Session Name: Employment Services and Intermediation

Case Study: Kenya, Kenya Youth Empowerment Project(KYEP)

Presenter: Ehud Gachugu, Project Director, Training and Internship Component

Context and Background:

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Age group 15-35 years accounts for 40% of Kenya population.

Poverty and unemployment have become a huge challenge in

Kenya, especially for the youth.

6 million youth unemployed (61% of all unemployed people)

By 2030, 24 million unemployed youth.

Labour Market Challenges

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Economy not creating enough jobs/ economic growth not

equal to job creation

Mismatch between education and training and Job Market

requirement

Large number of young people entering labour markets

every year with no experience

Network and experience required in the labour market

Market failures that require interventions

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• Generally, Labor supply exceeds labor demand, but youth

unemployment remains a challenge:

• Non-conducive investment climate

• Lack of experience & information

• Skills mismatches

Specific youth labour market failures that require

interventions include;

Training and education

Skills demanded by the employers

Attitudes of the youth

Integrating policy and programs

Why its Important to address this challenges

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Increase the number of youth with skills required in the job

market

Employers participation in designing education and training

policies and programmes reduces the likely mismatch of skills

and employability

This is of interest to National Government to foster economic

and social growth and reduction of social costs associated with

unemployment

Role private sector in youth

empowerment

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• Private sector offers right tools and employment

opportunities

• Interest private sector: youth are major share of

consumers

• Private sector is main driver of growth and job creation

• Entrepreneurship initiates business ideas, unleashes

youth’s potential

• Private sector has recently started participating in youth

schemes as part of their social responsibility

Kenya Private Sector Alliance

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• National Apex Business Association in Kenya

• Forums for high level advocacy, dialogue with government

and Private Sector Development

• More than 80 BMOs and 200 corporate as member

• Representing over 40% of the private sector in Kenya

• KEPSA is implementing the Private Sector Training and

Internship Component of Kenya Youth Empowerment

Project

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Overview of the Program

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KYEP is a Government of Kenya Project whose overall goal is

to improve Youth Employability in Kenya

The project has two components

Private Sector Training and Internship - KEPSA

Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening - MOYAS

It is a four years project ending in 2014

The project has three main stakeholders, GOK, World Bank and

Kenya Private Sector Alliance

It’s a National project but focusing particularly in 3 major city:

Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu

The total project financing is $20 Million.

Objectives and outcome indicators

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Objectives of the program

Provide Training and Internship to the youth in the Private Sector

Develop the Capacity of Ministry of Youth to develop and strengthen

evidence based youth employment policies and carry out analytical

work on youth employment issues

Outcome Indicators

Youth being retained in the companies they were attached

Youth starting their own business

Youth getting motivated to further their education or skills development

Satisfaction of Interns and employers with the internship experience

Alignment between objectives and indicators

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The intervention was developed to support Government implement it

Development Blue Print Vision 2030 and the need to improve youth

employment in the country

TNA that was carried out to the employers – employer driven

Two Critical project elements were identified by employers:

employability skills and work experience

From the youth perspective the challenge was attitude and experience

Multi-stakeholders approach – GOK, Private Sector and Development

Agency

Program activities

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o The project is divided into 8cycles of 6 months each .

o The main concept is to have training followed by workplace experience

o Cycle 1, a sandwich model was applied but this has since changed.

o The four main project activities are: 1. Creation of internships in the private, non-agricultural sector(formal and informal

sectors of employment).

2. Provision of internship training: This activity provides interns with access to training

closely related to the employment experience. All interns selected have to undergo three months trainings.

3. Training of Master Craftsmen(Informal Sector): Enhancement of skills for mentors

4. Monitoring and evaluation to capture lessons from the pilot for possible scale up

Trainings offered by the Project

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These are grouped into 4;

Life Skills training: Experiential training focusing on Self Awareness, Self esteem, decision-

making, communication, leadership and interpersonal skills, personal management & coping

skills, occupational health & first-aid, interviewing and CV writing skills, work ethics etc

Core business Skills training: ICT, customer care, communication, office practice &

etiquette, marketing, human resource management and finance

Entrepreneurship Skills training: For those in MSE. This includes an element of business

plan development, competition and mentorship

Sector specific training: Appreciative skills in Finance, ICT, Manufacturing, Tourism,

Energy and MSE

Target Population

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The project aims to train around 16,000 youth and create

11,000 internships by 2014.

