Hunger and malnutrition, high food prices and climate change are global problems that affect the entire world, but hit rural areas particularly hard. If development fails to take hold, people are drawn to the cities and entire regions are abandoned. The Young Ambassadors for Rural Development (YARD), a group of 12 young professionals aged 20 to 35 from rural regions of Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, want to stop this trend and show that things can be different. ‘Rural areas have a future’ they say with self-confidence, and they work toward this goal in many and various ways.

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH has supported the Young Ambassador initiative since it was founded in 2008. At their High-level Round Table at the European Development Days (EDD) in Stockholm, the Young Ambassadors discussed what we have to do to improve the prospects of rural areas and make them a more attractive place to live. Before an audience of more than 200, they discussed their questions with Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma and one of Kenya's Ministers, Dr Noah Wekesa.

‘Rural development is a global challenge that brings people together,’ says Carolin Bothe-Tews, team leader of the sector project Networks and Science Management in Rural Development, which organised and staged the event together with GTZ AgenZ. ‘Although rural areas in Africa, Asia and Europe differ considerably, the challenges we face in building capacities in these regions are broadly similar. This is what makes the YARD initiative so interesting for us too. It encourages and motivates the young people involved, promotes information exchange and communication, and offers targeted assistance. And although you might not expect it, the initiative is very up to date as far as communications and media technology are concerned.’ New media were also much in evidence at the event, with participants sharing information through film, blogs and tweets.

• More information on the Young Ambassadors for Rural Development (YARD):
  www.yard-global.org/