Generation Kenya- Youth Employment and Decent Work

Generation Kenya submitted a 2023 workplan which was approved by Sida. The 2023 priorities included: 1. Reach 4,000 new learners through Gen-K existing programs. 2. Deepen Gen-K learner and alumni engagements. 3. Expand Gen-K learner profile to reach the vulnerable communities in Kenya. 4. Continue to advance Gen-K systems change approach by: a) Deepening engagements with county and national governments b) Influencing employer practices, with a focus on employers practices within the textile and apparel manufacturing sector 5. Deepening fundraising efforts with new and existing development partners to support the continuation of the program. 6. Strengthening staff engagement. Results Program performance The 2023 Gen-K program performance were not met as stipulated in the work plan and adjustment to targets had to be made during the year. The plan was to train 4000 learners, however 2645 learners were trained and 2475 graduated. The shortfall in learners trained was attributed to different factors including decrease in employer demand for hiring, adverse economic conditions, shift in employer requirements, high turnover in the business development unit at Gen-K, competition from similar organizations for similar opportunities. Despite, Gen-K included inclusive skilling by training 7 deaf single women in the SMO program, these women were then absorbed by Nashipai Leather, an employer organization. This inclusive skilling has been a dialogue issue for a while and It is commendable that Gen-K took a step to meet the needs of people living with disability. There is still room for Gen-K to reach learners from vulnerable communities in Kenya. Further,as part of expanding learner profile, with support from UNHCR, Gen-K partnered with the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and trained 30 learners and out of these 25 learners were refugees representing 83%. The learners were trained on the DFP program where they were trained on different modules. 8 out of the 21 who completed training achieved the set target of $50 and cumulatively earned USD $891.52 within the six weeks apprenticeship period. This is a progressive way of skilling ensuring no one is left behind and that the young refugee population can benefit from the The Digital Freelancing Program was revamped by adding three new roles Digital Marketing, Graphic Design and Data Analysis in addition to the existing roles. The DFP also strengthened the mentorship and extensive coaching structure to ensure learners are able to have hands on experience and ability to bid and complete the freelancing assignments.Further, to support learners in laptop ownership, Gen-K partnered with Shortlist, a provider offering zero-interest laptop loans repayable within a year where 82 learners are benefiting from this arrangement. Laptop ownership has been observed to increase earnings as they are able to work outside the training centres. Gen-K conducted a textile and apparel industry wide skills needs analysis to understand the talent gaps within the apparel manufacturing sector. The insights from this survey will be used to refine Gen-K's existing curriculum and craft new curriculum modules for identified new talents. Fundraising initiatives In 2023, Generation Kenya successfully raised a total of USD $2.39 million from the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment (CFYE), The Stanbic Foundation, Danish Refugee Council (DRC), and Ezrah Charitable Trust. In December 2023, following a thorough due diligence process, Imaginable Futures (IF) committed USD $150,000 as part of this funding. The financial sustainability of Generation Kenya has been a dialogue issue since the inception phase, it is commendable that Gen-K enhanced their resource mobilisation efforts and have attracted additional donors as listed above. Advancement on systems change approach through partneship with government institutions In 2023, Gen-K deepened their partnerships with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and intensified their collaboration with government entities, aligning their operations with national agendas. Gen-K operated in six counties and reached formal partnership with 9 counties ([Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kitui, Makueni, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kisumu and Taita Taveta) against 28 where they have had operations. In 2023, Gen-K also actively contributed to the development and review of the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDP) for Nairobi and Makueni Counties where they assisted the counties in defining their youth employment agenda and recommending various TVET related initiatives to be adopted, thereby informing the county budgeting processes. This would be valuable to follow up to observe if there was any influence in this process and if a budget allocation for TVET was made. Also, Gen-K actively participated in the review of the Essential Skills curriculum developed by Kenya School School of TVET (KSTVET) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO). The aim of this curriculum is to equip TVET trainers with skills and competencies in training employability essentials (soft skills). The Ministry of education appointed to a technical committee to support the development of a TVET demand-driven framework. It would be important to follow up on the important deliberations on TVET and skilling. Strengthening staff engagement In 2022 and 2023, Gen-K had a faced a number of staff transition to other opportunities leaving vacancies in the organization. _This called for a review of the organizational structure to align with growth and demand of staff. Various roles, including CEO, COO, Head of Business Development and Innovation, Head of People and Culture, Finance and Risk Manager, Business Coordinators, Project Manager-DFP, and Master Trainer were recruited in 2023. New positions including Data Analysts, Mentorship Assistants, and Human Resource Assistants, were recruited to improve efficiency. The CEO and COO positions were recruited internally as the personnel had been with the organization. Field visits In 2023, there were two field visits both in Nakuru county to observe the work on Digital Freelancing Program.

