22,000 youths to be selected for training in Sh15 billion project

Some 22,000 youths will be selected for cycle five of the Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project.

Youth Principal Secretary Julius Korir said the selection process was on to recruit eligible young people for the programme.

He said 22,000  youths out of the 177,000 applicants will be selected and placed for training. “We are using computerised random selection for the programme,” Korir said.

Successful applicants will be notified in October to start training in November. Korir spoke in Kisumu during the assessment of the state of preparedness of master craftsmen to resume the KYEOP cycle five programme.

He said cycle five with an enhanced number of beneficiaries is tailored to prepare youth for employable skills training and enhanced opportunities.

Korir, who was accompanied by Youth Chief Administrative Secretary Nadia Abdalla, said there will be three more cycles for new cohorts.

The five-year period programme is aimed at enhancing youth employability through technical skills and increasing earning opportunities for youth aged between 18-29 years and who have up to Form Four level of education.

The project is funded by World Bank to the tune of Sh 15 billion. It began in 2017.

Korir said more than Sh400 million grants have been given out to youths for the past two years. In Kisumu, Sh48 million has been issued.

“We want youths to come out and take advantage of the grants to start businesses and be self-reliant,” Korir said.

“Each master craftsman is allocated a maximum of six trainees for the five months jobs specific skills training,” he said.

The PS said the design was unlike other models where trainees converge at a central point for instruction.

Under the model adopted by the project, youths report to their trainers and their limited numbers allow for easy conformity to the Ministry of Health Covid-19 safety measures.

Korir said the KYEOP intervention of training and internship was suspended in March due to coronavirus.

He said the uptake rate was very high as beneficiaries are able to run their businesses.

Korir said they have been conducting master craftsmen and formal training providers assessment to gauge their preparedness for the resumption over the past three weeks.

He noted that they have conformed to the Ministry of Health Covid-19 safety measures.  Korir said the model adopted for grants beneficiaries ensures that they receive the funding to start individually owned enterprises after showing an entrepreneurial aptitude.

He said they are undertaking an intensified campaign of assessing the level of preparedness in the 17 counties implementing the project.

They are Mombasa, Kilifi, Nairobi, Nakuru, Kiambu, Nyandarua, Mandera, Turkana, Wajir, Bungoma, Kakamega, Kwale, Kisumu, Kisii, Machakos, Kitui and Migori.

“These beneficiaries will have gone through a one-month life skills training prior to being allocated to master craftsmen.”