KCB’s partnership with Meru County Aiming to Train 400 Youth
The KCB Foundation has partnered with the Meru County Government to train 400 young people over the course of 24 months through the GIZ E4D program. The Meru government will look and finance a youth for young person the KCB Foundation sponsors for technical training.
The training will be delivered through the KCB Foundation’s 2jiajiri program, which focuses on the development of youth skills and the creation of jobs through enterprise development.
Adressing unemployment
The agreement is part of a German Development Cooperation program aimed at improving the employability and income generation of 3,500 Kenyan youth working in the construction industry.
“We believe in the potential of our youths, and they are the majority in our population. Unfortunately, the biggest group of unemployed people are also the youths.” KCB Foundation Acting Chief of Party Caroline Wanjeri.
She explained that the KCB Foundation works through the 2jiajiri program to address the issue of youth unemployment by teaching and equipping them with the necessary skills to become self-employed.
“The problem of youths is not only that they are unemployed, but that many of them are unemployable because they lack the right skills.” Governor of Meru Kiraitu Murungi noted.
He explained that he had championed the cause of youth employment by launching a number of programs, including the Mitunguu Technical Training Institute, and providing opportunities for young people to work on county contracts. He cited the case of Meru Level 5 Hospital, which had been vandalized by youngsters.
The Governor also authorized the GIZ E4D program to train 140 beneficiaries at Mitunguu Technical Training Institute.
KCB Foundation & GIZ as partners
The KCB Foundation and GIZ have agreed to invest KES 300 million over the next three years to support technical and vocational skills training. The funding will also be used to provide 700 young people with construction toolkits, allowing them to start their own construction businesses.
The partnership has been extended through the Employment and Skills for Development in Africa (E4D) program, which was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ, as well as the KCB Foundation’s 2jiajiri Program, which aims to create self-employment and start businesses among Kenya’s unskilled and semi-skilled youth.
The initiative will target a total of 60% men and 40% women, with a preference for unskilled workers who have previously worked in the construction industry. Masonry and brickwork, carpentry and joinery, plumbing and pipe work, electrical installation, and welding and metalwork will all be taught to the kids.
From 2017 to 2019, the 2jiajiri program, in collaboration with the E4D program, trained 4,000 youngsters in the subsectors of construction and agriculture across seven counties. Bosch provided toolkits to 580 teenagers from the construction cohort as part of the engagement.
