A total of 178 young people from Marsabit County have graduated from Merille Vocational Training Center under the KCB Foundation and Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works (YAW) programme, marking a significant step towards addressing youth unemployment in the county through skills development.

For the past five years, KCB Foundation, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, has been running the YAW project in Kenya, equipping 8,500 youth with skills across diverse economic sectors.

The initiative has boosted employability and income generation, resulting in the creation and sustenance of 43,000 jobs.

Commenting on the graduation, KCB Foundation Director Mendi Njonjo said: “As a brand, we recognize the rising unemployment rates in the country and the larger East African region, which is why we have taken deliberate steps to address it through our economic empowerment programme, 2Jiajiri.

Today, we celebrate the young men and women from this great county who will now embark on their entrepreneurial journey.”

During the event, which was attended by the County Governor, Hon. Ali Mohamud, a total of 110 toolkits were handed over to the project participants to help kickstart their business ventures. Out of the 178 youth who graduated, 70 percent were women, underscoring the Foundation’s commitment to inclusivity.

“We appreciate the efforts of organizations like KCB Foundation and Mastercard Foundation, who are intentional about tackling youth unemployment and underemployment.

Their support goes a long way in ensuring that the young people from our county access dignified and fulfilling work,” noted Governor Ali Mohamud.

The project offers support in technical vocational education and training of vulnerable youth in short courses for 6 – 9 months. This is achieved through practical-oriented vocational training, life skills, work readiness training, and enterprise development skills, necessary to drive employment opportunities and wealth creation.

Each training intake runs for nine months and consists of six months of classroom and three months’ industrial attachment with practical training to address the skills gaps. The trainees are then funnelled into employment opportunities once they complete their attachment, and those interested in establishing their micro-enterprises are supported in Business Development Services (BDS), equipped with trade-specific starter toolkits, and provided start-up and working capital by KCB Bank through the Foundation.

To date, the 2Jiajiri Programme has trained over 35,000 youth, supported the creation of over 150,000 jobs, disbursed millions in youth enterprise loans, and distributed over 2,000 business start-up toolkits.