•Focus on becoming more self-sustaining with commercial projects responding to market needs; less dependent on the Treasury.
• Developing a Business Master Plan and recruiting professionals to make the service stable, stronger and more useful.
The National Youth Service on Wednesday launched a five-year strategic service plan and unveiled innovations such as an electric tuk-tuk and motorised mkokoteni.
A major pillar of the plan is establishment of a commercial arm enabling the NYS to generate revenue, reduce dependence on the Exchequer and enhance sustainability of it programmes and projects.
The electric tuk-tuk and motorised mkokoteni were invented at NYS over five years by Kenneth Guantai and are to be commercialised.
The service will also develop a Master Business Plan to establish viable enterprises taking advantage of market trends.
The NYS Council is recruiting professionals to join the management team in critical positions to implement the plan.
“This, coupled with the just concluded promotion of members and staff of the service should bring about institutional stability, effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery,” Public Service CS Margaret Kobia said.
She said the priority has been preserving the safety and health of Kenyans as the government responds to the Covid-19 pandemic. She said NYS was in the frontline.
The launch of the strategic plan was presided over by the ICT and Youth CS Joe Mucheru in a brief ceremony hosted by Kobia and NYS director general Matilda Sakwa.
Kobia said NYS now has a document to guide its decision making to determine resource and budget requirements.
Its objectives are paramilitary training and service regimentation, national service and youth resocialisation, social transformation and vocational training, enterprise and youth economy and bankable institutional architecture.
“Without a Strategic Plan, an organisation is akin to the proverbial ship without a rudder, sailing blindly into troubled and uncertain waters,” Kobia said.
“Its real value is only realised upon implementation. If left to gather dust in our offices, then the rigour and resources involved in the process count for nothing,” the CS said.
She said the plan will enable the service to foresee its future, anticipate unfavorable scenarios before they happen, take precautions to avoid them, and be proactive rather than reactive.
(Edited by V. Graham)