By Odiwuor Opiyo
NAIROBI, OCTOBER 7, 2022 (CISA) – EDUKANS Kenya in partnership with the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Commission for Education has launched a skill and employment for youth program, the Ujuzi na Uajiri kwa Vijana, on October 6, at Don Bosco Boys Town, Nairobi.
“This is a program that has been funded by the AFAS foundation in the Netherlands in collaboration with KCCB. EDUKANS will be working to promote skills for life and work so that our youth are able to fit in the job market,” Mary Mugo, the Country Director of EDUKANS Kenya said in an interview with CISA.
She noted that the youth in Kenya are exiting institutions of higher learning with gaps, which they need to fill to satisfy the requirements of the labour market and as such, EDUKANS Kenya through the Ujuzi na Uajiri kwa Vijana program looks to enhance soft and hard skills and improve the marketability of the youth in the job market.
“We intend to reach 9,000 youth within three years,” she said adding that EDUKANS Kenya will work with 30 Technical and Vocational Education Training Institutions (TVETs) in, “strengthening leadership, strengthening the training skills so that when a TVET trainer is delivering the curriculum, it is in an interesting way. An active way of training the youth that they will be able to enjoy while receiving new skills.”
Rt Rev Paul Kariuki Njiru, chairperson KCCB Commission for Education and bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Embu speaking to CISA at the launch opined that the event “is going to create awareness. We have started small scale with 5 dioceses to bring to the attention of young people that once they prepare themselves well with skills, the prosperity of employment is possible.”
Bishop Kariuki maintained that the program looks not only to equip learners with skills but also values.
“This project, we are going to focus a little more on helping young people. We are asking our institutions to open a desk and have someone who can be following job opportunities. When we have a desk in our institutions, somebody can help the young people in the process until they get jobs,” he said.
EDUKANS is an International Education organisation founded in the Netherlands and with country offices in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Ethiopia providing quality basic education and quality vocational training to children and young people all over the world.
