The International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is aimed to equip about five million young people with job-ready digital skills by 2030.
This was disclosed during a high-level virtual mission to strengthen partnerships and create decent jobs and digital skills for youth in Kenya.
Discussions were led by Ms. Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon, ILO Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, and Mr. Andrew Rugege, ITU Regional Director for Africa, with the goal to engage ILO tripartite constituents, development partners, academia and the private sector in the joint effort for the benefit of youth in the country and share information on the joint ILO-ITU programme “Boosting decent jobs and enhancing digital skills for youth in Africa’s digital economy.”
The ILO-ITU initiative is being launched in five countries–Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal – and underway in South Africa.
It aims to create job opportunities for youth in the digital economy, spur investment in digital skills for youth and prepare private and public employment services for the digital era.
Supported by the African Union, the initiative aims to share knowledge, including best practices across the continent to enable replication in other countries, and will also leverage existing projects and partnerships of the ILO, ITU and the AU.
“Africa is rich in resources,” ILO Regional Director Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon said during a virtual meeting with Hon. Simon Chelugui and Hon. Joseph Mucheru, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretaries for the Ministries of Labour and Social Protection, and ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, respectively.
“One of its core resources is its youthful population. We cannot achieve Agenda 2063; we cannot achieve the SDGs; we cannot even achieve the national visions, without effectively, fully, utilizing this core resource.
“We see this as an opportunity for the transformation of Africa,” said Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon.
The ILO Assistant Director-General also commended Kenya for its digital economy blueprint, which President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled at the Transform Africa Summit in Kigali in 2019.
“There are a lot of good practices that are emanating from Kenya, which makes us quite thrilled that Kenya is one of the five countries that have been chosen for this initiative,” she said.
Also speaking, ITU Regional Director for Africa Andrew Rugege said: “Africa’s digital transformation strategy is an opportunity, we know that this is happening now and Kenya is an excellent example. In this digital transformation, we need to create opportunities for young people.
“This initiative – the partnership of ILO and ITU with support from the African Union – can only enhance and contribute to the success that Kenya is having in creating a digital economy where young people have opportunities for decent jobs.”
Welcoming the initiative, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Labour and Social Protection Hon. Chelugui, said his ministry was already investing in digital skills and digital jobs for youth.
“Measures need to be put in place to encourage employers to embrace ICT without losing jobs,” he said.
Also, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary ICT, Innovation, and Youth Hon. Mucheru, said: “I am absolutely delighted that ILO and ITU are working together and that you are looking at the gig economy. The key objective my Ministry has is to make Kenya a globally competitive knowledge-based economy… COVID has really accelerated that.”
The two-day high-level mission held September 15 and 16 also included discussions with the UN Resident Coordinator for Kenya, Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee, representatives from employers’ and workers’ organisations, technology and innovation hubs, academic institutions, development partners and the private sector.
“On this continent, we have millions of young men and women who have come out of the institutions of higher learning, but to date they are not employed,” said Francis Atwoli, Secretary General of the Central Organization of Trade Unions of Kenya.
In her remarks, Executive Director Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Jacqueline Mugo, welcomed what she described as a “timely and much-needed conversation.” She said enterprises were suffering and unemployment among youth had worsened during the pandemic.
“Even before then, this was an issue that was close to our hearts,” she said.
The virtual mission to Kenya followed high-level missions to Kigali, Abidjan and Abuja earlier this year and is a key milestone in the implementation of programme in the lead-up to the virtual donor roundtable slated for 21 October 2020, which will bring together key partners and stakeholders.
The joint ILO-ITU initiative brings together the expertise and experience of two of the oldest UN institutions to address this challenge and offer decent jobs to millions of youth and in turn facilitate the development of Africa, the most youthful continent.
The initiative is aligned with the Abidjan Declaration, adopted at the conclusion of the 14th African Regional Meeting of the ILO in December 2019.
It responds to the double need to ensure that Africa takes advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital transition to revive its economy, while addressing the high levels of underemployment and poverty among young people.
