The government's Ajira programme, gives hope to youths in the central region

Murang’a,

Saturday, January 20, 2024

KNA by Bernard Munyao

Ajira empowerment centres have been hailed as a source of employment to scores of young people who have completed their college or university studies.

 The empowerment centres within Nyeri, Murang’a and Kirinyaga counties have been witnessing high numbers of youths who flock to the facilities to get trained and engage in online jobs.

The coordinator of the centres within the three counties Hellen Kimindiri has revealed that 112 young people from Nyeri, Murang’a and Kirinyaga have been trained for the last year on how to work and earn through online jobs.

On Friday, Kimindiri speaking at the Kamacharia empowerment centre in Mathioya sub-county, Murang’a said the centres have been equipped with desktops, laptops and internet by the government through the Ministry of Information, communications and the digital economy.

She explained young people accessing the centres are also allowed to come with their laptops and use the available internet to do online jobs.

 At the centres, the coordinator said the youths are trained in both basic and advanced computer literacy modules.

  “The training has been extended to include artificial intelligence, cyber security and programming, and in the larger central region more than 16, 000 youths have been trained within three years,” she added.

Hellen called upon the youths to join the programme and use their time constructively as it will help them shun away from drugs, alcoholism and crime.

On her part, the manager of Kamacharia Ajira Empowerment Centre, Olive Njogu noted that her centre trained 460 youth in the last three months saying the beneficiaries were trained in areas including digital marketing, transcription, data entry, and virtual assistant among others.

  “The trainees have come up with a group that assists them to create content such as dancing and skits and then upload them in various digital platforms which helps them generate income,” she added.

One of the beneficiaries, Mary Maina underscored the programme saying after receiving training at the centre, she now earns income after doing various online jobs.

Maina called upon youth to join the centres and learn how to make money through online work.

 “Currently securing a job opportunity is a big challenge and I call upon young people to exploit opportunities in the digital world since once you get experienced doing online works, you can make more than 10 US dollars per hour through doing online jobs,” explained Maina.

Courtesy; KNA