Better Utilization of Skills for Youth (BUSY) through Quality Apprenticeships
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The Better Utilization of Skills for Youth (BUSY) project works to build the capacity of government, employers, workers’ organizations, and civil society actors to establish and expand workplace-based training programs for vulnerable youth, including by identifying gaps in relevant laws and policies.
The Problem
In Kenya, every year hundreds of thousands of youth enter the workforce without the skills they need to get good jobs that are free from exploitation. Children who drop out of the basic education system are particularly vulnerable to child labor, including commercial sexual exploitation, child trafficking for domestic work, drug trafficking and begging on the streets. Moreover, about 86 percent of youth enter the workforce having received no technical or vocational skills training and with no access to workplace-based training opportunities such as apprenticeships.
Our Strategy
The BUSY project works to build the capacity of government, employers, workers’ organizations, and civil society actors to establish and expand workplace-based training programs for vulnerable youth, including by identifying gaps in relevant laws and policies. The project will support the development of a National Skills Development Policy in coordination with relevant Kenyan government agencies. The project also collaborates with the ILAB-funded Global Apprenticeship Network project to support the establishment of a GAN national chapter in Kenya to expand apprenticeship training programs in the country. In addition, the project will enhance the capacity of the country’s labor inspectorate, youth officers, and micro and small enterprise associations at the county level, to promote safe working conditions and decent work through workplace-based programs for youth.
Results
- The BUSY project assisted the government in developing a draft National Skills Development Policy. The goal of the policy is to promote sustainable socioeconomic development through the promotion of a skilled workforce that is employable, productive, enterprising, innovative, adaptable and competitive. As of August 2021, the draft Policy was with the Kenyan Minister of Education for tabling to the Cabinet for consideration.
- The project supported the creation and implementation of three county-level coordinating committees for workplace-based training, which bring together county government, state and national ministries, and civil society representatives to develop locally relevant workplace-based training programs. In Busia county, the project assisted the coordinating committee in preparing a draft County Apprenticeship Policy to address the skill needs of vulnerable and marginalized youth in the county and is now working with the county government to institutionalize the draft policy.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BUSY project developed a virtual training platform when in-person training was no longer an option. The platform offers training modules on the promotion and enforcement of decent work protocols, laws and policies for quality work-based training for youth vulnerable to COVID-19, and business management. In March 2021, the project launched its e-coaching program for a Training of Trainers with 28 participants being virtually coached on how to improve safety and health in small and micro-enterprises. These trainers are set to train field officers within the three project counties.
- Grantee:
- International Labor Organization (ILO)
- Contact Information:
- GlobalKids@ilab.dol.gov / (202) 693-4843 / Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT)
- Tags:
- Child Labor
- Apprenticeships
- Capacity Building
- Education
- Skills Development
- Youth Employment
