Stakeholders in the environment conservation sectors are deliberating on the ways to unlock Kenya’s potential as a global hub for digital work and green jobs.
The government, jointly with Jacob’s Ladder Africa, International Labour Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Children’s Fund, are in talks in Nairobi to align government priorities with the demands of the green job market.
Kenya National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop, brings together stakeholders from government, academia, private sector, finance, and youth-led groups to address the critical need for green jobs and skills development in Kenya.
The Co-Founder of Jacob’s Ladder Africa, Sellah Bogonko, said that there has been lack of a coordinated system towards creating green jobs making it hard to formulate regulations.
“The inaugural National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop is a key step in implementing legislation for green jobs and skills development for Kenya to ease implementation and coordination,” said Bogonko.
A high-level delegation meeting in Nairobi in April revealed that the lack of proper regulations and skills offering is among the top obstacles young Kenyans face in pursuit of green job opportunities.
The stakeholders said they have identified skills development, enterprise development and financing as the three overarching pillars that will form the basis of engagement throughout the Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop.
Principal Secretary for Labour and Skills Development Shadrack Mwadime warned that the transition to green economy has far reaching implications for the world of work which the country should prepare for.
“Regulatory reforms and emission targets will bring about downsizing and restructuring in high carbon industries. The new jobs and job losses will inevitably require changing skills requirement,” said Mwadime.
The Principal Secretary for Higher Education and Research, Beatrice Inyangala said that there is a need for educational institutions to update their curricula to align with the demands of a low-carbon pathway.
“There is therefore an urgent need for higher education institutions and technical training institutes to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct the curricula to level up to the dynamic needs of a low carbon development pathway, if our graduates are going to be relevant globally, and also nationally in this era of climate change,” said Inyangala.
The Principal Secretary in the State Department for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Festus Ng’eno added that the workshop is a step towards aggregating existing initiatives to date, providing linkages to the work being done by various actors in order to build upon them and avoid duplication.
He added that in a country where the youth constitute 75 percent of the population, and two-thirds of whom are unemployed or under-employed, the National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop is a significant step demonstrating the nation’s focus on adopting a low-carbon and green growth pathway.
