Ideas that Nurture: Youth in Action for Good Food in Cities and Schools in Ecuador

Challenges

In Ecuador, young people face significant challenges when trying to access employment. According to official government statistics, 8.1% of individuals aged 18 to 29 were unemployed nationwide in 2025, while 24.1% held positions for which they were overqualified (INEC, 2025). The same source highlights key barriers to youth employability, including lack of work experience (28.62%) and insufficient job-specific skills required by the labor market (14.49%), contributing to nearly 26% of young people remaining in the informal economy. Furthermore, the Youth Employment Report (Children International, 2025) indicates that 59.8% of young people rely financially on their parents, and 51.1% report having no income at all

"Ideas that Nurture" takes this as its point of entry, building on the lessons learned from the ‘Generation food’ (called Generation ‘A’ in Spanish) project, which supported young people in proposing business ideas to address the main challenges of Quito's food system. This initiative responds to the nutritional needs of young children with the power of youth entrepreneurship and a solidarity-based business model that guarantees access to nutritious food.

Our objectives

1. Strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of 150 young people to improve children's access to healthy and nutritious food.

2. Pilot innovative business models based on principles of solidarity and circularity to improve children's access to healthy diets.

3. Generate a collective dynamic to create a supportive ecosystem for young food entrepreneurs.

To make this happen, we focus on a dual approach:  

• First, we mobilise young entrepreneurs to design and implement concrete solutions that facilitate access to healthy food for children in Quito.  

Unlike the pilot initiative (Generación ‘A’), projects in more advanced stages (ongoing businesses) are eligible, provided they fit into one of three categories: 1) Sustainable production of fresh food - primary production, 2) Processing of healthy food for children, 3) Management of canteen / school catering services.

The project targets two cohorts of entrepreneurs who go through a process that monitor their next steps and impact on the school food environment:

Another model in this dimension is a collaboration with the Banco de Alimentos de Quito (BAQ). Together we are piloting a solidarity-based business model in this dimension. This model is based on a cross-subsidy scheme which guarantees access to one egg per day for every child attending Inti School (a school located in a highly vulnerable sector in the south of Quito, prioritised by the BAQ). What are the expected results? We will improve the technical and regulatory compliance capacities and skills of entrepreneurs. We create opportunities for income generation through self-employment and youth economic empowerment.

The cross-subsidy business model provides some of the eggs produced by the BAQ to support the daily protein intake of 135 children at the Inti School, a BAQ partner school situated in an area of high food insecurity in Quito. At the same time, another portion of the eggs is sold to responsible consumers in Quito. Inti School also contributes a proportional financial amount to the eggs consumed each day, enabling the school to actively participate in the model rather than merely acting as a beneficiary.

• In parallel, we are establishing a support system involving financial institutions, local authorities, civil society representatives, academics and others as part of a working team to nurture the implementation of the project through reflection, experience and evidence. They also participate in phases such as training, mentoring, and project selection.