World Bank funded youth programme to be started

The government is set to unveil a new Sh 15 billion World Bank funded youth training programme that will be implemented in all the 47 counties.

East African Community, Labour and Social Protection Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie said the five years project is aimed at upgrading training and skills of tens of universities and college graduates who lack desired standard skills in the competitive sectors of economy.

Speaking during inauguration of the board of directors of the National Industrial Training Authority (Nita) in Mombasa, Ms Kandie added the project is part of the Jubilee government’s plan to empower the skills of Kenyan youths and ensure they remain relevant to competitive local and international markets.

“At the ministry level, we are collecting key data of areas where there is high supply and demand of skilled manpower and we must train our youth and ensure they are productive in the right areas,” th CS said.

“Total budget for the programme being implemented by the ministries of labour, public service and education is Sh 15 billion. Labour, through Nita, is implementing Sh5 billion skills training component of the programme,” Nita Director General Paul Kipsang Koech added.

Ms Kandie said described the project dubbed Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project “as the heart and soul of President Uhuru Kenyatta” and directed her ministry staff to be effective and efficient in its implementation.

“The Kenya Youth Employment Opportunity Project (K-YEOP) presents an opportunity for Nita to showcase itself. I call for thorough execution of the project which the whole nation is looking at and expecting dividends from."

She added: “The business community will need skilled workforce. I am looking forward for you to reenergize your strategies and ensure this project is successful and that is something that must be done at all cost. It is a very big project that when I recently talked about in Washington, it drew a lot of attention and we hope to get other partners,” she added.

More than 70,000 youth both from formal and informal training background are set to benefit from the programme.