With the support from Sweden Generation Kenya plans to scale the Generation Kenya program to reach 45 000 marginalized youth, to work for systemic change, influence, capacitate and strengthen the public TVET system, incorporate decent work and gender equality aspects of work into the Generation Kenya program, and to scale its model and make the program 60% self-sustainable by the end of 2023. To achieve these objectives, Generation Kenya aims to: - Equip youth with the technical skills, mindsets and behaviors to enter a fulfilling career  - Provide skilled labour for both the formal and informal sector in Kenya - Create a sustainable and replicable model for skills that can be applied globally, adjusting for local context to solve youth unemployment. Further to the above Generation aims to establish a strong partnership with the Government on both cnetral and county level, focusing on capacity building towards a competency based employer led methodology that supports the creation of centers of excellence across public and private technical and vocational education centers (TVET’s). Considering that TVET is a devolved function, dialgoue and collaboration with the Council of Governors will be important. Developed based on the findings from the Study in 2012 (Annex 6 to project document), Generation uses a seven-step methodology to move youth between the ages of 18-35, from a life in poverty to gainful employment and a career pathway. This model is thoroughly addressed in the project document, page 24-28. The target group is marginalized youth living in poverty (90% earn less than I USD per day, 57% are women, 29% have dependents). The youth are mostly living in under-privileged dwellings in urban and semi-urban centers in 90+ locations across 26 counties in Kenya. A deeper analysis conducted in 2018 shows that the Generation Kenya’s programs have a ~370% positive impact on average income across all programs. Of the 9,692 graduates across Generation in August 2018, 4,951 were unemployed before joining the program. 2,566 did not report their employment status while 2,175 reported having prior jobs (most of them underemployed). Overall, youth who join Generation have an unemployment rate of 51% or 69% excluding not reported students Through programs run across 5 sectors - financial services sales (FSS), distributed sales (DS), retail and restaurant (RRS), customer service agents (CSA) and sewing machine operators (SMO) – Generation has to date graduated over 11,100 youth across 92 training locations in 26 counties in Kenya; with 35 of these centers located in public and private TVET’s. Besides the mentioned five sectors, construction is a new sector under development that is included in the proposal to Sweden. Both sewing machine operators and construction are sectors related to Kenyas' Big Four Agenda. In addition, youth unemployment is a strong priority in the Kenya Vision 2030. The theory of change (page 34-48) is based on the reasoning that an enabling environment allows employable youth to access gainful employment that can lead to a better quality of life. Hence the overarching development impact goal is “Empowered young people with thriving sustainable careers and employers with highly skilled motivated talent”. Generation will be addressing this goal by the following 3 outcomes. Outcome 1: Youth Access Decent Jobs from demand driven skills provided by Generation - Youth with better access to wage employment - Increased income / financial well-being of youth.  - Increased personal well-being of youth.  Outcome 2: Financially sustainable & scalable program from being cost effective and achieve self-sufficiency - Cost effective youth employment program - 100% self-sufficient youth employment program - Stakeholders (government, employers, youth) cost contribution Outcome 3: Employers reducing youth unemployment by hiring disconnected, unemployed and/or underemployed youth trained by Generation - Increase in employers hiring disadvantaged youth - Reduced youth employment rates - High retention rates - Faster promotion for hires - Higher productivity from hires - Safe and health work environment The Theory of Change of the program and its related Result Framework (Annex 7 to project document) will be refined based on the findings from the MSD analysis and the inception phase. Sweden welcomes these refinements. Firstly, because any new findings from the MSD analysis should guide the future strategy (hence the result framework), and secondly because the current Result Framework is somewhat complicated with many indicators per output. A cleared division between outcomes, outputs and their respective indicators would support the program in its implementation and follow up. Sweden will follow this work throughout the inception phase.