LIFTING UP RURAL YOUTH
The Youth Storyteller Program
Rural youth are the future of agriculture
Rural and Indigenous youth are on the frontlines of the global food crisis, disproportionately affected by hunger, poverty, and climate change. Conventional agriculture has left them with few opportunities, often forcing migration as a last resort. Yet, youth in the Global South are initiating hopeful alternatives from the ground up.
Young people are at the heart of shaping the future of food systems. By amplifying their voices through storytelling, we can co-create regenerative farming and equitable food systems—without leaving anyone behind.
The Youth Storyteller Program
Through the Youth Storyteller program, our partners in 11 countries empower rural and Indigenous youth to become active players in improving farming and food systems.
This program gives rural youth a platform to share their stories and those of their communities as smallholder farmers. By capturing and sharing farmers’ experiences and daily lives, youth storytellers create a people-centered, agroecological counter-narrative to the idea that industrialized agriculture is the only way to “feed the world.”
As they document the stories of their communities and their transition to agroecology, youth are informing policymakers, spreading solutions across villages, and inspiring other youth to carry forward traditional knowledge.
They learn how to do this through storytelling workshops, video production classes, interview training, community initiatives that motivate them to explore their creative potential (through art, music, writing, theatre…) and annual film festivals.
We piloted our first Youth Storytellers initiative in Burkina Faso and Honduras in 2021. Since then, young people from West Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and South Asia have been documenting their communities’ transformational stories. It’s a work in progress, but each video showcases the perspectives and experiences of youth from rural communities as they share, in their own words and ways, how agroecology impacts their lives firsthand.
“Through these workshops, we learned how to edit and produce videos and take photos. We studied framing, angles, and how to prepare interviews. The most valuable thing I’ve learned while interviewing people is the knowledge and wisdom of the elders, who have a lot to share with us, the younger generation.
They exchange experiences with us, and we learn from them. We do interviews in our native language: the Maya Achí language, which we should not lose. We also focus on agroecology, which is important for us and the people in our community, since they are dedicated to the practice.”
—Lesli, a youth storyteller who later became one of our partners’ communications assistant
2024 Field To Film Festival
Each year, we host a virtual film festival to showcase youth’s short films. Watch the 2024 field to film festival submissions, where youth participated from Burkina Faso, Mali, Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador, Nepal, Haiti, Guatemala and Senegal.
Missed our previous editions?
Watch the short films from previous years on our Youtube channel. Spotted a short film that merits more views? Reach out and we’ll be happy to collaborate to amplify the work of youth!
Support the next generation of storytellers
Watch their short films
See how farmers and communities are creating and scaling healthy farming and food systems from the ground up.
Spread the word
Share this page and videos with your friends to spread the word about young people changing perspectives and narratives.
Invest in youth storytellers
Your donation will help rural youth access equipment, attend classes and training, and even unlock job opportunities.