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International Journal of Social Science Tomorrow

Vol. 2 No. 3

Graduate Unemployment and Unemployability in Kenya:


Transforming University Education to Cope with Market
Demands and the Lessons for Africa
Awuor Ponge, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), Kenya;
Commonwealth Scholarship Fellow, Institute of Education (IoE), University of London

Abstract
The graduate labour market has changed considerably. There are more and more university graduates
experiencing difficulties in entering the graduate labour market. The greatest challenge for graduates in this era
will be to develop themselves to become employable. Any university seeking relevance today must produce
graduates who would employ people rather than searching for employment. This study has looked at best
practices from around Africa and also the national manifestations of graduate unemployment. Using as example
three innovative practices in Kenyan universities, the study concludes that there are a lot of opportunities
available in Kenya through which Universities could forge partnerships for purposes of addressing the graduate
unemployability situation. It stresses on the need to develop graduate development and employment programs;
introduction of the skills training and employment placement programmes; Micro and Small Enterprise
development and commitment of the government through budgetary provisions for youth entrepreneurship and
particularly targeting graduates.
Keywords: Graduates, Unemployment, Unemployability, Transformation, Development, Innovation.

1. Introduction
The unemployment rate and the disappearance of certain jobs in the Kenyan work place is a major concern that
needs urgent attention, specifically, educators are asked to respond to the question What does it feel like to
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produce graduates whose employment is not guaranteed? (Amimo, 2012:52). The graduate labour market has
changed considerably. There are more and more university graduates experiencing difficulties in entering the
graduate labour market. In Kenya, an environment of radical uncertainty and complexity in the job market has
arisen, that both brings about changes and calls for changes. The greatest challenge for graduates in this new era
will be to develop themselves to become employable. The new world of work requires new skills such as
negotiating, networking, problem solving, and skills to manage process rather than functional skills (Harvey,
Moon, & Geall, 2009). Employability is the propensity of graduates to secure a job and progress in their career,
it is not just about getting a job, it is about developing attributes, techniques, or experience for life (Harvey,
2005: 13). A university ought therefore, to offer a wide range of studies so that students, even if they dont
pursue every subject available to them, gain by living among their peers (Oloo, n.d.)
Records in the Ministry of Youth and Sports show that there are only 125,000 young people (18-35years)
registered with formal employment nationwide, among Kenyas population of nearly 40 million: and the
majority are graduates (Amimo, 2012:52). This study is critical because unemployment rate is a key
macroeconomic indicator, with low unemployment rate taken to indicate a healthy economy; unemployment
represents a waste of resources since unused labour could be used to increase output growth; unemployment is
associated with economic hardships such as loss of income and reduced chances of future employment for
individuals and families; and finally, unemployment is linked to various social problems such as criminal
activity, drug addiction, psychological disorders and loss of self-confidence (KIPPRA, 2009: 2).
Universities are supposed to impart high level skills to a reasonable proportion of the workforce, developing
intellectual capability of individuals and responsible professionals needed virtually in all spheres of human
endeavours. They are expected to function to contribute to national development through high level relevant
manpower training. Any university seeking relevance today in our country must produce graduates who would
employ people rather than searching for employment. Career choice requires the construction of a new identity
that is dependent on a persons social interactions and the environment where such interaction takes place
(Kaufman & Feldman, 2004).
Some of the main challenges facing universities are lack of funding for research, obsolete facilities and
technology, lack of concentration of the lecturers and lack of the necessary life skills outside the academic
discourse. Others are problems of access versus equity issues which are characterized by gender, regional,
ethnic, and social disparities and inequalities, which should be addressed in expanding higher education,
especially in the face of devolved governance. There is also the challenge of attracting, rewarding and retaining
staff, and the likely effects on the production of quality graduates. Universities have been seen as key instrument
for national development, giving rise to the notion of the developmental university. The collapse of many
national economies in Africa and the accompanying destabilisation of social structures threw all institutions,
including those of higher education, into a prolonged crisis.
The principal contribution of a university to society turns on the quality of the knowledge it generates and
imparts; the habits of critical thought and problem-solving it institutionalises and inculcates in its graduates
(Sawyerr, 2004:5). The main challenge is how to increase access to higher education to cater for the increasing
high number of school leavers and others who desire tertiary education (university), while maintaining quality
and ensuring equity and affordability (Kinyanjui, 2007). Adebisi, Adebisi and Arogundade (n.d) have diagnosed
in detail what they call academic corruption and how this impacts on un-employability of graduates. It centres
on students, lecturers, government officials and the institutions in Nigeria. This is not unique to that country and
there are lesson herein for universities in Africa. Amimo (2012: 53) attributes the biggest challenge to graduate
employability in Kenya to todays pedagogical practices at our universities which she observes are short of
these much needed skills. They rather focus on associative reasoning (reasoning that is resonated) with its lack
of originality and creativity, which is a serious handicap to skill development.
Oloo (n.d) has indicated that University education in Kenya, working within a globalised world is therefore,
called upon to examine these challenges in order to come up with ways which will engineer training of
graduates for a broader economic, political, recreational and cultural development. The implication for
embedding employability into real teaching and learning in higher education is not simple. The requirements of
employers sometimes seem to be at odds with those of academia. Closer analysis of what employers are looking
for reveals congruity between the abilities developed in higher education and those desired by employers
(Harvey, 2005: 23). This therefore, leads us to the big question in this study, whether the Universities are really
working towards having the graduates employed or is the market graduating the employment demands to a level
the universities cant cope with, leading to the rising cases of graduate un-employability in Africa?

