Youth unemployment is a critical issue in Southern Africa, exacerbating poverty, crime, violence, food insecurity, and rural-urban migration. In Botswana, the Young Farmers Fund (YFF) was established to cultivate youth entrepreneurship in agriculture to mitigate these issues. The aim of this research is to explore and explain the experiences, circumstances and knowledge of youth participants and assess the extent to which the program succeeds as a development strategy. To do so, the research establishes a conceptual framework investigating how contextual and individual variables influence the outcomes of participants’ projects. Interviews with program participants and key informants and review of relevant literature expose critical themes. These are examined through content analysis and inform research conclusions. Findings reveal why the program is facing a number of challenges. The research is thus valuable for informing policy and program (re)development and affirms the value and adaptability of the conceptual framework across multiple development contexts. / SSHRC