Young Africa Works TVET partners forum kicks off in Mombasa

Young Africa Works Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Partners Forum has kicked off in Mombasa, the event will run from 29th to 31st July.

The project is a partnership between Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan), the Mastercard Foundation, the Kenyan Ministry of Education and the private sector.

Principal Secretary for the State Department for TVET, Dr. Esther Muoria who officially opened the event urged development partners to collaborate with TVET institutions to deepen efforts of creating employment, Education or Training (NEET) youth and also provide clear, direction and practical pathways to opportunity.

Dr. Muoria said TVET training is now linked to industry where skilling is done from industry, with industry and for industry ensuring alignment with market needs and improving graduate absorption into the workforce.

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The PS urged all actors to turn the Forum’s theme of “Empowering Youth, Transforming Futures” into a lived reality.

During the panel discussion on the future of TVET skills development  in Kenya, the PS also  emphasized the need to sustain the program’s gains and strengthening Income-Generating Activities (IGAs) using the skills honed as a strategy for financial self-reliance and institutional resilience ensuring that innovation, quality training and youth empowerment continue long after the project cycle ends.

The Young Africa Works project focuses on strengthening the quality and relevance of TVET institutions and systems in Kenya for the key economic growth sectors identified under the Big Four agenda (manufacturing, universal healthcare, food security, affordable housing) and digital sectors.

The project fosters partnerships between Kenyan and Canadian institutions to develop TVET Centres of Excellence (COEs) that will increase the participation of youth, particularly women, in market-relevant skills training programs to ultimately increase the number of youth in dignified and fulfilling work.

By Obegi Malack