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2. Justification of the Study


University education being perceived as the panacea for a good job is recently rising in demand leading to
mushrooming of university extensions in most of the Kenyan towns. This scenario of higher education
expansion has compromised quality of graduates, and is a serious concern to employers (Amimo, 2012: 55).
This position is corroborated by Mwigiri (2011) who observes that students who are products of Kenya's formal
education are not able to develop and use original, inventive, innovative and entrepreneurial competencies that
incorporate cross-pollination and fertilization of ideas.
The National Youth Policy recognizes that the youth are a key resource that can be tapped for the benefit of the
whole country. Thus, the policy endeavours to address issues affecting young people by including broad-based
strategies that would provide the youth meaningful opportunities to realize their potential (MOYAS, 2006:1).
Since the Sessional Paper No. 2 of 1985 on Unemployment, there has not been a policy that deals with
unemployment directly. However, there have been policy initiatives to tackle developmental challenges and
unemployment. For example, the eighth and ninth National Development Plans (1997 to 2001 and 2002 to
2008) recognize the role of human resources and labour market policies to Kenyas economic development
(KIPPRA, 2009:33).
The problem of unemployment has continued to be a big challenge. The third National Development Plan of
1974 78, while acknowledging the efforts made to address unemployment among the youth, warned that the
problem would in future loom large (MOYAS, 2006: 2). The Sessional Paper No. 7 of 2005 on Employment
Policy and Strategy for Kenya was developed to jumpstart the implementation of the Economic Recovery
Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERS). However, this was also hinged on the premise that
economic growth would lead to employment creation (KIPPRA, 2009:33). The government has developed the
National Youth Policy in which several measures to tackle youth unemployment are highlighted, which include
job creation for the youth in sports, youth-led government
Ministries and youth-led departments (ibid., p.38). The National Youth Policy also recognizes that
unemployment brings along with it social ills such as crime and alcohol and drug abuse. Both the Government
and non-governmental agencies must address this problem. The policy proposes that the unemployed youth
should be provided with access to services and support programmes and opportunities for further training
(MOYAS, 2006: 14).
The Vision 2030 First Medium Term Plan (MTP) recognizes that faster job creation is required to address the
high rate of unemployment and to take care of the increasing number of youths leaving learning institutions, yet
unable to find gainful employment. It proposed to increase employment by creating an additional 3.5 million
jobs within the next five years (Kenya, 2008: ix).
The literature is replete with studies on diverse issues surrounding youth employment and employability. These
include the unemployment situation analysis and addressing high unemployment challenges in general
(KIPPRA, 2009); the burden of unemployment on the youth (MOYAS, 2006); tailoring higher education in
Kenya to the demands of the Post-industrial workplace (Amimo, 2012); need to adopt informal education
practices in the management of formal education systems (Mwirigi, 2011); youth unemployment as a continuing
crisis with millions of college graduates flooding the unemployment lines (Nesoba, 2010); the wage policies and
their impacts on the labour market and employability (Omolo & Omiti, 2004; Owino, 1996; Manda, Kosimbei,
& Wanjala, 2007). Kinyanjui (2007) has effectively addressed the issue of transforming higher education in
Kenya and the challenges and opportunities that come with the transformation. Lastly, Oloo (n.d) has given a
classical example of what a modern university should offer in response to the forces of globalisation and
graduate marketability, by drawing on the example from Strathmore University.
The most shocking of all is that even as Kenya strives on her path to achieving Vision 2030, no mention is made
of the role of university education and the future of university graduates as the Medium Term Plan (Kenya,
2008) and the subsequent Annual Progress Reports (Kenya, 2010; 2011; 2012) are all concerned with education
at the lower levels starting from the ECDE and on to the transition and completion rates at secondary education.
Without recognizing the role of University education and factoring it in development plans means that a huge
chunk of the Kenyan workforce is left out of country programmes.
Based on the foregoing review of the literature, it is evident that no study has specifically endeavoured to
address the issue of graduate unemployment and employability in relation to the transformations that are
currently taking place at the Universities in response to external pressures and the need to make their graduates
globally competitive even as they remain relevant to the domestic job market. This study therefore, is a
pioneering study in Kenya and to set the agenda for subsequent studies in this critical area of development
discourse.
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3. Scope and Limitations of the Study


