Decent jobs for youth and improved food security through the development of sustainable rural enterprises - Inception phase The development challenge to be addressed through the joint UN programme is the facilitation of sustainable livelihoods for young women and men in rural areas of Zambia, here through the promotion of sustainable micro-, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSME). The initiative is part of the broader effort of the Government of Zambia to implement the Comprehensive Accelerated Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) of the African Union at national level; it furthermore responds to the call from the Rural Futures Initiative launched by the AU-New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) planning agency for alternative development models that “promote broad-based rural economic development and reduction of poverty and inequality including securing decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods. The direct recipients of the programme are selected national-level and sector-level governmental and non-governmental intermediary organizations with a mandate to promote sustainable business in the rural economy of Zambia, among them prominently the Ministry of Agriculture and its executing agencies, national level employers and workers federations and their respective sector associations, and district-based business development support service providers. The ultimate programme beneficiaries are young women and men living and working in rural districts of the country where economic activities related to the prioritized agricultural value chain concentrate. The programme will have a focus on the value chains for soy beans. Soy beans have been classified by NEPAD as a strategic crop for boosting national food security. The production and processing of soy beans already provides income to tens of thousands of rural households in Zambia, with volumes set to increase on the back of fast growing local, regional and global demand. To fully unlock the employment creation potential along the value chain for soy beans, though, numerous competitiveness challenges will need to be overcome - including low productivity, a significant decent work deficit and environmentally unsustainable production methods. These development challenges translate into a trigger for a donor supported technical cooperation initiative. The selection of the value chain for soy beans will be validated during the inception phase by way of action research; also, pending findings, an additional strategic crop meeting the above selection criteria might be selected. The overall outcome of the programme is ‘decent jobs for Youth and improved national food security through the development of sustainable rural Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSME). The immediate outcomes of the programme are: Outcome 1: Increased public appreciation of soy beans as a food crop of strategic relevance for national food security and rural economic development, and the youth employment creation potential along the value chain of this agricultural commodity (meta-level) Outcome 2: A more conducive policy, legal and regulatory framework for young entrepreneurs to do sustainable business along the value chain (macro-level) Outcome 3: Strengthened supply with, and increased demand for value chain specific and product-specific MSME support services geared towards young entrepreneurs (micro-level) Outcome 4: Synergies and scale effects through better coordination among stakeholders and development partners along the value chain (cross-cutting).