In November 24, 2016 the Kenyan government through the Ministry of ICT in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs announced a new programme whose aim was to introduce young people to online work by providing them with tools, training and mentorship to work and earn an income through online work. The programme was Ajira Digital.
The target for the programme was to enable over one million young Kenyans to get access to online jobs over the next one year since launch. Today, that number stands at 10,000 youth who have registered on the platform, with no mention of how many jobs have been provided through the platform.
Today, at the ongoing Connected Summit 2017, Ajira Digital has received a grant of Ksh. 100 Million from the Rockefeller Foundation Africa. The grant extended through the implementing partners, Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA), will go towards the training of 10,000 youth and apprentices on how to seek and get online jobs.
Training on Ajira portal will be in 21 centres across Kenya. Youth signed up on Ajira Digital will be contacted for training and certification within these centres.
Under phase 1 of the Programme, KEPSA will oversee the development of the Ajira Digital training curriculum and the assigning of the trained apprentices to identified experienced workers and online freelancers.
The government said that they are currently rolling out the Constituency Innovation Hubs project to provide free Wi-Fi in four locations in the 290 constituencies.
While making the announcement at the ongoing Connected Summit 2017, Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, Joe Mucheru said, “The pursuit of an empowered, engaged and involved youth population cannot be fulfilled through my Ministry alone; neither can it be delivered by Government action alone. We require all stakeholders to pull resources and capacity together for greater impact and sustainable results”.
