ARDYIS Essay Contest: Youth, Rural Development and ICT

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), along with a number of collaborating organisations, invites entries for an essay writing contest on “Youth and ICTs in Agriculture and Rural Development”, aimed at identifying innovative solutions on challenges faced by youth in agriculture and rural areas using information and communication technologies (ICTs). Open to young people aged 18-25 years old from urban or rural areas of African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, the competition offers a prize of up to 1,500 euros. It is part of the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Youth in the Information Society (ARDYIS) project to raise youth awareness and improve their capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in ACP countries through ICTs.

To enter, participants will write an essay (between 1,200 and 1,500 words) responding to any one of the following questions or issues:

• "Choose two challenges which you experience in your country or region related to agriculture or rural development, and explain how you could use ICTs to address them;
  
• How can ICTs be used for effective advocacy and lobbying to promote agriculture in your country or region?
  
• How can ICTs be used to improve access to market for agricultural products from your country or region?
  
• Tell the story of a young producer or a youth living in a rural area, in your country/region, who uses ICT successfully or in an innovative way (even if the experience was not a full success) for his/her work. Describe lessons learnt and alternatives envisaged, especially if the experience was not successful."

Each candidate will address only one issue and submit only one essay.

In the first instance, the best 2 essays from each of the six ACP regions (West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa, the Pacific, and the Caribbean) will be pre-selected. The 12 finalists will participate in an international meeting on rural development where, apart from attending the sessions, they will make an oral presentation of their submission before an international jury.