Tech skills pushed by Kenya in jobs drive

The Kenyan government has stepped up its efforts to partner and invest in the development of information and communications technology skills and training to facilitate the creation of formal and informal jobs. It also plans to use ICT to make its services easily accessible for people from marginalized communities.

Jerome Ochieng, Kenya's principal secretary for ICT and youth affairs, said ICT can be used to promote efficient public service provision and is an enabler of development. He added that the economic pillar of Kenya's long-term development plan, Vision 2030, considers ICT and related business process outsourcing as important drivers of economic growth and key to job creation.

It is for this reason that the Kenyan government entered into a pact last week with the Huawei Kenya Engineering Training Academy that will see the institution become an authorized training center for frontier tech skills for the next three years in Kenya.

The academy, which is run by Huawei Technologies Kenya, will be tasked with equipping almost 20,000 government officers, professionals and students with Fourth Industrial Revolution skills in ICT.

During the unveiling of the agreement on March 25, Joseph Mucheru, Kenya's cabinet secretary for ICT and Youth Affairs, explained that the initiative is in line with the government's commitment to increase the number of services that Kenyans can access online.

"This new program, the largest of its kind in our history, is akin to the software development part of ICT capacity building and is expected to take three years. In this period, we will advance the skills set of government officers through the Huawei Academy," Mucheru said.

He added that Huawei has been instrumental in developing Kenya's ICT infrastructure and upgrading ICT skills across various levels.

Will Meng, chief executive officer of Huawei Kenya, said providing training to public officers on the use of technology is essential for spreading the benefits that can have a substantial impact. "Huawei has been committed for more than 20 years not only to building the ICT infrastructure in Kenya but also nurturing local ICT talent. Combining the capabilities of the private sector with those of the public sector has proved to be a successful approach to help unlock the country's potential and boost growth," Meng said.

The new partnership between Huawei and the Kenyan government is targeting to train 200 high-level advanced ICT experts and 5,000 ICT technical professionals. This is in addition to 2,500 civil servants and 12,000 graduates, students and youth countrywide.