As part of the EC- FPA Project co-funded by the European Union, the second workshop on “Support to greater participation of Young producers in NAPP” for southeast Asian young producers was organized in Bangkok, Thailand on 20-21 Dec 2019.

08 youths including 03 female from Fairtrade Producer Organizations across Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines were selected for the training. The participants with prior Gender Leadership and Youth Inclusive Community based Monitoring and Remedial measures background branded the convergence between EC- FPA and NAPP ongoing programs added significant values. NAPP elicited its resources for the facilitation of workshop which contributed to bringing multiplying positive effects.

The workshop was able to draw attention towards the growing concern related to the shrinking interest of young producers towards next-generation farming as well as youth inclusion in NAPP which eventually explored means and measures for addressing it. Besides, the various untapped resources for young producers in the NAPP ecosystem was also discussed in threadbare during the two days’ workshop.

Through various workshop tools underpinning the participatory approach, the workshop sessions engaged all participants in group work, practical exercises, and multimedia to stimulate experience sharing and learning. One of the key expected outcomes of the workshop was achieved through participatory SWOC analysis where the participants were able to distinguish between practical and strategic youth-sensitive approaches in responding to these needs. As a next step, the young producers would be able to begin applying instruments to identify specific needs and interests of them for becoming next-generation farmers in the Fairtrade system.

To forge partnerships, alliances and building linkages an exposure visit for young producers was arranged at the Co-operative League of Thailand (CLT) which is a national apex organization of cooperative movement in Thailand. The visit introduced the workshop participants to appreciate the idea of cooperative in Thailand and also facilitated them in connecting them with the CLT partners in South East Asian Countries.

On the second day, a presentation (webinar) on the Youth Training on Marketing support 2020 followed by a small individual presentation was widely acclaimed that stimulated the participants in numerous ways. The presentation attracted their attention towards the increasingly high potential for the Youth in marketing and many others.

Becoming important change agents as Fairtrade youth the workshop created evidence and knowledge around youth inclusion and becoming next-generation farmers. During the workshop, a strong message emerged that farmers, across all generations and grooming young producers in general, need support for accessing Fairtrade markets and to improve productivity.

Towards the concluding session of the workshop, the participants came with their respective plan of action in promoting youth inclusiveness in their organization, next-generation farming, and also their strategy for representing NAPP in the Global Youth Summit in 2020.

DISCLAIMER: Its contents of the webpage is the sole responsibility of NAPP and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union