The Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs on Friday launched the Egerton University Ajira Digital Club.
The clubs are run by students, for the students and act as additional training, incubation and mentorship forums that help equip the students to access digital and digitally-enabled job opportunities.
In a statement released on Friday, ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the roll out of Ajira digital clubs is intended to take place in every higher-level institution and is intended to reach more youth and expand footprints of the Ajira Digital Program across the country.
The initiative is part of the national government broader strategy to create an environment for work generation and skills development as well as incubate an entrepreneurship culture amongst the youth.
“We aim to equip more Kenyan Youth with skills that will enable them to earn from digital and digitally-enabled jobs. 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 descent wages," Mucheru said.
Adding, "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.”
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 trainings, mentorship and visibility of job opportunities in the gig economy
Every Ajira Digital club in each institution has an Ajira patron and Ajira club champions who will be able to organize different 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. Mucheru.
This far, over 60,000 youths have benefited from the training, mentorship and incubation programs offered through Ajira digital platform.
They 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.
