Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs Ms. Nadia Abdallah has asked young people to make use of various government empowerment funds to improve their lives and abilities.
Speaking on Friday at Mombasa Swahilipot hub, Ms. Abdallah said youth should be the controllers of their future lives and through the revolving funds; they can start their own businesses.
“Uptake of youth funds are low, as leaders we saw the need to create awareness and that is why we came up with “Kenya is me” youth dialogue to ensure the young people are passionate about our country and embrace its opportunities fully,” she said.
Kenya is me youth dialogue is a campaign to sensitize the young people to seize the many opportunities and programmes offered at the national and the county levels.
Ms. Abdallah said that from their research from the local officers in charge of the youths, it was evident that young people are not really happy with the activities of the country as they feel neglected.
The CAS also challenged the youths to embrace technology.
Ms. Nadia said, to ensure youth are going with the trend; they should participate in the Kenya Youth Empowerment Opportunities Project (KYEOP) that is now on cycle six of nine before it lapse.
The project equips youth with essential training, internships and business grants opportunities.
“The development objective of KYEOP is to increase employment and earning opportunities among targeted young people across Kenya. The aim is to reach over 280,000 youth during the project period,” said Ms. Abdallah.
She said, the main beneficiaries of the project are young people between 18-29 years who are jobless or working in vulnerable jobs, adding that only form four leavers are fit for the programme.
Ms. Abdallah applauded youth from Mombasa and Kwale for highly embracing the programme and said being the founder counties, they have set a good record.
Only 17 counties are beneficiaries but the aim is to reach the rest of the country.
“After we finish with cycle nine of the KYEOP we will sit down and evaluate the Programme and see if we can continue with it. The project is sponsored by the World Bank in partnership with the Government of Kenya,” she added.
by Chari Suche and Brian Kiprono
