The youth in Coast region are set to upscale their digital skills for gainful self-employment following the launch of a second Jitume Digital Lab in the region at the Kenya Coast National Polytechnic in Mombasa by ICT and Digital Economy CS, Eliud Owalo on August 7, 2023. The first lab in the Coast region was launched in Kwale earlier in the year.
The Jitume Digital Enablement Program is a national government digital initiative aimed at equipping at least 1 million youth with skills and necessary infrastructure to enable them take part in the digital economy and create the millions of jobs President Ruto promised hustlers. It encourages the youth to take it upon themselves to access digital devices to learn and be certified in digital skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
“Today’s launch is the 40th Jitume Digital Hub since we started this program last December. We will admit 300 students broken into 3 batches of 100 each and run it on a rolling basis across the coast region and they will be trained in digital skills in readiness for the formal and informal economies,” said Owalo.
The Mombasa lab is fitted with 100 computers to serve the youths in turns and will follow the same model used in previous launches where registration is on a first come first served basis.
CS Owalo noted that over 12,000 youths have since benefitted, with over 6,800 virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) deployed and called for more partnerships with bilateral financiers and private sector to accelerate connecting more graduates with the Jitume Kazi work hub.
“We have so far deployed 114 centres. We expect to launch the remaining 74 Jitume Labs across the country by the end of next month to keep pace our target of 200 Jitume Centres by end of this financial year,” said Eng. John Tanui, PS Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, who also spoke at the same event after spending the weekend launching public Wi-Fi hotspots across the coast in Marikiti Market in Mombasa town, Akamba Handicraft Market in Changamwe and Diani Market, in Ukunda, Kwale County.
The government has doubled down on enhancing internet access to buttress the bet on ICT to transform the economy and hopes the youth join the digital fray to tap into the new jobs and careers that did not exist ten years ago such as transcription, editing, photography, blogging, professional online training, software as a service, artistic performance and many others. The Ministry targets to deploy some 25,000 such spots countrywide.
CS Owalo reiterated that in the quest to achieve a transformative digitally enabled economy, the Kenya Kwanza government, through his Ministry is focused on scaling the Jitume Digital Program, Digital Superhighway, Wi-Fi Hotspots, 1450 Innovation Hubs, Digitization, and Konza Technopolis.
Last week President William Ruto inaugurated the first virtual university, Open University of Kenya (OUK) based at Konza Technopolis during which he promised over Kshs 100 billion over the next five year to upscale Africa’s Silicon Savanna as a global competitiveness hub. The Open University, seen as an anchor of sorts at Konza will help democratize access to higher education by drawing on modern technology to leapfrog barriers in distance, space and cost that hinder access to quality education and opportunities.
In December 2022, President Ruto conceived the Jitume program with the aim of complementing and building on the successes made by the existing Digital Enablement Programmes such as Ajira Digital and the Kenya Youth Employment Programme.
Jitume Program is a Government initiative aimed at providing access to digital skills, e-services and online opportunities to the youth across the country. The Ministry of IC and Digital Economy; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs; and Ministry of Labour led by Konza Technopolis, the ICT Authority and TVET Authority is implementing the program.
Through the program, youth from all the 47 counties will undertake on the job training for digitally enabled jobs. Additionally, the students will benefit from various courses online and receive certification upon completion.
The Program is part of the implementation of the Kenya National Digital Master Plan (2022-2032) that envisages the ICT skill development targeting over one million youth who enter the job market annually.
The Program seeks to complement and build up on the successes of other existing government Digital enablement programs among them the Ajira Digital and Kenya youth employment program by addressing the key challenges of Connectivity, Device access, Skills, and job opportunities.
Among other agencies collaborating with the key partners to deliver training under the program, include; eMobilis Technology Institute, Moringa School, Pathways Technologies and Huawei Technologies.
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