Thirty-seven youths living with disability have successfully completed their ICT training and offered internship at Safaricom.

The pioneer class graduated from the National Industrial Training Authority and have been certified.

Labour CS Simon Chelugui presided over the graduation ceremony at NITA headquarters under the theme, “Skills with the future of work outlook.”

NITA director general Stephen Ogenga, board chair Kamau Gachigi and Safaricom senior manager for diversity and inclusion Tabie Kioko were among those present.

Chelugui said the number of graduates will continue to increase as the country continues embraces digital technology in the economy.

“In the long term, digital economy will lead to increase in the number of formal jobs in our country,”he said.

“It will also lead to a gradual reduction in the number of jobs that are purely informal in nature. We encourage youths to enrol and acquire relevant ICT skills.”

Chelugui said the government recognises disability inclusion as a prerequisite to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This, he said, is the reason the academy was launched last year.

The CS said  as at 2020 there were 677,913 digital online workers in the country.

He said  IT will help formalise 15 million informal jobs.

Chelugui challenged employers who have not met the minimum threshold of at least five per cent employment of persons with disability to implement this requirement.

On employment, the CS said there are 39,000 unskilled labourers working outside the country.

“With this training, we will train and skill young people and give them the necessary empowerment to seek for jobs locally and abroad,” he said.

Chelugui said there are a number of bilateral agreements in progress that include seven that have been signed.

He said the ones waiting to be finalised include the ones with the US, Canada and Australia.

The CS said the bilateral agreement with South Arabia has a few challenges that need to be reframed.

“This week, the Foreign Affairs minister is leading a delegation specifically to discuss at a political level the issues and challenges we have gone through in terms of migrant workers in that country,” he said.

The CS said Covid made matters worse and has seen many people lose jobs.

NITA’s mission is to provide quality industrial training for enhanced productivity.

The authority has legally been granted the mandate to facilitate industrial training through partnerships aimed at driving transformative agenda.

They partnered with a consortium of partners led by Sightsavers International, the GIZ and NORAD to skill the graduates  on an ICT based program in collaboration with CISCO.

The Bridge IT academy is supporting the consortium partnership project aimed at addressing the IT skills gap and transforming the lives of people with disabilities through internships and employment.

The academy’s program provides training and certification as CISCO Certified Technicians (CCT) and CISCO Certified Network Associates in Security (CCNA Security).

The local Bridge IT institution  is funded by donor partners FCDO, German Federal Ministry for economic corporation and development  and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.

It is implemented by Inclusive Futures and the Deutsche Gesellschaft for International Zusammenarbeit while the academy is hosted by NITA, Nairobi.

Safaricom’s  Kioko said the  firm is an equal opportunity employer that put people before profits.

“That is why we are taking a keen interest in persons with disabilities as they have been left behind,” she said.

Kioko said when they took on board 33 interns with various disabilities, they looked at every unique need.

“They expressed the accommodation they needed in order to deliver their mandates,” she said.

Kioko said the interns  have accelerated inclusion in terms of “accessibility of our infrastructure and we will continue scaling it up as well as mentoring them”.

The  second batch that joined NITA on Friday is 50.

Ogenga said they have put up equipment worth Sh10 million at the authority  while Sh40 million has gone to other services.