The scope of this study mainly centred on the Kenyan example and the transformations that are currently taking
place in Kenyan universities to cope with the problem of employability of their graduates. However,
comparative studies have been drawn from other African universities that have best practices in terms of
entrepreneurial innovations and an attempt to balance access versus quality, not sacrificing equity in access. It is
worth noting that access to credible unemployment data is hard to come by, because there has not been
comprehensive labour force survey targeting specifically graduates, and even the information that is available on
unemployment in general is patchy as it concentrates on what has been achieved with regard to employment
without taking into consideration what should actually have been done with unemployment. As such, the study
will be limiting as it cannot purport to give a clear picture of the general graduate unemployment status without
a national survey specifically targeting those who have since graduated and are either in the job market or
unemployed.

4. Nature and Study Methodology


The study was mainly a comparative analysis of the different country situations with regard to unemployment of
graduates and also the relationship between the programmes on offer at the Universities and their marketability.
It sought to find out how innovation has transformed the university education system in Kenya in response to
the job market, and more especially, the changes that they have undergone. It sought to diagnose whether the
universities are devising any innovative ways of making their graduates compete effectively in the job market.
The main approach for the study was desk review of literature available on graduates and employment in Kenya
in particular and in Africa in general.

5. Conceptualisation of the Study


The unemployed consist of all persons of working age who are not working, are available for work, and are
searching for work at prevailing wage rate (KIPPRA, 2009:5). According to the International Labour
Organization (ILO) as cited in Akintoye (2008:98), the unemployed is a member of the economically active
population, who are without work but available for and seeking for work, including people who have lost their
jobs and those who have voluntarily left work.
Open involuntary unemployment arises when a person who is able and willing to work, is unable to secure a job.
Disguised unemployment arises when the work given to a workforce is insufficient to keep it fully employed,
that is, work is divided among workers with each worker less than fully employed (KIPPRA, 2009:5).
This study is primarily concerned with two types of unemployment namely frictional and structural
unemployment. Frictional unemployment arises because workers and employers take time to find each other (to
match); whereas structural unemployment arises from the imbalance between the type of skills individuals are
offering and the demand for skills by employers.

6. Kenya Employment Situation Report

High unemployment remains one of the greatest challenges to Africas development and hence a major concern
to policy makers and other stakeholders in Africa (KIPPRA, 2009:1). The economic growth rate has not been
sufficient to create enough employment opportunities to absorb the increasing labour force of about 500,000
annually. Only about 25% of youth are absorbed, leaving 75% to bear the burden of unemployment.
Furthermore, some of those absorbed in the labour market have jobs that do not match their qualifications and
personal development goals (MOYAS, 2006: 3). With an average growth projection of 8.2 per cent, the total job
generation for 2008 2012 was expected to reach 3.7 million in 2012 from about 1.8 million in 2004,
translating to an average of 740, 000 new jobs in each year as is captured on the table of employment
projections, 2008 2012 (Kenya, 2008: 14)
[Table 1]
In 2005/2006, the open unemployment rate among the youth ages 15 24 as estimated by the Kenya National
Bureau of Statistics, was 24% compared to an overall open unemployment rate of 12.7%. Open unemployment
rate in urban areas at 19.9% is more than double that in rural areas; and the rate in Rift Valley Province at 23.9%
was the highest among Provinces (KIPPRA, 2009:v). The Report goes ahead to indicate that The most frequent
explanations of the causes of unemployment in Kenya include: rapid population growth, poor dissemination of
labour market information, skills mismatch, structural reforms, slow or declining economic growth, and high
costs of labour (ibid., p.v).

