Ibraf launches a youth training program during the African Union Summit
The Brazil Africa Institute (Ibraf) will be present at the 37th Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit, which will take place on February 17 and 18, 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The event brings together heads of state from the 54 African nations and will discuss the theme “Educate an African fit for the 21st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality, and relevant learning in Africa”.
Ibraf will be represented by its president João Bosco Monte, who will announce the 2024 edition of the Youth Technical Training Program (YTTP). This is Ibraf’s flagship training program within the framework of South-South and Triangular Cooperation.
In this special edition of the program, a group of 1000 young Africans, aged between 18 and 39, will be selected for an educational and professional immersion in Brazil. The program focuses on the agriculture and rural development sector, but also covers the areas of health, information technology, education, sport and entrepreneurship, among others. The students will be selected by Ibraf and international partner institutions and will be divided in smaller groups. The first of them is due to come to the country in June this year.
The Brazilian president Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, who is making his first official trip to Africa this year and is taking part in the Summit, was invited to the launch of the 2024 edition of YTTP. The initiative reinforces Brazil’s agenda of rapprochement in diplomatic relations between Brazil and the African continent.
“Launching the YTTP during the Summit is absolutely appropriate. This year the debate will be centered on education and the presence of President Lula reinforces the resumption of relations between Brazil and Africa,” said João Bosco Monte.
The announcement of the special edition of the YTTP, which is supported by the government of the United Arab Emirates and various international organizations, will take place on February 17 at the Skylight Hotel in the Ethiopian capital. Representatives of IBRAF’s partner institutions have confirmed their participation, including Dr. Simeon Ehui, Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; Dr. Martin Fregene, Director of Agriculture at the African Development Bank; and Zemedeneh Negatu, Global Chairman of the Fairfax Africa Fund.
About the YTTP
The Youth Technical Training Program aims to train professionals in areas in which Brazil is a global reference. The program had its first edition in 2017 and has already trained dozens of young Africans.
In Brazil, the initiative relies on an important partnership between Ibraf and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa). In previous editions, the program received funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
More information on the Youth Technical Training Program can be found at https://ibraf.org/projects/yttp/
