Under the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), President William Ruto’s administration commits to empowering young Kenyans through different programs aimed at addressing their complex challenges, the top one being unemployment, which affects many families.
The BETA Plan also seeks to enable the youth to drive the country’s economic transformation through the Jitume and Ajira digital programs, where they can earn a living by using different digital platforms, both local and international, and build marketable skills.
In Bungoma County, youths struggling to secure meaningful work are set for a major lifeline for many youths as the government expands the Jitume and Ajira Digital hubs in polytechnics and TVET centres, with more than 400 Jitume hubs having been established in rural villages across the country.
These utilities have opened doors to digital skills, remote jobs and serve as a new frontier for economic empowerment. The hubs also provide mentorship and access to online resources for learners.
Kisiwa National Polytechnic in Bungoma’s Kabuchai constituency is a good example of the thriving centres accommodating the digital programs, where more than 4,000 have been trained on the Jitume program out of the 11,000 students enrolled at the institution and are earning from it.
The Jitume program is currently at cohort 13, and most of the trained students are working for Opera Mini and iCloud digital platforms, earning between Sh30,000 and Sh40,000 each, depending on the terms of the contract signed with the employer company.
Sandis Wamalwa is a student at Kisiwa National Polytechnic and also a Jitume beneficiary, providing Microsoft PowerPoint services to different clients within and outside the country, each paying him 150 dollars per work done.
“Through the Ajira training I have learnt how to apply for jobs both locally and internationally, and that is how I meet different clients who ask for my services on Microsoft PowerPoint,” Wamalwa says.
He notes that the earnings have helped lessen his parents’ burden as he pays for his college fees and caters for other expenses at home.
“I also look for more jobs besides the Microsoft PowerPoint ones, as I am also an international tutor, a job I got through the LinkedIn online platform on Ajira Digital, and I mostly handle students from the US and UK, paying me a total of Kshs.115,000 weekly,” he adds.
Wamalwa notes that through his earnings he has progressed well and even opened an ICT company, now running as his business.
“I thank God for President William Ruto coming up with Jitume hubs, as it has made it possible for me to open my own business. It is doing well and I get different clients, both individuals and companies,” he said.
Esther Kimani, also a student at Kisiwa Polytechnic and a Jitume beneficiary, said that she mostly does graphic design and Canva work for her clients, and they pay her on a weekly basis.
“The money I get assists me to pay for my fees and my rent. I even send something to my parents back home in Eldoret, who are of a humble background,” she confided to the OGS when it visited the institution with a view to enlightening the public on the benefits accruing from the hubs and encouraging more jobless youths to join the program.
Valentine Mutaki, a trainer at the hub, states that the institution also trains the communities on digital literacy and it has greatly assisted them.
“Apart from the students learning at Kisiwa Polytechnic, we also have two cohorts of the local communities who come in to learn digital literacy, and that has assisted them to run online businesses earning them a living,” Mutaki said.
Mutaki noted that online jobs are much more convenient because one can work from anywhere as long as the individual has access to the internet.
Maxwell Sigowo, an ICT assistant from the Ministry of ICT stationed at Kisiwa Polytechnic, says the ministry sent him to Kisiwa to ensure that the program runs well.
He adds that the ministry was working in collaboration with Kisiwa TVET management in training students on how to use government e-citizen programs like SHA, KUCCUPS, filing KRA returns, as well as loan applications from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), among other services.
“We are also teaching literacy programs to the Jitume and Ajira program trainers for them to train the students well,” he said.
Sigowo adds that the programs are part of the fulfilment of the government’s BETA agenda.
The Kisiwa National Polytechnic Deputy Principal, Magero Makhakha, notes that the institution’s Jitume hub is doing well in the region and encourages the public to join the institution to learn digital literacy free of charge.
“We call upon the public living around to come to the institution and learn, because what is required for the training is only one’s identity card,” Makhakha pleads.
The Director of Public Communications in the office of the Government Spokesperson, Joshua Arap Sang, who led the OGS team to the institution, notes that empowerment programs are at President William Ruto’s heart as he strives to enable the youth to earn a living, hence the program’s incorporation into the BETA Plan.
He adds that most government services are nowadays online, and with such Jitume programs at the grassroots, they will be of great help to locals in accessing the same.
“Nowadays most government services are online, therefore the Jitume program is of great help to the people, and apart from learning they also earn a living out of it,” Mr. Sang notes.