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| Talent centre Kwanthanze High School volleyball players train at the school. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD] |
By OSCAR PILIPILI
Embu is set to be the first county to implement a talent academy project after regional government budgeted Sh28 million for the initiative.
A stakeholders’ meeting was held at Safari Park Hotel yesterday with the view to drafting a proposal on how to roll out the ambitious programme.
Emily Njuki, the Embu County Executive Committee Member in charge of youth and sports said the talent academy model will cater for both in and out school youths.
Addressing stakeholders yesterday, Njuki said the Government has set aside Sh15 million for renovation of former Embu Sports Club where the academy will sit.
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She said further Sh13 million will go towards talent identification in form of sports activities at ward level, talent development and nurturing.
“We’re establishing talent academy that will complement the academy course work of our youths and fill in the gap left by over emphasizing on academic excellence,” said Njuki.
The executive officer maintained that Embu County Government is passionate on the programme and will offer unlimited opportunities for the youth.
Enhance skills
“My belief and that of the Government is that is that our partnership with United Nations Children Education Fund (Unicef) and the Government of Kenya will give our youths the platform they need to enhance their skills for commercial exploitation,” she said.
Njuki said they intend to borrow from what Unicef has achieved at national level and use that experience to customise at county level.
“We ask for assistance from all stakeholders to help us roll out the programme the soonest,” she said.
Pilot project
The stakeholders’ meeting was attended by representatives from UNICEF, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Kenya Secondary Schools Secondary School Sports Association various sports federations.
After lengthy deliberations, stakeholders concurred to pilot the project with football, volleyball, athletics and theater. Sports like rowing and canoeing were also proposed.
Embu County Talent Academy project is in line with the Jubilee Manifesto and Vision 2030 that intends to introduce two centers of excellence for both boys’ and girls’ in each one of the 47 counties.
According to Eliud Wambua, an Assistant Director in Ministry of Education, the ambitious county project would involve 400,000 students from 26,000 schools.
This initiative would be funded by Kenya and Canada Governments.
Olivia Ouko, the youth in Ministry of Planning and Devolution, challenged the people of Embu to consider including traditional sports in the talent academy program to harness talent.
“The talent academy project is meant to make Kenya an international sporting country and Embu has just started the journey,” Ouko said.
The skills development scheme started with National Youth Talent Academy in 2010 and was shortly after devolved to eight provinces.
