Kenya Leads in Green Economy Initiatives with National Green Jobs & Skills Workshop

Jacob’s Ladder Africa, a youth-focused non-governmental organization, has partnered with the Green Jobs for Youth Pact, to collaboratively develop a legislative framework for the creation of jobs for the youth in the green economy and advancing  environmental sustainability.

The workshop is 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.

In a country where the youth constitute 75% of the population, and two-thirds of whom are unemployed or under-employed, the National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop is a significant milestone demonstrating the nation’s focus on adopting a low-carbon and green growth pathway.

Sellah Bogonko, CEO and Co-Founder, Jacob’s Ladder Africa said: “Unemployment is a dire issue facing Kenya’s youth, with the majority lacking access to opportunities and representation. There have been numerous interventions by different players in creating green jobs and skilling for youth, however it is now time to take concrete steps and implement a coordinating mechanism for all these efforts. Today’s 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 Sellah Bogonko

“Climate change is a reality that is here with us, hence the need to take urgent action. In order to transition to a green, low carbon economy, it is important to ensure the youth have the requisite skills to take advantage of the emerging opportunities. The National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop is a significant step in developing a legislative framework to action the creation of green jobs,” Eng. Festus Ng’eno, Principal Secretary, State Department for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry explained.

Hon. Shadrack Mwadime, Principal Secretary, State Department for Labour and Social Protection said .”The transition to a green economy has far reaching impacts for work. The new landscape for the job market particularly in the green economy will require skilling and preparation of the youth to seize these opportunities. We call on a multi-sectoral collaboration to improve the linkage between skills supply and skills demand in the green economy.”

“The Ministry of Education is focused on greening education curricula to help the youth take advantage of upcoming job opportunities in the green economy. 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 Principal Secretary for Higher Education, Ministry of Education Beatrice Inyangala.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through its Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development Goals (GO4SDGs) initiative, is working with the Kenyan government to tackle the youth unemployment crisis.

“Africa is the only region where the youth bulge will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. If we seize the opportunity to develop and implement the right policies, Africa will reap the demographic dividend. Kenya is blessed with an abundance of sectors with great potential for green job creation such as renewable energy, transportation (non-motorized and low emissions mobility), sustainable agriculture and more. The Green Jobs for Youth Pact is charged with accelerating the creation and the skills of more green and decent jobs for youth,” said Dr. Rose Mwebaza, UNEP Africa Regional Office Director.

As a practical demonstration of green job creation, Jacob’s Ladder Africa issued a call to action to Kenyan youth to submit their applications for the opportunity to be awarded a contract to supply eco-friendly lanyards, mugs or souvenirs for the over 1000 attendees that attended the National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop.