The Ministry of ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs have today launched an AJIRA Digital Club at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in a bid to reach more youth and expand footprints of the AJIRA Digital Program across the country.
The club that will be run by students, will act as additional training, incubation, and mentorship forum that help equip the students to access digital and digitally-enabled job opportunities.
“The Ministry seeks to empower more Kenyan Youth with skills that will enable them to earn from digital and digitally-enabled jobs. We want to create more opportunities in the gig and freelancing economy in Kenya. We are delighted to formalize and fully operationalize yet another AJIRA Digital Club to train, mentor, and link youth to various online jobs and enable them to earn decent wages. We are looking forward to establishing more Ajira Digital Clubs within selected Universities and TVETS countrywide as we work towards promoting mentorship and collaborative learning approach to finding digital work,” said, Jerome Ochieng, PS, Ministry of ICT Innovation and Youth Affairs.
Ajira Digital Programme receives 100 Million shillings boost
The rollout of Ajira Digital Clubs is intended to take place in every higher-level institution and is intended to reach more youth and expand the footprints of the AJIRA Digital Program across the country.
The initiative is part of the national government’s broader strategy to create an environment for work generation and skills development as well as incubate an entrepreneurship culture amongst the youth.
The AJIRA Digital Clubs act as formal structures within the various higher-learning institutions and function to onboard new members to the AJIRA Digital ecosystem where citizens get access to work readiness training, mentorship, and visibility of job opportunities in the gig economy
Every AJIRA Digital club in each institution has Ajira patron and Ajira Club champions who will be able to organize different Ajira Club activities that are tailored towards involving all the students and opening up opportunities for them to learn new skills and venture into digital work.
“We believe that this initiative will be of critical importance in our journey to reach many youths, especially from our universities and TVETS. The program also targets youth in and out of formal education systems,” added Mr. Jerome.
Thus far, over 450 youths from the university have benefited from the training, mentorship, and incubation programs offered through the AJIRA Digital platform and can now earn a living through online and gig works on the numerous local and international online work platforms as well as the over 240 e-commerce platforms under the AJIRA Digital network.