GYIN - Global Youth Innovation Network

The Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN) aims to contribute to the reduction of poverty among poor rural youth in Africa and the Americas through exposure to opportunities and business prospects, innovation, and knowledge on replicable youth successful models in small scale agri-business, to enable them to create and engage in sustainable small scale agri-businesses.

The general objective of this Global Youth Innovation Network: Youth Entrepreneurs—Agents of Change is to create and support an enabling environment under which young people can act on their own behalf and on their own terms and to facilitate exchange of experiences, learning and networking for young entrepreneurs. The Global Youth Innovation Network will be a youthful-led initiative, facilitated and managed entirely by young people along with sponsors. In this context the specific objectives are:

• To identify and engage with youth entrepreneurs and organization partners and communities;
• To ensure that experiences, good practices and learnt lessons are exchanged and reinforced by and for the benefit of young people and young entrepreneurs;
• To use a launching event as a springboard to establish a youth network in the region and that is nurtured by the expansion of youth-led level initiatives to improve entrepreneurship; and
• To facilitate a social networking platform that is owned and self-managed by youth and that function as a resource centre on youth and entrepreneurship.

The primary targets groups are poor rural youth.  Its thematic focus is agriculture and small scale agri-business. The target countries are those in Africa.