Published on December 10, 2024 by Agencies for Kenya Online News
Last Updated on 2 years by Agencies for Kenya Online News
1,000 youth from Kericho county have graduated from various county-based technical vocational colleges courtesy of KCB Foundation and Mastercard Foundation partnership. The youth were trained under KCB Foundation’s 2Jiajiri youth skills and job creation programme.
KCB Foundation invested a total of KShs. 27 million towards the initiative covering the students’ training across various local Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions located within the county. 253 youth also received business start-up toolkits during the graduation.
The event was graced by the Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports Kipchumba Murkomen who noted that “I would like to express my gratitude to KCB for partnering with Kericho County to enhance youth skills and promote employability. This initiative is a commendable effort towards fostering grassroots development.”
Also present was Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai who commended the efforts to tackle unemployment at county level by leveraging technical skills. He said that “Together, through strategic partnerships, we can effectively tackle the issue of youth unemployment. In the coming year, our goal is to recruit an additional 5,000 beneficiaries into the program.”
On his part KCB Foundation Head of Programmes Joblin Omari noted advancing the economic agenda for the youth is a key focus for KCB Group, to unlock the development within the counties by leveraging on small and medium enterprise development to spur job creation.
“The youth represent an abundant resource in locally. By ensuring their well-equipped with the relevant technical skills, we enable them to maximise their potential by tapping to existing opportunities in the market. The 2Jiajiri programme achieves this by pooling resources with like-minded partners such as Mastercard Foundation, to empower the youth and catalyse enterprise development as pathway to self-employment” he added.
The youth received training in various courses under 2Jiajiri programme including Construction, Manufacturing, Beauty & Personal Care, Domestic Care, Automotive, Creative Economy, ICT, Sustainable Agriculture & Climate Change Initiatives as well as Health. The training consisted of three months of classroom work and three months of industrial attachment.
The partnership between KCB Foundation and Mastercard Foundation seeks to equip 8,500 youth aged between 18-34 years with technical skills and create 43,000 new jobs across the country by working closely with county governments.
