World Bank gives Kenya Sh15bn for youth jobs

Jua kali artisans at work in Nairobi. The Kenyan economy created 841,600 new informal sector jobs in 2015. PHOTO | FILE 

By NEVILLE OTUKI, notuki@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• The money is earmarked for the establishment of a business grants programme, support companies that offer to bridge jobs skills gaps among college graduates and to strengthen Kenya’s policy on youth development.
• The World Bank initiative targets 280,000 young people aged between 18 and 29 years “who are without jobs and have experienced extended spells of unemployment, or are currently working in vulnerable jobs”.

The World Bank has given Kenya Sh15 billion to finance initiatives that help stem the tide of joblessness in the country.

The money, which the bank’s directors approved early this month, is earmarked for the establishment of a business grants programme, support companies that offer to bridge jobs skills gaps among college graduates and to strengthen Kenya’s policy on youth development.

These are collectively expected to cut poverty levels in the country and put it on a firm path to shared prosperity that narrows the ever-growing socio-economic gulf between the rich and poor.

Kenya holds the dubious distinction of being the country with the largest number of unemployed youth in East Africa.

A recent survey of the region’s employment market found that one in every five Kenyan youths of working age has no job.

The World Bank initiative targets 280,000 young people aged between 18 and 29 years “who are without jobs and have experienced extended spells of unemployment, or are currently working in vulnerable jobs”. The minimum education level required to benefit from the programme is Form Four.

“The project responds to the high numbers of new entrants to the workforce who are presently outpacing the capacity of the Kenyan economy to absorb in productive employment,” the bank said.

The plan comes with a segment for competition in business ideas that is open to those aged 35 years and below.

Winners of the competition will be awarded cash grants to establish startups or expand their businesses to create more jobs — removing a major hurdle for cash-starved entrepreneurs.

Some 33,000 young people are set to benefit from training and business capital this year in the five-year initiative estimated to cost $150 million (Sh15 billion).

Mass joblessness, especially among the youth, is a drag on the economy because it forces unemployed adults to depend on the small number of working class, stretches family resources and makes it difficult for families to save for future investments.

The Kenyan economy created 128,000 new formal sector jobs in 2015, accounting for only 15.2 per cent of total jobs generated last year (841,600 jobs), according to the recently released Economic Survey 2016.

At 128,000, the expansion of the formal employment market lags far behind the number of graduates leaving Kenyan colleges, which stands at more than 400,000 annually.

READ: Kenya has the largest number of jobless youth in East Africa

The World Bank says mass unemployment continues to deny Kenya the opportunity to put its growing labour force to productive use, making it difficult for the economy to reap the demographic dividend.