YPLD Mauritius: Our first steps towards sustainability….

The Young Professionals in Local Development (YPLD), Mauritius, is part of a network envisaged as being a know-how transfer platform between young and experienced professionals in all fields of expertise that relate to international and local development. The mission of YPLD is “Growing Communities, Fostering through Innovation.” 
  
YPLD is a network of professionals aged between 18 and 40 involved in both international and local development through the nature of their education and professional activity. Due to their worldwide partners (currently they have partners in the USA, Asia, Europe and Africa) and their current search for regional representatives, they plan from the start to give it a global reach. 
 
More information on YPLD can be found on their Website.
 
In March 2012, YPLD Mauritius joined the YPLD global Network upon appointment of the country representative for Mauritius. YPLD Mauritius is also part of the YPLD Africa Network, along with other African Countries (Cameroon, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Tunisia and Uganda). 
 
Establishment of YPLD Mauritius
Being involved in youth leadership organizations, I always wanted to establish an organization where I can run projects and activities related to sustainable development, especially on AGRICULTURE because I have seen many NGOs working on sustainable development issues, but very often these projects are focused only on environment and less importance is being given to agriculture. Moreover, I realised that in Mauritius, there is no association or group of young professionals who are involved in Agriculture. Through social media and networking, I found about YPLD and applied for country representative (Mauritius). 
 
Upon my selection as country representative, the first steps were as follows:
Activities of YPLD Mauritius
Our first activities were focused on Rio+20 and the team had several meetings to discuss on sustainable development to understand the concept, so that we are able to implement it in our projects and daily activities. Team members are appointed in April 2012, and the initial activities were organized in May 2012.
 
Food Revolution Day
On the occasion of the Food revolution Day (19th May 2012), the YPLD Mauritius team organized a lunch (12th May 2012) among members to promote healthy and nutritious food, and discuss on topics like Food Security, Climate Change and Food Wastage. On the same occasion, a video on sustainable development was made, whereby the members of YPLD Mauritius shared their views on the issue and what should be done to address the challenges we are facing. This video can be viewed below:

Rio+20 Equity and Sustainability Field Hearings
In the context of Rio+20, YPLD Mauritius organized a field hearing with the objective to have the opinion of Mauritians on Sustainable Development, the threats and challenges we are facing in Mauritius, the actions being taken and further solutions to address these challenges.
 
The field hearings were conducted in April and May 2012 using 2 methods: Firstly, a focus group discussion on Sustainable Development was initiated with 7 YPLD Mauritius members from different field of studies and experience. From the outputs of the group discussion, an online questionnaire on Sustainable Development was designed and shared to individuals and institutions via email and on social networks (The questionnaire can be accessed on this link). 52 online questionnaires were filled and submitted.
 
The results obtained from the group discussion and survey conducted by YPLD Mauritius were compiled in a report, highlighting the following:
  •  Perception of Mauritians on Sustainable Development
  • Problems related to Sustainable Development in Mauritius and their causes
  • Possible solutions and recommendations to address the different problems identified

This report can be read below: 

As part of a project, this report and segments of the video will be presented at Rio+20 by one of our partners and through these initial activities, our voice and those of the interviewees will be heard at the UN’s conference on Sustainable Development!
 
The YPLD Mauritius team is presently working on the concept note of some projects and we will soon be looking for partners.
 
We are having a quite modest start, but we believe in making a change for a sustainable future,  and we’ll strive to meet our goals and run projects on agriculture to involve youth in this sector!

About Nawsheen Hosenally

Nawsheen Hosenally, a national of the Republic of Mauritius, has over 6 years of experience in the agricultural sector, specifically focusing on the engagement of youth in agriculture through the use of ICTs. Currently, Nawsheen is the co-Founder of Agribusiness TV, a web TV that features success stories of young agricultural entrepreneurs in Africa. Nawsheen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Extension from the University of Mauritius, and a Master’s degree in Management and Information Systems from the University of Manchester.

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