In Latin America there are still high levels of poverty, with significant gaps between urban and rural territories. Rimisp set out to work on an advocacy strategy that will promote public policy dialogue aimed at improving rural living conditions and tackling poverty in these sectors.

In this context and with the financial support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in 2017 Rimisp initiated the project “Rural youth and territories: A strategy for policy dialogue”, which seeks to improve the economic opportunities and social inclusion of rural youth through research evidence, policy analysis and engagement with governments in four Latin American countries: Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The project seeks to improve knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of income generation by rural youth at the territorial level and to learn about the institutional frameworks, policies and budgets aimed at this group. It also seeks to influence the creation or improvement of at least one policy, institutional framework or national program aimed at rural youth in each of the countries, as a result of the dialogue and technical assistance process conducted by the Rural Dialogue Groups (RDGs). As well as optimizing the effectiveness of programs aimed at rural youth, through the proposal of new and innovative policy dialogue tools in the selected countries.