Unemployed youth in Kericho town have a reason to smile after the County government launched the Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Centre at the Moi Gardens where they can access digital literacy skills for free.
In a bid to explore strategies to address the structural causes of youth unemployment in Kericho, the County government established the ICT hub that is fully equipped with computers and ICT officers to ensure young people are trained and mentored on digital skills.
According to the ICT officer in charge of the facility Nelius Ngeny, over 300 youth have been trained and equipped with digital skills to enable them to venture into online work that could earn them a living.
The ICT officer was also delighted to mention that since the launch of the Ajira Digital Program early this year, unemployed youth have been able to venture into online jobs including transcription, captioning, data entry, and academic writing among others which has enabled them to earn a living.
He further said the hub had started to stimulate innovation in line with the Kenya ICT Master plan encouraging youths to come up with innovations using technology.
“Most of the computer-related businesses around Kericho town are controlled by the youth who have graduated from this Kericho public ICT hub. They have ventured into business such as cyber service, movies shop and electronic shop within the town,” said Ngeny.
He also said students get certificates after completion of the six-week training and mentorship courses on digital skills courtesy of Mt Kenya University which has partnered with the program.
“And apart from that those who enroll on Ajira Digital programme also benefit from certification after completion of the digital skills course,” Ngeny added
The ICT expert therefore, urged high school leavers to enroll for the free digital literacy skills in order to leverage ICT as an enabler to the new frontier for the global digital job opportunities.
He noted that a majority of youth also benefitted from the recently launched free public Wi-Fi to access online jobs at their convenience within Moi Gardens Park, in Kericho town.
Ngeny urged the government to provide more space and equipment to accommodate the huge numbers of trainees who turn up for training at the ICT centre.
By Kibe Mburu and Kevin Rotich
