The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection with Exhibitors stakeholders has held its 2nd Edition Skill Up Africa Expo with the aim of equipping youths with the required skills for the job market.
State Department for Labor and Skills Development Principal Secretary (PS) Shadrack Mwadime said that the future of industrialization was in Africa due to its huge youthful population.
Speaking on Monday at the KICC to mark the World Yoth Skills Day, Mwadime said the day is celebrated in Kenya on July 15th yearly in line with the declaration of the United Nation, an event themed Youth Skills for Peace and Development which is set aside to celebrate the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.
“The theme is driven by the need to recognize the crucial role that young people play in peace building and conflict resolution efforts from every continent,” he said.
Mwadime reaffirmed the government’s commitment to equip the youth with the necessary skills which will foster a culture of nurturing responsible global citizens and promoting sustainable development to build a more just inclusive and sustainable future for all.
The PS said that time has come to recognize the potential of young people as agents of peace and provide them with peacebuilding skills in the quest to build a peaceful, prosperous and resilient Kenya.
He noted that this year’s World Youth Skill Day was taking place at a time when the young people were agitating for a better future and the government is ready to harness the ideas of the youth in order to transform society, improve the state of the world and to shape the future.
Mwadime maintained that the government would carry the task of ensuring that the young people are empowered and not left behind adding that they must be given a greater voice in decision making at all levels.
“According to the Kenya National Bureau Statistics, the age group of 20-24 and 25-29 years continued to record the highest proportion of the unemployed at 60.3% and 9.1% respectively,” he stated.
Further, the PS said that the youth aged 24 years had the highest rate of long-term unemployment which stood at 13.5% yet the unemployment challenge was not beyond their ability to serve.
He said the Ministry of Labour is committed to promoting decent work, skills development and sustainable job creation.“We are mindful of the potential of young people to contribute to socio-economic development and foster increased prosperity for the country, since the ministry has reduced the skills mismatch,” said the PS.
He said that they were working on transforming career guidance to enable the youth to manage their careers, promoting integrated work pace learning to enhance productivity and sustainable socio-economic development, enhancing business process outsourcing cross skills development and promoting the skilling, out skilling intervention for new and emerging occupations.
“The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection has created and maintained various management information systems that aimed at enhancing access to the labour market. The systems include National Employment Authority Integrated Management System and Kenya Labour Market Information System, among others,” highlighted the PS.
National Youth Council Acting Chief Executive Officer Margaret Kiogora said that it was imperative for the partners to come together and invest in equipping the youths with necessary skills and tools that they needed to thrive and create change for a more peaceful and sustainable future.
“A total of 85% of the jobs that the youths would be doing in 2030 have not yet been invented,” she noted urging stakeholders, youths, and partners to think creatively, innovatively to equip and ensure the young people acquired necessary skills for the future jobs in order to help them compete effectively to the global market.
Kiogora stated the mandate of State Corporations under the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports was to amplify the voice of the youth since they have their voices which were very powerful, as she urged the youths to take the chance and heed the call for dialogue.
“The development of the skills among the youth is not about economic growth. It is about building a foundation for peace, stability and sustainable progress and also equipping youths with the tools to become active and engage citizens who can lead to a brighter future,” she said.
She announced that the National Youth Council is a programme that is committed to young people in safeguarding youth innovation in climate action, agriculture, governance, creative economy, and championing initiatives that empower youth to drive positive change.
By Sharon Atieno
