The current context of the pandemic associated with the COVID-19, poses the problem of the health crisis but also deepens other problems of an economic, social, cultural, and environmental nature.
 
In rural territories, the effects of COVID-19 generate specific impacts that affect livelihoods, local enterprises, agri-food supply systems, among others.
 
Rural youth are key actors in understanding how the current situation affects rural territories and in leading actions that provide innovative solutions as alternatives to respond to the impacts of the pandemic.
 
In this regard, Procasur Corporation has developed a process of five virtual “Regional Meetings” with rural youth from five regions:
 
1) Latin America and the Caribbean
2) West and Central Africa
3) East and South Africa
4) Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia
5) Asia and the Pacific.
 
The objective of these meetings was to understand the current situation of rural youth in the face of the pandemic, to listen to their voices and to identify youth-led experiences in order to build effective support actions in their territories and communities. Likewise, through these meetings young people were linked to the “Community Observers” initiative that is being carried out at the institutional level in Procasur as a way of making the actions of young people visible, disseminating their experiences and promoting their active role in the processes of rural transformation.
 
-How does the current pandemic affect your territory and rural youth?
-What measures, actions and/or solutions are you developing (or wish to develop) to respond to the crisis?
-What capacities need to be strengthened to implement relevant actions and solutions to address the pandemic?
 
These were the three questions that investigated the situation of rural youth in the face of the current pandemic.