The eligibility criteria is as follows; 1. In the 15- 29 years age bracket;

2. Out of school for at least one year;

3. With a minimum of eight years of public schooling; Primary, secondary, tertiary and university graduates (Cap of 40%)

4. Not currently working.

5. Kenyan Nationals

6. Not selected in Previous cycles.

…continued

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Main players and partners, and their roles

Private Sector Employers – Formal and informal – Provide

Workplace experience

Consultants – Provide Training on competency areas identified

by the TNA, Beneficiary Assessments and Impact Evaluation

Government: Coordination and Policy support

World Bank: Financial and technical support

Implementation Process

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Call For youth targeting – 1950 youth in all the locations

Generating a list of eligible applicants and keying the information in the system

Random Selection – One of the Top Audit firms

Orientation of all eligible youth

Life skills training – offered to all randomly selected youth

Placement – Interviews by the employers and the number is reduced to 1,300

Other Trainings (Core Business, Entrepreneurship and Sector specific Trainings)

Workplace experience – 3 Months

Beneficiary assessment

Linkages and Mentorship

Tracer survey after 6 months

Benefit Package

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All interns receive a monthly stipend of USD 75 per month

The Employers (both formal and informal) receive employers

fee of USD 37 USD per intern/month during which the inters

are in workplace

However, the project synchronizes with the employers HR

policies regarding payment of stipends

Monitoring and Evaluation

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The overall implementation of the program is guided by an Operations manual containing an elaborate Monitoring and evaluation Framework that is updated regularly

• Specifically, the following systems are embedded in the program

• Full time Monitoring and Evaluation officer

• Due diligence of employers

• Daily diary

• Spot checks

• Monthly Workplace Reports

• Beneficiary Assessment

• Impact Evaluation

MIS is in place to manage the project data and generate reports

KYEP Management and Information System

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The MIS has six main Modules

Internship Management

Training Management

Monitoring and Evaluation

Finance Management

Messaging

Complaint Handling

Internship Management

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Internship Dashboards

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Monitoring of the Project Goals

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Workplace screenshot

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Main Challenges

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The main challenges encountered in implementing the program are

Procurement of Trainers – Volume and length of the process

Conflict between conventional understanding and the Project Offering

Managing expectations of the Youth and employers

Managing project data and information

Delay in starting the implementation

How the challenges have been addressed

Phased implementation e.g Sector specific Trainings not offered in Cycle 1

Clear communication plans eg – face book, Tweeter, website , meetings DYOs Media

Management information System

Overlapping the Cycles to ensure we meet the targets

Communication

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The Project has a communication strategy which is

coordinated by MOYAS

Each component has a specific communication plan derived

from the communication strategy.

KEPSA uses a variety of communication medias to reach its

publics – Youth, Employers, General public

Social Media

Youth networks

Website

Print and electronic Media

KEPSA Website

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KYEP Webpage with Social Media Platform

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KYEP online Interactive segment

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…Life Changing stories Segment

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Results and Findings

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The project is in its 3rd Cycle with the Call for youth targeting 1950 youth in Nairobi Mombasa and Kisumu being release on Friday 19th Oct

Second Cycle 2014 youth trained in life skills and 1300 being placed in Nairobi and Mombasa and currently doing Core business skills training

Cycle one had a 1054 youth trained in life skills and a total of total of 775 interns completing

Follow up survey for cycle 1indicated that 53% were working three months after completion and another 19% were furthering education and training

Beneficiary assessment 80% interns satisfied and 64% employers satisfied

Currently the project is carrying out Impact Evaluation with baseline data collected for 2190 youth. The evaluation has two treatment arms and a control

Overall, there seems to be some evidence that there is a correlation between type of skills and the employers employment requirements.

Lessons and future priorities

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• Adopt integrated approaches that consider both sides of the

labor market effectively and involve all stakeholders in

decision-making

• Project success hinges on alignment with national

development plan

• Private-public cooperation leads to wide outreach

• Standardization of programme elements and processes

• Understanding expectations of youth & private sector

…Lessons and Future Priorities

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• Youth employment policies must be embraced by broader

context of employment and growth policy

• Targets a specific group of the population that is unemployed

• Engage employers and the private sector in defining skill

competencies

• Introduce life skills with business, vocational and technical

skills

• Incorporate solid governance elements to ensure transparent

and corruption-free operation

Future priorities

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Private Sector to dialogue on the role it can continue to play to deepen intervention – Mentorship component, Linkage with funding agencies and financing institutions

Input in the youth employment policies - Internship, Industrial Attachment, PPP

Pilot the project in other sectors and Geographical locations not currently covered by the current intervention

Foster strategic partnership with other development agencies to; Deepen the current intervention by additional program features

Scale up the project to other regions and in different sectors

Increase the number of youth participating in the project

Knowledge sharing and advocacy work on youth employment policies

Advice to Other Countries in designing youth

employment programs

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Need to Involve private sector in youth employment

interventions

Programs design should be evidence based

Allow adequate time for Pre-project activities

Lead time in between project Phases

Need for robust Monitoring systems for Capturing project

information

Elaborate and focused communication strategy and plans

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