As of: 10/2022
In recent years, Kenya has been one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this progress, unemployment remains high, officially at around 9%. More than 22% of young people do not have a job. In addition, there are millions of informally employed persons. Every year, up to 1 million more young people leave school to enter the labour market. At the same time, there is an urgent lack of well-trained skilled workers in the country. The key to solving these problems is vocational training. If it meets high standards, is close to the market and fits into an integrated approach to education, it assists in meeting the needs of the labour market with skilled youth and offers the next generation good prospects for the future. KfW has been supporting vocational training in Kenya for many years.
There are several thousand government and private vocational training institutions in Kenya. However, Kenya’s vocational training landscape is inconsistent. Some of the schools are run at community level and some by various ministries. In addition, many of them are poorly equipped, there is a lack of qualified teachers and the curriculum is insufficiently practice-oriented. The Kenyan-German TVET Initiative (KGTI), which was launched by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2017, has therefore set itself the goal of raising standards in vocational training. The aim is to pave the way for more well-educated adolescents and young adults to enter the formal labour market and to enable them to build their own livelihoods.
However, KfW’s commitment in Kenya is not limited to vocational training alone. In order to be successful, vocational training must be integrated into the entire education system. In Kenya, KfW therefore not only promotes vocational training but also start-up funding and, since 2004, primary and secondary education and other social programmes. They all build on and complement each other – always with the aim of providing young people with future employment.
At the heart of the current Kenyan-German vocational training initiative is the expansion of state vocational training institutions into centres of excellence. The training institutions receive funds to build new buildings and procure appropriate equipment, including computers and technology. Training will also be supported to improve teaching quality and professional administration. Initially, three schools in the Nairobi area were selected: Kiambu Institute of Science and Technology, Nairobi Technical Training Institute and Thika Technical Training Institute. In future, these centres should be able to offer high-quality training and further education relevant to the labour market. At the same time, they intend to make more apprenticeships available and thus facilitate access to high-quality vocational training. Here, young Kenyans then have the opportunity to complete vocational training at the level of skilled workers, in professions with proven demand on the labour market.
In order to ensure that vocational training meets the needs of the market, private companies are involved in the development of curricula, the establishment of equipment standards and the acceptance of assessments. VW, KVM and Krones are among those who are helping the programme by providing training staff and internships in their enterprises.
In Nairobi, a business incubator is also to be created to show paths to self-employment. Small and growing medium-sized enterprises also receive support, primarily via vouchers for further training and coaching, as well as in the form of financial support.
Because education involves more than just looking at a book or working in a workshop, KfW has also launched a programme on behalf of the German Federal Government to improve the social skills of young people, for example, in the areas of health, sport, education and contraception, as well as through social activities. KfW is collaborating with Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (German Foundation for World Population) and the Netherlands-based Triggerise Foundation.
In the three centres of excellence for vocational training, there are now new workshops with connections for a full range of technical equipment, adequate workspaces and modern facilities.
Practice-oriented vocational training has a future. Firstly, it is an effective instrument for increasing the employability of young people. Secondly, it meets the economy’s growing demand for a skilled labour force, especially in Africa.
However, it is not enough to set up vocational training institutions. In addition, an integrated approach to employment is needed, which includes, above all, sound primary and secondary education, but also other complementary educational formats such as business incubators or scholarship programmes, as well as financing offers. In Kenya, this is already a success thanks to various programmes that complement and build on one another.
The project contributes to the achievement of these following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:
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KfW Group
KfW Development Bank
Eastern Africa and the African Union
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