Kiambu Holds First Youth Employment Summit

 

Over 400 youth from Kiambu participated in a pioneer youth employment summit that not only addressed unemployment needs of the youth but also explored potential areas that they could venture into.

Organised by the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and the County Governance Watch (CGW), the summit addressed some of the pressing issues that the youth are encountering, including the socio-economic disparities within Kiambu County with the aim of fostering dialogue and collaboration.

Director of County Governance Watch (CGW), Mr. Kevin Osido, said employment is real for the youth but the disproportionate number of job opportunities that are extended to individuals from outside the county is also a big challenge.

“The unequal distribution of employment opportunities has led to a substantial segment of the youth demographic remaining unemployed thus driving them into drug and alcohol abuse, hence the reason we saw fit to hold this summit,” Osido said.

Osido noted that the overall goal of the summit is to foster dialogue between the employer and the county government representatives to address employment opportunities for the youth, address challenges, and promote collaboration between the employers and the government.

The discussion was focused on strengthening key areas such as digital technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, green economy, and trade and investments with the aim of providing quality content at the summit.

The County Executive Committee Member for Youth Affairs and Sports, Mr. Osman Korar, echoed Osido’s statements saying that the summit will create an action plan after addressing the challenges.

“After we have discussed the issues addressed at the summit, our final objective is to come up with an action plan and how we will implement it so that we can finally address the unemployment issue in our county,” Korar said.

The event, which was a collaboration between the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and County Governance Watch (CGW) aimed to address issues that contribute to youth unemployment and socio-economic disparities within Kiambu County.

The event brought together over 80 employers and had a panel of government representatives, community leaders, education institutions, and civil society organisations from the University of Nairobi, JKUAT, MKU, PAC, Zetech University, KUCCPS, Brookside, Tetratech, KWFT, Danco Plastics, Silicon Tech, Advanced Builders and Innovators, among others.

Panellists ensured that all the questions asked found solutions and made sure the youth understood the role of youth in employment, the role of academia in empowering the youth, and what employers look for in young people.

Susan Makana, a youth from Kiambu said young people deserve more spaces like this to empower and give them a platform to network.

“Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges we face in the country, with a large percentage of youth struggling to find opportunities,”  she said while betting on the outcome of the summit to open ways for the youth to secure jobs in the county.

According to the Kenya 2019 Census, the jobless in the capital city of Nairobi are estimated at 16 percent of the 2.7 million unemployed Kenyans. Other counties accounting for the majority of the unemployed are Kiambu (6.3 percent), Garissa (6.2 percent), Turkana (5.5 percent), and Mombasa (5.3 percent).

By Sylvia Wanjohi