2SCALE Thematic Papers Gender Mainstreaming in Agribusiness Partnerships | Page 8

responsible for heavy work in a range of activities, such as domestic work, including household chores and childcare, and productive activities. As a result of this dual responsibility, they work much longer hours than men, limiting their time, mobility, and access to opportunities offered by programs to develop their skills. 2.3 Youth in Agricultural Value Chains Although there is no universally accepted definition of youth, “it generally refers to the transitional period from childhood to adulthood where new roles and responsibilities are taken up” (Fussell, 2006; Vargas-Lundius and Suttie, 2014). The word “youth” has been described in many different ways, sometimes as a particular age group, as a stage of life, or as an attitude. As 2SCALE is active in member states of the African Union, it adopts the African Union’s African Youth Charter definition: “every person between the ages of 15 and 35 years” (FAO, 2002). To some extent, youth face similar challenges as women, but more opportunities are available to young men. First, young people tend to have limited economic independence. Though agriculture is often assumed to be a joint family venture, control over productive processes and assets is almost impossible for young household members. Subordination to elders in large extended family households is recurrent with young members relying on their parents to fulfill basic food, shelter, and clothing needs. Most youth are landless and have no immediate access or control over important productive resources – prompting their search for alternative livelihoods (Bezu and Holden, 2014; Vargas- Lundius and Suttie, 2014). Landlessness has an impact on access to finance, as land is often used as collateral, thus preventing young people from investing in an economic activity; it also has an impact on investments in the land, for instance, to improve its soil fertility. Young farmers gain skills in vegetable production and farm management at a learning center – Vegetable Partnership, Nigeria. 5 Land owners remain primary decision-makers. Young people working the land are rarely in a position to make decisions over resources, earnings, and expenditures. The dependency is more acute for young women and girls. Young men can better grow out of this dependency through education ( formal, vocational, or hands-on), inheritance of land, and by becoming heads of families, while women are more constrained by social norms and gender relations (Bennell, 2007; 2010). For example, early marriage and pregnancies affect young wo