THE AJIRA ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM

By Arnold Makumba

The Ministry of ICT with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation partnered to address the growing tide of unemployment amongst the youth in Kenya through the provision of online work training. Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) was selected as the implementing partner who engaged the African Center for Women and ICT (ACWICT) as the lead trainers for the one-month long program.

The program targets to train at least 10, 000 youth in the country by equipping them with skills to pursue online work.  

To achieve this number the Ministry opted to have the training run 
simultaneously in five centers in the country.  The centers selected are Nairobi- Kenyatta University main campus, Mombasa- Kenyatta University, Mombasa Campus, Meru – The Cooperative University of Kenya, Nakuru—Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology (RVIST) Main Campus and Kisumu-Tom Mboya Labor College. This is a one-week residential training that runs for the whole month of June 2017. 

The program is now in its fourth week and it's greatly successful despite the fact that many youths couldn't all be enrolled due to a large number of applicants for limited slots. The trainees are hosted in the respective centers where they are provided with food and accommodation. Each day classes commence at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and may extend depending on the module being covered on a particular day.

The trainers from ACWICT are very knowledgeable and have an excellent mode of delivery that is both practical and realistic taking cognizance of the trainee's needs. Modules being covered include an introduction to online work, skills, and attributes for online workers, platforms for online work, signing up and bidding for work, entrepreneurship, financial management, and digital marketing skills. On completion of the one-week training, the trainees are offered a one-month mentorship program aimed at supporting the trainee now a newbie, to successfully transition onto the online work platform thus gaining income and improving on the acquired skills.

As it enters its homestretch it's my expectation that the designers of the program will provide adequate support to the trainees to the point that they are able to ride solo on the various platforms. The negativity that had been raised concerning this venture will only be put to rest through this mentorship once it succeeds in establishing the trainees in their various choice of job categories.

Nevertheless, this is an excellent idea if well executed it will address the dire unemployment issue in the country.  Many thanks and appreciation to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance for such an excellent partnership that has brought this venture thus far. We look forward to many more opportunities that will empower the youth and set them on the path of success.