The Kenyan government wants to solve the problem of youth employment. It has just launched a training program for young people in digital skills. This is the large program called Ajira (employment in Swahili). The idea is to create a million digital jobs for young Kenyans who will be online free-launchers within a few months.
Like the one launched by Google which has trained half a million young Africans with digital skills, the Kenyan government’s initiative aims to tackle the thorny problem of youth unemployment. The Ajira program is part of Uhuru Kenyatta’s government’s perspective of making his country a hub for technological innovation in Africa. Ajira aims to foster the deployment of tech experts across the country to train young people. Joe Mucheru, Kenyan Minister of Information, Communication and Technology indicates that there are plans to provide free Wi-Fi Internet connection and set up a registration platform in line as part of the program.
Online jobs to solve youth unemployment
The program in question is an initiative to meet the needs of young Kenyans who are languishing under the weight of ambient unemployment. It is also an opportunity to develop the Kenyan information and communication technology sector. On the other hand, the Kenyan Minister of Information, Communication and Technology explains that the authorities plan to maximize efforts on online jobs offered by several companies in the country in recent years. “Businesses are making more work online because it’s more convenient and profitable for them…” said Joe Mucheru. The Kenyan government estimates that more than 40,000 Kenyans have secured jobs online ranging from transcription services to software development at sites such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and the Kenyan platform KuHustle. The ambition is to continue on the same path with the Ajira program. According to currently available statistics, Kenya has the highest youth unemployment rate in East Africa. A situation that does not favor a country which plans to achieve it emerges in the medium term. World Bank data shows that 17% of working youth in Kenya are unemployed. At the same time, neighboring countries like Tanzania and Uganda have lower rates, 5.5% and 6.8% respectively. A challenge for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his government.
Africa La Tribune
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