The ICT Authority has opened applications for Cohort XI of the Presidential Digital Talent (DigiTalent) Program, targeting 400 recent graduates for a 12-month internship spanning:
- Network and Digital Infrastructure
- Software Development and AI
- Information Security
- Data Analytics
- Multimedia and Digital Marketing
Applicants have until midnight on September 7, 2026, and must be Kenyan citizens aged 21 to 29 with First or Upper Second-Class Honors from the last two years, unemployed, and never previously enrolled in a government internship.
On paper, the program addresses a real gap. Kenyan universities graduate more ICT professionals than the formal job market can absorb.
DigiTalent gives young professionals structured experience in both the public and private sectors, access to mentors, and time to build a portfolio before competing for limited entry-level jobs.
Since its 2014 launch under President Uhuru Kenyatta, the program has run through multiple cohorts and put more than 2,100 interns through public and private placements, with many alumni going on to formal jobs or entrepreneurship.
Cohort XI’s inclusion of AI alongside traditional software development also signals an attempt to keep the curriculum current with where the industry is heading.
The program’s own record raises questions about that promise. Figures cited in a 2025 labor case showed that of roughly 25,000 beneficiaries, only 1,964 had moved into permanent, pensionable government jobs.
Petitioners argued that this showed the internship had become more of a holding pattern than a path to permanent employment.
Kenya still has no law setting standards for internship stipends or conditions, so what a cohort actually experiences on the ground depends largely on which institution it lands in.
There is also a structural mismatch. KIPPRA’s review of youth employment schemes shows that government internship slots are only in the low thousands each year, while the number of unemployed graduates is several times higher.
This means DigiTalent and similar programs can only take in a small share of applicants, regardless of how well they are run.
The intended impact is to build a globally competitive ICT and leadership talent pipeline that improves public service delivery while giving graduates workplace experience they cannot obtain elsewhere.
That objective is credible, and the demand for it is obvious in application numbers for every cohort.
