Youth internship programme kicks off in March

By Rosemary Kavili

Besides the usual ups and downs that come with pursuing college education, the road to securing a place for internship is increasingly becoming bumpy.

In addition, the high unemployment rate estimated at 40 per cent has sent many wondering if it’s worth pursuing a career of choice.

Students have to go through hard times to practice what they have learnt in school, yet most employers want experienced staff.

"Where do we get the experience if companies cannot give us the opportunity to apply our skills," complains Gladys Moraa, a job seeker who completed college two years ago.

A lot has been done by companies and the Government to bridge the divide between the job market and skills learnt in colleges.

However, the gap keeps widening due to the high number of high school and college graduates.

Jobless youth

In July last year, the Government launched an internship programme to equip jobless youth of between the ages of 15 and 29 with the skills they need to be gainfully employed.

The $15.5 million (Sh1.2 billion) five year programme will be funded by World Bank and managed by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA).

By the end of the project in late 2014, about 11, 000 young people will have had the internship and hopefully, half of them will be employed in several key sectors of economy.

"Besides being in the 15-19 age bracket, an applicant must have attended school for at least eight years plus being out of school for one full year," said Linda Thompson, the Project Director.

Though she could not disclose the specific amount, Thompson said the Word Bank released the first batch of funding late last year.

Kepsa has also taken several strides in a bid to keep the programme rolling

"We called for applications and received 9,300 names of which 5,583 were eligible," said Ms Thompson.

After a random selection, 1,350 youth were selected. The exercise was conducted by KPMG as part of their corporate social responsibility, in the presence of officers from the Office of the Prime Minister and the Betting Control and Licencing Board.

The first cycle of the programme will begin in March, where participants will undertake a life skills module, after which they will embark on the core business training.

"The youth will be taken through sector specific skills in six sectors which are energy, finance, tourism, ICT, manufacturing and the informal sector," said Ms Thompson.

Every youth will be given Sh6,000 a month.

The programme is aimed at upgrading skills and empowering the youth to get jobs either with the employers who gave them places for internship or with any other.

Companies have not been left out in the quest to train students in preparation for the job market.

An attachment programme started by CMC Motors Group in the early 1980s has given work experience to more than 2,000 students.

Despite all these, a big number of youth go through difficulties in the quest to apply skills learnt in colleges in preparation for the job market.

The writer is a masters student in communications studies at the University of Nairobi