The ability of youth to grasp opportunities in a changing rural economy is not a given.

Rural transformation is increasingly connecting rural and urban spaces and changing the nature of work. The digital revolution is making access to information central to success, both on and off the farm. The types of skills that are needed for success are also changing rapidly.

To thrive in this new world of work, youth need to know how to search for information and create networks. In addition to basic technical skills, they need to know how to think critically and solve problems. And they must possess non-cognitive skills to be conscientious, open to ideas and able to get along well with others. Educational institutions face a big challenge to meet the emerging needs of this new world of work.

Problems and solutions

If they want to become farmers, youth also need access to land. Yet in sub-Saharan Africa, plots are becoming smaller and more fragmented. Farmer parents are living longer, and commercial farms are competing for land. In this region, while 1 in 3 adults own land, fewer than 1 in 10 young people do. The digital revolution can facilitate land registries and land rental markets, and re-thinking the rules of inheritance can offer solutions.

To win their place in transforming rural economies, youth need access to finance. This can help youth meet the increasing demand for fresh produce in growing cities, or to allow them to invest in non-farm activities. For now, youth have few assets, are more likely to be unbanked, and often have poor connectivity. Digital financial services offer part of the solution.

Being rural, young and female can be a triple burden. In less transformed economies, rural women have the lowest level of education. Young rural women are only half as likely as young men to be the sole owners of land. They are almost twice as likely to be neither in work nor school. They are also much more likely to be married and spend their time rearing children.

A young rural woman with a smartphone in rural Bolivia, Cambodia or Niger has access to information, ideas and possibilities her parents could never have dreamed of. But all these dramatic economic and technological changes may outpace social norms. Traditional values related to schooling, marriage and childrearing, and occupational choice for girls and women may hold them back.