YPARD and ILRI join forces to provide on the job training for young professionals

Innovation and scaling are increasingly becoming key focus areas of CGIAR. Scaling connects CGIAR’s high-quality research and innovation for development activities with national and local governments, international development banks, national and global civil society organizations, impact investors in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and other development partners.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Impact at Scale (I@S) program published the Scaling Framework to address the increasing innovation and scaling needs of the projects in the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock portfolio. A diverse interdisciplinary team uses the framework to provide research, analytics and facilitation to support CGIAR teams and their partners. The team also shares its learning with other key players in the global agricultural innovation and scaling support community.

YPARD is an international movement ‘by Young Professionals FOR Young Professionals for Agricultural Development’. YPARD operates as an agile network. It leverages the skills, energy and innovative potential of youth engaged in agriculture and food activities to contribute to solving global livelihood, environmental and health problems linked to agriculture and food systems. At the heart of YPARD are its members, who are encouraged to become active in their area, spread the news about YPARD to other young professionals, encourage a more robust voice of youth in their organizations, and share their views and ideas with others. This global platform empowers young agricultural leaders worldwide to shape sustainable food and agriculture systems.

The I@S program is currently preparing 10 scaling studies on core livestock innovations, such as strategies for delivering genetic solutions, training and certification programs, market arrangement frameworks, integrated livestock production technologies, and One Health approach for controlling neglected diseases. The synthesis of these 10 studies culminates in strategic recommendations for improving impact performance of these innovations at scale.

As organizations with shared visions for improving agriculture and food systems, YPARD and I@S joined forces to mobilize young professionals' skills, energy and innovative approaches into the scaling activities of the CGIAR. The successful young professionals will gain an invaluable opportunity to improve their competences, contribute to the scaling works, and become valuable experts in innovation and scaling support.

As the first steps of the collaboration, three young professionals were recruited in September 2021. YPARD and ILRI worked together to announce the jobs, reach out to young professionals on multiple platforms, screen about 100 candidates, and evaluate 10 shortlisted candidates. Finally, three successful young professionals were selected to work with the I@S program team in the last quarter of 2021 and beyond.

The young professionals will join the interdisciplinary and multicultural I@S program team and contribute to the various stakeholder engagement, project management, communications and analytical writing activities of the team, based on their interests, skills and previous experiences. The young professionals will be supported by YPARD and the I@S program teams to develop their skills. Feedback from the young professionals will be used to refine future recruitment processes and working methods.  

For more information about ILRI Impact at Scale program visit I@S homepage.

For more information about YPARD, please visit their homepage.