The 5th Biennial Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Conference  was held in Cape Town, South Africa from October 17th to 21st. The theme of the conference was “Linking Agricultural Universities with Civil Society, Private Sector, Governments, and other Stakeholders in support of Agricultural Development in Africa.” InnovATE held a side event that brought together presenters from universities and youth development organizations in Ghana,Liberia,Senegal and Tanzania. Participants discussed agricultural outreach programs and curricula, university cooperation in positive youth development programs, and community-focused experiential learning. 

One of the audience members wrote in appreciation of the session, “The stories from different countries were very interesting and educative. Personally, I feel like the program is very powerful in youth development and commercialize the agriculture sector especially in LDC’s where rural – urban migration and unemployment rate is very high. I feel like Agriculture is the solution to this. As a youth, I believe we can make the Africa we want by changing our mindset towards agriculture and engage ourselves effectively in agriculture activities.”