Vocational Training For Youth

Providing pathways into the world of work for young people is one of the greatest development challenges.  However, In Kenya and especially in Kisumu, VET is undervalued and the integration of effective VET strategies into wider employment policies is still a work in progress. Relevant and quality vocational education and training (VET) can provide young people who are not in employment, education and training (NEET) with the knowledge, skills and competencies required for the jobs of today or tomorrow.

 Imparting practical skills and work readiness are at the core of interventions to integrate youth into labor markets and the hallmark of technical and vocational education and training (TVET). TVET has the potential to improve employability, productivity, and livelihoods of young workers in developing countries.  Yet, TVET systems often underperform, and skills shortages or mismatches in the labor market continue to be major challenges Kenya. 

Furthermore, TVET often fails to attract female students, particularly to fields in science and technology. Addressing this failure would help reduce occupational gender segregation commonly observed in labor markets.

Providing relevant job skills can therefore be a robust means of empowering vulnerable and at-risk youth, especially adolescent girls and young women, to seize employment opportunities or equip them for self-employment. Better skills training can help support decent work, more equitable and inclusive growth and be the bridge between education and the labour market, supporting the transition from youth into adulthood. 

Better Futures for Children prioritize vocational and skills-based education, especially for girls and young women and young men with disability, mental health challenges and support young people from historically marginalized groups and communities in Kisumu.

Better Futures will conduct targeted studies to explore the attitude of young people in Kisumu toward vocational education and training, understand barriers and facilitators to vocational training, identify and implement strategies for changing youth’s and communities’ attitude towards vocational training, and how to expand opportunities for youth especially adolescent girls and young women to acquire industry specific vocational skills, and work with  donors,  national and county governments to make TVET centers and training youth and female friendly.

Better Futures for Children will mainstream gender and environmental sustainability in our training interventions, and will use the best available evidence generated through studies, and international best practices in vocational and skills-based training for vulnerable and at-risk youth especially young women in Kisumu.