3000 youth are set to benefit from an internships and job placement program through a partnership between BrighterMonday Kenya, Creative Management Consultants Ltd, and The Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP) under The Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs.
The partnership was ratified and announced on Monday 19th September 2022 at the Ministry of ICT offices in Nairobi, Kenya marking the start of the World Bank-funded initiative that aims to drive socio-economic development for the youth.
Announcing the partnership, BrighterMonday Kenya noted that the program will lay the ground for both organizations to shape more strategies for the youth to get empowered and be viable for employability. The project will offer opportunities to the Kenyan youth, drawn from 17 counties across the country who will get access to different employers across diverse work disciplines.
The announcement comes at a time when the unemployment rate in the country is on the increase with World Bank data showing that 5.7 percent of Kenya’s labour force was out of work in 2021, up from 2.8 percent in 2013. The initiative is timely to improve youth employability in the target counties and improve the livelihoods of young Kenyans.
National Project Co-ordinator at KYEOP Augustine Mayabi noted” We are happy to witness the unveiling of a great initiative that will enable the youth in these 17 counties to get access to training and employment opportunities. We have noticed that after training these youth with various training institutions, we lose track of some and we now want to bring them back on board to offer internships and employment opportunities as they are fully equipped. This is such a great step towards curbing unemployment because so many youths lack the necessary skills to help them land opportunities. We value such impactful and life-changing initiatives”
BrighterMonday’s CEO Brian Ntambirweki, further stated, “We remain keen on supporting the youth and enabling them to get access to jobs in Kenya, and by collaborating with the Ministry of ICT under KYEOP, which is working on different initiatives, we are confident that we are heading towards the right direction in solving labour market challenges in Kenya,”.