Message from the Chief Administrative Secretary, Ministry of Labour Hon. Jackson Musyoka Kalla

CAS Ministry of Labour Hon. Jackson Musyoka Kalla.

The National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) has continued to play a vital role in the provision of the necessary skills and effective manpower that is required by industry for adequate growth and economic development. Industrial training especially that is targeted toward the youth will produce a sufficient and skilled labour force that is capable of meeting the rising demand of a rapidly industrializing economy.

In its path towards achieving the Kenya Vision 2030 and the Big 4 Agenda, Kenya must strategize comprehensively to have an adequate and sustainable source of human capital to enable the desired political, social and economic growth, a factor that will be propelled further through effective skilling for the youth.

It is therefore imperative that national agents are placed to drive the skills development agenda pursuant to the global, regional and national requirements. It is within these dynamics that all relevant skilling stakeholders should come together and provide leadership in the skills transformation ecosystem to ensure that strategic policy formulation, innovative training systems including open-ended and flexible structures for lifelong learning, mobilization of resources to drive skills development, strategies to raise relevance, quality, increased access and equity are achieved.

Further, it is of national interest that the development of specific frameworks and standards are dynamically undertaken to respond to the demands of both formal and informal sector skills patterns. For skills transformation frameworks to be effective they must identify key reforms and agencies that should be brought on board for a common partnership. They must be designed to develop a positive relationship and collaboration model supportive of a multi-stakeholder ecosystem.

For skills development to be effective within the defined space and produce productive synergy with all key industry players, we must actively seek to align ourselves with the necessary legal, policy and institutional national frameworks that are currently governing skill development in the country in one way or the other. It is therefore imperative to trigger and generate national dialogue that will bring all players to the table with a view of charting the way forward.

We must further implement measures that will fundamentally restructure and re-align institutions and key players in the industry in an effort to achieve Vision 2030 and keep abreast with the rapidly evolving Global, Continental and Regional trends.

I am confident that NITA’s Transformation will enable it to occupy its rightful regulatory role as espoused in the Industrial Training Act CAP 237 and the national agenda discourse. It is my firm belief that NITA will continue in its quest of ensuring that the skills development framework in Kenya meets the industry demands to propel the country into recognition as an industry leader where skills targeted toward the youth are concerned.