Experts Meet in Kenya to Boost Youth Skills in Africa

NAIROBI, Xinhua: Experts began a two-day meeting Monday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to discuss ways to equip youth with skills for employment and entrepreneurship.

The second edition of the Skill Up Africa Expo and Conference gathered more than 100 delegates, composed of senior government officials from across Africa as well as officials from United Nations agencies and international development partners, to exchange ideas and best practices for expanding the pool of skilled youth on the continent.

Shadrack Mwadime, principal secretary in the Kenyan Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, said in his opening remarks that the country is promoting interventions to reskill and upskill youth to prepare them for new and emerging occupations.

“Kenya is also reducing the skills mismatch by aligning skills supply to demand toward attaining a skilled workforce that is employable, productive, enterprising, innovative, adaptable, and competitive,” Mwadime said.

He added that over the last few years, Kenya has developed policies such as the National Skills Development Policy to create an environment for all stakeholders, including the government and the private sector, to enhance the training of youth with relevant skills.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rates for the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups are 16.3 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively, due to a lack of skills.

Caroline Njuki, chief technical adviser for the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Kenya, said youth skills development is fundamental to empowering young people, enhancing their employability, and fostering entrepreneurship.

Njuki added that the ILO aims to empower youth to drive innovation and economic progress by addressing barriers to education and promoting market-responsive skills training. She noted that the ILO encourages member states to adopt comprehensive policies and programs of technical and vocational guidance that are closely linked with employment.

Jacqueline Mugo, chief executive officer of the Federation of Kenya Employers and president of the International Organization of Employers, urged technical institutes to invest in research to enable them to prioritize the training of skills that will be in demand in the future.