WHY WE MUST INVOLVE THE YOUTH IN OUR COUNTRY'S DEVELOPMENT.

We have a great advantage as a nation of young, vibrant and highly creative youth. They account for about 75% of Kenya's population, according to the World Bank. However, they are not adequately enabled to participate in our country's social, economic and political development.

     Photo Credit: Elvis Okello

There are many reasons for this, some are unemployment, under-employment, lack of skills and lack of necessary institutional support to bring their ideas fruition.

As we focus on realizing our development goals including Vision 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must outline the role of the youth in realizing these goals and deliberately engage them. This reasonates with year's International Youth Day themed, " Youth Engagement for Global Action," that is anchored on SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Engaging young people enriches institutions and processes and the current dynamic global situation emphasizes this. If we take just one critical aspect of empowering the youth such as skills development, we not only engage them in creating sustainable economic solutions for themselves and their dependants, but we also elevate our competitiveness and productivity as a country.

Let us take the case of the manufacturing sector. The changing nature of the work place and the increasing number of industries embracing the 4th Industrial Revolution calls for tech-savviness and innovation, which the youth are leaders in. As such, we need to upskill young people in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) to build their capacity to create and sustain productive jobs. 

Locally, the government has recognized the need for a strong linkage between training institutions and industry to become industrialized. Vision 2030 proposed interventions under the Youth Skills Development Flagship, some of which include the establishment of the youth development centres, development of creative industry hubs, the establishment of Biashara Kenya Enterprise Parks and development of an incentive framework of employers who hire fresh graduates and have internship programs for college students.

Our vision is to see young people access quality skills, decent work and entrepreneurship opportunities through technical and vocational training. This is because the youth are and will always be strategic players in our growth and development. We must, therefore, empower them to be part and parcel of our goals as we look to ensure the sustainability of industry in the country.

The Writer is Alves Asomah010. He can be reached at elvisokello94@gmail.com.