THE FACTS ABOUT AJIRA DIGITAL TRAINING AND THE POSITIVE IMPACT IT HAS ON THE YOUTH

Ajira is a digital training programme that was launched by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology to equip the youth with skills, tools and mentorship needed to produce online work. The programme will also serve as a platform that will enable the youth to acquire online jobs. The platform has so far trained 10,000 youth with 900 having graduated from Nairobi and 1500 from Machakos. An estimated Kshs. 6 billion has been invested by the government in the ongoing youth programme which is free of charge and hence easily accessible.

Currently, the July sessions are fully booked, an indication that most youth are taking this programme very seriously. The beauty about online work is that it is very flexible and one can choose the project that he or she is willing to undertake. According to Ajira, more than 40,000 Kenyans are registered on the online marketplace and many more are needed. In a 2014 survey, Kenya ranked 10th overall on a list of countries providing workers in the digital market making it top in Africa.

The platform is so dynamic that it not only trains the youth, but also seeks to steer them away from scammers and helps them identify platforms that will assist in the payment of their services such as PayPal. Another benefit Ajira offers its trainees is the Mashinani project which mainly targets the creative youths with no resources to record high quality audio production. The government and KBC have partnered to realize this initiative, whereby the broadcaster will be responsible for the operations of the studios, support and maintenance. On the other hand, the Ministry of ICT will provide the studio equipment and software that goes into recording talent. The studios are currently located in KBC, 2 in Nairobi, 1 in Machakos, 1 Kisumu, and 1 in Mombasa.