency and the European Union, and aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture, in particular agroecology.

As the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said in 2017, "If we solve the problem of youth unemployment, Africa will gain 10-20% annual growth. This means that Africa's GDP will increase by 500 billion USD a year, over the next 30 years. Per capita income will increase by 55% per year until 2050”. Investing in youth employment in the agricultural sector therefore remains an imperative to guarantee food security, and a driver for peace and prosperity for all by 2050.