Kenya Youth Empowerment Project (KYEP) participated in a Round Table meeting on Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) convened and facilitated by the Institute of Economic Affairs and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on 21st May 2013 at the Sarova Stanley Hotel. Dr. Jutta Franz, An international consultant in TVET and Entrepreneurship presented an analysis on ensuring the relevance of skills formation: lessons from Germany and other countries; while Dr. Jacob Omolo, Kenyatta University made a presentation on Vocational Training System in Kenya.
It emerged that the Kenyan system has much to borrow from the Germany system, especially the employers driven Vocational Training demand as opposed to beneficiaries demand based systems in Kenya. This has led Germany to have the lowest unemplyment levels in Europe.
During the round table meeting, the KEPSA –KYEP Training and Internship project was quoted as a shining example in the region of an employer driven TVET Intervention. In attendance were TVET and Entrepreneurship Practitioners besides other key stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the KYEP second graduation ceremony targeting Cycle 2 interns in Mombasa is scheduled to take place this Friday 24th may 2013 at the Mombasa Technical University grounds. Nairobi Graduation will take place on 7th June 2013. The ceremony will start at 9 am and end at 1 pm. It will be graced by the KEPSA CEO, Ms. Carole Kariuki, World Bank representative, Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYAS), training consultants; employers and other stake holders. The function will be presided by the KYEP Director Mr. Ehud Gachugu. 367 interns are expected to graduate and will be given certificates and transcripts for their hard work. The ceremony will be a culmination of a six month training and internship process. The interns successfully underwent three months of technical appreciative trainings in Life Skills, Core Business Skills; Entrepreneurship Skills and Sector Specific Skills Training.
Elsewhere, placements for KYEP cycle 3 interns is in process. This involves matching the needs of the employers with those of the Interns. Only those successfully placed interns will proceed to the second phase of the training that is, Core Business Skills Training. They will then proceed for on- the- job internships after completing the Sector Specific Trainings.
In other news, KEPSA engaged the services of an external consultant to conduct Beneficiary Assessment. The objective of the assessment was to understand how the programme was implemented during the second cycle of the training and internship programme as well as gather feedback from interns and employers with regards to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the programme. From the study findings; the overall satisfaction level from the interns with the programme was 85%, interns who have completed the programme was 87% and those who had dropped out of the programme was 83%. This indicates an increase in satisfaction from cycle 1 at 80% and 76% by interns who completed the programme and those that dropped out respectively. In addition, internship providers/employers had a satisfaction level of 78% compared to 64% the previous cycle. Majority of the interns indicated having benefited from the programme through acquisition of life skills and provision of real work experience with majority of the interns feeling that the programme has prepared them for the job market as well as provided them with skills to enable them start their own business.