CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAP YEI) and Mastercard Foundation announced today a five-year, US$10.5 million partnership to provide economically disadvantaged young people with technical and employability skills as well as support to access job opportunities or start small businesses.
Building on the success of CAP YEI’s Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) model, this expanded partnership will directly provide skills training to 23,000 Kenyan youth and help them to secure employment opportunities, further education and training. The program will reach an additional 39,000 youth through partnerships with 100 vocational training centres that will be supported to deliver market-based, demand-driven skills training across the country. The program will also support 4,000 of the targeted youth to establish or grow micro-enterprises.
“The BEST model has become an important solution for youth seeking employment as well as employers seeking skilled and motivated workers,” said Ndung’u Kahihu, Executive Director of CAP YEI. “The plan now, is to expand the program in partnership with Government and other stakeholders so that it can enable more youth to participate positively in the social and economic development of Kenya.”
The partnership announcement was made at a two-day event hosted by CAP YEI which brought together more than 200 participants, including experts from Kenya, USA, Canada and India to reflect on evidence and learning from the first phase of the program and discuss ways of improving and expanding the program in its second phase.
“This new partnership will contribute to a sustainable solution for youth employment in Kenya, reaching tens of thousands of youth with the critical skills they need to enter the workforce or start a small business,” said Karen Moore, Program Manager of Youth Livelihoods at Mastercard Foundation. “It will also support ongoing advancements of the technical and vocational education system in the country, expanding the reach of the program so that more youth have the opportunity to improve their livelihoods.”
The first phase of the project was launched in 2011 and has directly trained more than 9,000 Kenyan youth with technical and life-skills. More than 88 percent of these youth transitioned to jobs, created small businesses or enrolled in further education and training.
According to a longitudinal survey from The University of Minnesota, the majority of youth who completed the program reported that they feel a greater sense of confidence and financial independence, have become role models within their communities, are able to save money and can contribute to the well-being of their families.
The program has also helped to build the capacity of vocational training centres by enabling them to apply the key principles of the BEST model in order to improve learning outcomes in their institutions. In this way, CAP YEI has reached an additional 5,800 youth through partnerships with 46 vocational training centres across Kenya.
