Refugee Employment & Skills Initiative (RESI) Project – Kakuma, Kenya
In a rapidly changing, hyper-connected world, the information and communication technology (ICT) industry is driving economic growth, innovation and job creation. However, a significant percentage of the youth are left behind especially in the refugee and marginal community settings like Kakuma and Kalobeyei.
On the basis of the above analysis, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) implemented a pilot project aimed at testing an improved model for connecting young refugees and members of the host communities to online freelancing markets in 2018 and 2019. The project aimed at developing economic opportunities for displacement-affected communities and their hosts through leveraging on digital tools and technology. The focus was to develop commercially viable skills and facilitate market connections to create economic opportunities and free the target population from dependency so that they rebuild their lives and stop being victims of charity cases.
The project worked with 28 and 60 youth in 2018 and 2019 respectively. They were previously trained in areas such as graphic design, film-editing, photography and journalism. These youth were supported to translate their skills into internet marketing services provided to local, regional and international businesses. Local MSMEs were also supported to take advantage of marketing services and connected to freelancers to develop their online presence. Building on the successes of these two phases (pilot and expanded phase in 2019), the project scaled up the model to a total of 100 youth in 2020. The youth are being trained and connected to job opportunities. However, due to the rise in demand against limited resources our efforts to expand in 2021 are currently derailed.
Specific support we are looking for
• Partnership with technical training institutions offering advanced ICT skills to offer their courses to refugees and host community youths in Kakuma.
• Working with companies requiring outsourcing of tasks to provide online job opportunities to trained youths
• Provision of free internet access to support online learning at NRC education training centres necessitated by Covid-19 situation.
Please, get in touch if you can support!
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