Kenya has initiated a programme that will see over 30,000 skilled workers find jobs abroad by July 2022.
Trade Principal Secretary Peter Tum said the government through labour exports intends to increase diaspora remittances from the current Sh340 billion to Sh1 trillion annually.
The PS said the ministry is in collaboration with that of Education and Labour to ensure youths get technical and industrial skills that can land them jobs abroad.
He said the government is currently training more than 90,000 youths in various vocational training institutes countrywide. Out of this more than 50,000 were youths that were previously working without skills.
He said this is part of government's Rapid Results Initiative to increase the number of people getting employment outside the country.
“By end of next year, we want to see income from diaspora remittances improved to further spur the growth of the economy as the trainees provide the much needed skills,” he said at Don Bosco Training Centre in Makuyu, Murang’a county.
He said that remittances from Kenyans working in Qatar has grown from Sh48 billion to over Sh92 billion, from the more than 35,000 people Kenyans working in the country.
“We spoke with Qatar’s ambassador to Kenya and we agreed to have skilled labor exported to the country. Now we are on a sensitisation programme to assure Kenyans that there is another avenue that can be taken by those not lucky enough to go through tertiary institutions,” he said.
He said the programme was initiated to spur the economy by providing practical skills required both in and out of the country.
“First, we will fill the skills’ gap existing in the country through the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) in collaboration with the National Employment Authority”.
He said once once it is established that these are the required skills, then the training programme will be revised tin conjunction with the training institutions to fill those gaps.
The PS however noted that few women have participated in the programme mainly because the courses offered are technical.
He said Kenya is in talks withSaudi Arabia to deal with the abuse of Kenyans employed in the country.
"What we are doing is engaging the ambassador to Saudi Arabia on bilateral basis. As we speak, a team of high level ministry officials will be travelling to Saudi Arabia to ensure we deal with the issues," he added.
