Along with the other arid and semi-arid lands, Turkana county has one of the lowest indicators of economic and social development in Kenya, with youth and women being the most affected. Across the county, youth not only face structural barriers to work but also deal with social and cultural blocks. This equally affects women and newly-arrived refugees. The key barriers hindering the absorption of youth and other vulnerable groups into the local labour market include low and unmatched skills uptake and limited access to financial services brought about by language barriers, lack of credit history and low literacy levels. Consequently, addressing these barriers is critical in easing the social integration of young people into the wider community and assisting them to transition into and navigate the labour market. Turkana county has an estimated population of 1,427,797 people with youth aged between 15 and 29 years accounting for about 31.78%. It holds the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement which are home to approximately 185,449 registered refugees and asylum-seekers comprising 21 nationalities.
The Promoting Life Skills and Livelihoods project commonly referred to as Skills 4 Life, is a Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) funded project that has been implemented by Swisscontact since 2013. It is currently in its second implementation phase which closes in June 2019 and targets both members of the host community and refugees living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement. The project aims to strengthen the income generating capabilities of 2,500 youth aged between 16 and 25 years by enhancing their access to technical, financial, life, literacy and numeracy training skills using both conventional and digital mediums for improved livelihoods. Read more at https://ela-newsportal.com/a-digital-intervention-to-literacy-and-numeracy-for-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-kakuma-kenya/?platform=hootsuite
