Nakuru County and ILO partner to equip youth with technical skills

Macharia Muigai, 29, has been visiting KenGen offices in Naivasha hoping to get a job in the state corporation for the past two years, however, no job has been forthcoming.

One of the major reasons that Mr Muigai has not secured a job at the corporation is because he does not have the requisite technical skills. He is one of the hundreds of youths in Naivasha, Mai Mahiu and Gilgil in Nakuru County who have been complaining of missing out on local jobs at the state corporation.

This may, however, become a thing of the past after Nakuru County Government partnered with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and a non-governmental organisation known as Forum Seed to equip such youths with skills through training in two of its technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in Naivasha, Mirera and Maiella.

The two institutions were chosen since they are located near KenGen, young people who live in the area have been complaining that they were not being employed by the state agency.

The partnership between the devolved government and ILO has come up with the programme of training locals to get skills and stand a high chance of getting employment in the state corporation,” said David Mwangi, Nakuru County director of vocational training.

Vocational training centres

He added: "The curriculum has been prepared by the Curriculum Development Assessment and Certificate Council (CDACC) to be adopted by vocational training centres in Kenya. This curriculum focuses around Naivasha and is supposed to be responsive to the market needs and targets state agencies such as KenGen and Kenya Railways," said Mr Mwangi.

Some of the skills the curriculum will be focusing on include motor vehicle mechanics, electrical installation, electronics, welding, plumbing, basic building courses, fashion and design, beauty and hairdressing, food and beverage among others.

"KenGen will require skilled manpower to repair their vehicles and trained mechanics will come in handy...The SGR is also expected to make good use of welders to repair the installation," added Mwangi.

Apart from KenGen, the trained manpower is expected to be absorbed in the fast-growing Naivasha dry port, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) besides venturing into self-employment.

Mr Mwangi said that the devolved unit has partnered with engineers from KenGen who will also impart skills to the youths undergoing training and instructors at the TVET.

"KenGen has some of the best engineers in the electrical field and having them on board is a great advantage to our youths as they will have hands-on training by experts and by the time they finish their training, they will be ready for any job market," said Mr Mwangi.

Self-employed

The official revealed that ILO will help the trainees get placement in private and public institutions by recommending them. The county is also collaborating with the Tools to Work Organisation and helps the trainees to purchase tools to start self-employment after completing their training.

"The county pays half of the amount for the tools and the rest is catered for by the Tools To Work Organisation. We identify the tools the trainees need”, and as they depart, they leave with tools to help them become self-employed," explained Mr Mwangi.

He announced that ILO was contemplating working with Geothermal Development Company (GDC) to identify TVEts in Nakuru Town where more youths will be trained to help them benefit from the state corporation which is drilling wells in the Menengai Crater.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the County Government of Nakuru and ILO was signed in 2018 by Governor Lee Kinyanjui in Nairobi.

It has helped the instructors to acquire skills to implement the curriculum which was formulated last year by Kenya Technical Training College (KTTC), CDAC and Nakuru County government.

Nakuru has 5,260 trainees in its TVETs and the majority of them are hoping to sharpen their skills through the new partnership.

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