Orientation of interns for Kenya Youth Empowerment project (KYEP) Cycle 4 training and internship for Nairobi was held on April 22nd2013 at Kabete Technical Training Institute. The same exercise spearheaded by the Project Director and the internship officer is scheduled to take place in Mombasa and Kisumu on the 23rd and 25th April respectively. The objective of the exercise is to orient the randomly selected interns into the KYEP Internship and Training program; level their expectations; and introduce them to life skills Training providers.
Life Skills Training is scheduled to start on Monday 29th April 2013 in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The exercise targets 1,350 interns in Nairobi, 600 in Mombasa and 400 for Kisumu, a cumulative of 2,350 youth for cycle 4. Notably, this is the highest number of interns ever recruited for Life skills Training. The training will go on for two weeks. Unlike in the past where interns found their way into the program by giving incorrect status information during application that lead to attrition in the course of the internship, measures have been put in place to ensure compliance and that only the needy youth benefit from this demand driven project.
The KYEP Project Director, Mr. Ehud Gachugu welcomed the new interns into the program and asked them to be focused by envisioning their minds into the trainings offered and the accrued employment potential benefits in the long run rather than the monthly ksh.6000 stipend offered. He outlined the internship process as entailing application, MIS based random selection, MIS data capture, training orientation, Life skills Training, sector preference, placement interviews, Core business Skills Training, Entrepreneurship Skills Training, Sector Specific Training and Industrial workplace internships.
On project achievements so far, Mr. Gachugu remarked that the private sector employer driven program enjoys a 71% gainful employment rate as indicated by impact studies conducted by external consultants. The Life Skills Training Cycle 4 preparations are complete. The training will take place at Kabete Technical Training Institute (KTTI) in Nairobi, Kisumu Polytechnic and Mombasa Technical Training Institute (MTTI) from 29th April to 10th May 2013. It is scheduled from Monday to Friday of every week starting at 7.30 am to 5.00 pm except for May 1st which will be a public holiday.
Life skills training go beyond provision of knowledge and information. It provides a foundation that empowers young people to overcome various obstacles by recognizing and managing risky situations as well as developing and sustaining positive behavior in all aspects of their lives. In this forth cycle of the training a number of changes have been made to incorporate the lessons learnt, recommendations and views from what the employers have reported after interacting with the interns. Some of these include enhanced CV writing sessions, more reference to workplace dynamics, workplace communication etiquette and dressing besides enhancing and net working for talent potentials.
Elsewhere, the Sector Specific skills Trainings in Manufacturing, Energy, Tourism, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Medium Small Enterprise (MSE), and Finance sub sectors in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu are on-going until 3rd May 2013. The Trainings inculcate technical appreciative skills to cycle 3 interns who graduated from Core Business Skills Training (CBST) and Entrepreneurial Skills Training (EST). The Interns will then proceed to workplace attachment for three months. On the other hand, SST Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE)training for cycle 3 ended on April 19, 2013 after three weeks extensive training conducted at the Nairobi Technical Training Institute.