Kenyan youth (ages 18-34) make up 25% of the population; over 30% of this youth population is unemployed and lacks adequate job preparation and information. At the same time, digital technology has penetrated all sectors of the economy, providing potential to address youth unemployment in an inclusive way.

Axum staff supported the running of an initiative that aims to empower over one million young people to access digital job opportunities in Kenya by bridging the digital skills gap and creating more equitable access to work opportunities.

For this, Axum staff designed programmatic activities, deployed a curated team of program officers to provide hands-on capacity-building support, transferred capabilities to jumpstart implementation, and developed knowledge management systems and operational frameworks to support the project management office.

At the time of Axum’s staff exit 18 months later, over 9,000 youth had been trained in work-ready digital skills. The project is still ongoing and over 30,000 young people have been connected to meaningful work across all 47 Kenyan counties. Over 20 national and international private sector partners have been engaged to provide digitally enabled jobs to Kenyan youth. There has also been an increased awareness of the program through youth and government-led panels and webinars.