Interview with Genna Tesdall (YPARD) and Leonard Mizzi (European Commission)

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In this interview, Leonard and Genna explore their vision for the group and spotlight new ways to bring together new partners, foundations and private sector operators to engage with this dynamic space.

Michelle Tang/GDPRD Secretariat: Leonard, as you step into this role, what is your ‘North Star’ for rural youth? What does success look like for a young agripreneur in a rural community two years from now, because of this group’s work?

Leonard Mizzi/European Commission: For me, the North Star is rural youth as equal partners in decision-making, as leaders in territorial development and food systems, not just beneficiaries. They should have a strong role in contributing to innovative ideas, diversifying rural economies beyond primary production, and reflecting diversity across gender, origin, and other dimensions.

This requires aligning rural development agendas on value chains with equal access to quality education, health services, skills, and decent jobs. This is what the European Union does, through, for example, our Youth Action Plan, our youth sounding boards-giving young people a decision-making role in policymaking, even in terms of producers’ organizations.

Over the next two years, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We can build on existing processes, like the G20 Initiative for Rural Youth Employment from 2017 and adapt what has worked to today’s realities. This means engaging youth meaningfully in decision-making, and giving them access to adapted resources, skills, and opportunities, including AI, digital and climate-smart solutions, and innovative finance and advisory services.

It’s also about connecting realities across regions —Europe, South America, Africa, Asia-Pacific —and recognizing the different sensitivities, including small island developing states. This will be done by showcasing how the European Union, amongst others, through the youth action plan, and through the different funding initiatives could help them build up the capacity to enable them also to become future business leaders in their own communities.

Michelle: Genna, many young people feel global policy discussions often do not deliver results that meet expectations. How does the new work plan of the thematic working group contribute to handing the “tools of success”, such as digitalization and climate-resilient strategies, directly to youth, rather than just discussing them at a distance?

Genna Tesdall/YPARD: This is a question youth are always posing. We’re impatient and want to see change. The new work plan aims to foster an environment where donors and practitioners can boldly raise their ambition in youth engagement. In recent years, we’ve made real process. Youth are now recognized as stakeholders worthy of engagement at eye level. This was not always the case. There was definitely an attitude of beneficiary approaches or being seen and not heard.

Now we need to move beyond this recognition, from promises to action. This involves not only knowledge, but also courage from donors and practitioners. Why? Because youth are seen as inherently risky, but from investing logic, higher risk can also promise higher rewards, and investing in youth really does offer that higher reward.

Our work plan focuses on sharing knowledge and experience, centring on youth and youth organizations as protagonists, not just beneficiaries. We will share stories of success that serve two functions: operational learning—how to mitigate risks of working with youth and turn those into strengths—and emotional impact—we give rise to a network of people that really is hopeful and ambitious about working with youth and has the courage to do things differently.

Michelle: This chairmanship emphasizes “meaningful participation.” How is the group ensuring youth don’t just have a seat at the table, but also have a say in donor investments and development strategies?

Leonard: Meaningful engagement starts with active listening. This is not a box-ticking exercise. We are living in very complex settings, with geopolitical tensions and conflicts, and youth need space to define their priorities. At the same time, we need sequencing, because not everything can be done instantaneously. It is true that youth expect fast results, but we need to be realistic of what’s feasible, and define clear roles for each of us, including traditional donors, the private sector, and financial institutions.

A key priority is adequate quality of life, ensuring that rural areas offer opportunities comparable to urban settings and creating ecosystems that foster hope through decent, meaningful jobs. It is not enough to have employment; it must be quality employment. This also requires a skills revolution. Skills development should start early, at primary and secondary levels, not later in life. And we must address fragile contexts, where youth face conflict and violence, by creating hope and opportunities.

Ultimately, we need to recognize the varied typology of contexts across the globe, connect solutions, and open doors for young people, to give them the right tools to flourish and become a beacon of hope in their own realities.

Genna: I completely agree. I would add that meaningful participation is also embodied in the group’s composition. It is a bold move to have a youth organization like YPARD co-chairing alongside the European Union. Our work program supports this through policy advocacy and knowledge sharing. On policy, we will advocate for youth consultation, co-development, and co-implementation of government policies and programmes. On knowledge sharing, we will showcase practical ways donors are already engaging with youth and youth organizations in critical discussions and how to go even further and raise that ambition to have more courage in this.

We have great examples that we featured last year, for example, from the European Commission’s youth sounding boards, but also the inclusion of youth in the development of FAO reports on the status of youth in agri-food systems. And we’ll be featuring further examples like this from the development community and also critically discussing how we can go further.

Michelle: The group also aims to expand membership to include, among others, new donors, foundations as well as the private sector. What is the value of bridging public and private partners in this space?

Genna: There is huge potential for added value. Any of us working in this area know that government, donors, foundations, and the private sectors all aim to be well connected, and we speak a great deal about this. But in practice, we’re operating in parallel. We really wish to take the bold step to change that. And this does take courage. If you’re listening or reading this interview and have interest, we encourage you to get in touch.

With youth being known for their propensity to try new approaches, we believe there’s no better place to try this out than a youth-focused working group.

Leonard: I fully agree. We also need to use tools like social media, in a more targeted, solutions-based way. Genna mentioned the youth sounding boards in our delegations. This is about building ecosystems: connecting youth organizations with finance, advisory services, and scalable solutions. We need to assess what works—whether blended finance, guarantees, or green bonds—and where the gaps still remain a barrier.

We also need stronger collaboration with multilateral institutions and better data. We’re already working on compiling this information and plan to organize targeted webinars and discussions throughout the year, linking to major events. These will help identify practical solutions and amplify youth voices.

Michelle: Rural youth are often viewed through a lens of vulnerability How can we flip this narrative to highlight the hopeful signals you see in 2026, positioning rural youth as primary drivers of food systems transformation rather than just beneficiaries of aid?

Leonard: Youth are a driving force of change; hence they should not be seen as vulnerable. Of course, they face challenges especially in tapping into innovative and scalable finance. But given that youth are very energetic on solutions, on digital tools, on climate smart approaches, on agroecology approaches, on questioning the status quo, we know that a business-as-usual model is not going to function in today’s context.

We need their voices and also their ideas. Within the Donor Platform, we can build on past initiatives, such as the G20 action plan of 2017. Ten years after, we can come up with new and adapted solutions that are youth-aligned and sensitive to the realities of different youth profiles globally.

Genna: Absolutely. Youth are often framed as vulnerable, or even worse, as risks for development programmes. But we can flip that, and that’s exactly what we want to do. We know that youth are still learning and building skills. This could be seen as a risk, but it’s also a huge opportunity, a chance to learn skills and even unlearn as a society the practices and attitudes that haven’t served us well. This is the secret superpower of young people and of bringing us into these programmes.

We also see youth as likely to change. We want young people who are ready to move quickly, to make mistakes, and to get up, dust ourselves off, and do it better next time. This is a unique asset of youth, and this is the narrative we are promoting this year. If you’d like to think that way with us and build this environment, we encourage you to get involved.

Michelle: To close, what is one key takeaway for the donor community?

Genna: The development environment is changing, but youth remain an asset as long as we choose to see them that way. We need to work with the community to coordinate this, stay hopeful, and approach youth engagement with optimism.

Leonard: Youth is a vector of positive transformational change of agrifood and blue foods.

Let’s make it happen. Let’s make it a reality and not just a dream. And let’s benchmark our progress periodically over the next two years.

Read the announcement of the new group’s co-chairs.