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Enrolment in primary school totaled 7.2 million in 2003 for children aged 6-13 years. Secondary school
enrolment, by 2002, totaled 847,287 while university student were estimated to be 63,941 students in the
2002/03 academic year. Enrollment in private accredited and private unaccredited universities totaled 10,310 of
which 5,354 (51.9%) are females (MOYAS, 2006: 1).
In 2005/06, overall unemployment was 12.7 per cent with urban and rural areas having unemployment rates of
19.9 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively (KNBS, 2007). 57 percent of women and 86 percent of men age 1549 are categorised as currently employed. The proportion of women currently employed increases with age up to
44 years and then declines slightly for those in the 45-49 age group (KNBS & ICF Macro, 2010: 38). Data from
the annual Economic Surveys show that formal sector employment growth has been sluggish. It rose by 1.2 per
cent between 1998 and 2001. The estimated increase for 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 are 2.2 per
cent, 2.6 per cent, 3.6 per cent, 2.5 per cent, 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, respectively. Public sector
employment declined by 7.4 per cent from 1998 to 2002 due to public sector reforms but recorded marginal
growth of 0.3 per cent between 2002 and 2004. On the other hand, informal sector employment increased by 10
per cent between 1998 and 2002 and 6.4 per cent between 2002 and 2005 (KIPPRA, 2009:2).
[Figure 1]
With regard to employment, the target for total job creation in 2008 was 425, 000. Actual employment creation
was 467, 300 which was above the target by 42, 300. Out of the 467, 300 new jobs created in 2008, the bulk,
433, 500 were in the informal sector, 33, 700 were in wage employees in modern establishments and 100 were
self employed (Kenya, 2010:11).
[Table 2]
It is interesting to note, however, that the 2008 figure was down from the 2007 baseline figure of 485, 500. The
slowdown in employment creation continued in 2009 with 445, 900 new jobs being created compared to the
MTP target of 787, 000 new jobs (Kenya, 2011: 17). It is clear that the economy has not been able to create the
desired number of jobs. While the target for employment creation was missed by 38.4 per cent in 2008, this gap
increased by about five percentage points to 43.3 per cent in 2009 (ibid., p. 46).
The country has been unable to meet the MTP 2008 2009 targets in the past three years. In the financial year
2010/2011, 503, 500 new jobs were generated both in the formal and informal sectors as compared to a total of
502, 900 jobs created in 2009. The formal sector generated 62, 600 new jobs in 2010 compared to 56, 300 jobs
created in 2009 representing a 12.4 per cent of total jobs generated (Kenya, 2012: 23). It is also interesting to
note that the informal sector, which represented 80.6 per cent of the total employment, generated an additional
440, 900 jobs. In sum, the total employment growth for the year 2010/2011 was 3.0 per cent in the formal sector
as compared to 5.3 per cent in the informal sector (Ibid., p. 23)
[Table 3] [Table 4] [Table 5] [Table 6]

7. Global Perspectives on Graduate Unemployment


Graduate unemployment is not a problem unique to Kenya. It is a global phenomenon, however, in Kenya, it is a
tragedy. In the present day knowledge based economies that have emerged following globalization and
information technology revolution, universities are expected to play a pivotal role by generating, harnessing and
transmitting knowledge for sustainable development and improved standard of living (Bassey & Atan, 2012:
69). Gbosi (2006) defined unemployment as a situation in which people who are willing to work at the
prevailing wage rate are unable to find jobs.
Unemployment of recent graduates is hovering at 50% in both China and the US. The lack of available
employment for the best and the brightest is a symptom of what is wrong at a macro level with each of the
respective economies. While the overall symptoms are the same, the disease, and its treatment, is acutely
different (Mahoney, 2012). Obadan and Odusola (2003:1) observe that graduate unemployment apart from
representing a colossal waste of a countrys manpower resources, generates welfare loss in terms of lower
output, thereby leading to lower income and well-being.
There are major shifts at the work place and it is important to study the job market to find out the kind of jobs
that will be available for our graduates in the post industrial era (Amimo, 2012: 54). Kenyas gross domestic
product by sector is agriculture (22%), services (62%) and industry (16%). This suggests that most jobs are
available in the service sector (World Bank, 2010 as quoted in Amimo, 2012:54).

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The opportunity costs and losses arising from unemployed and underemployed young people have, and will
continue to exert, tremendous impacts on society if these problems are not addressed in time. The inability to
find decent work enhances a sense of vulnerability and inadequacy among youths, which can lead to other social
ills and conflicts UNESCO (2006:1). The growing incidence of graduate unemployment in the face of acute skill
shortages presents a paradox which further complicates the analysis of labour market distortions (Bassey &
Atan, 2012:68). This phenomenon of unemployment has made Obadan and Odusola (2003) to make the
following observation in relation to productivity:
The need to avert the negative effects of unemployment has made the tackling of unemployment problems to
feature very prominently in the development objectives of many developing countries. Incidentally, most of these
countries' economies are also characterized by low productivity. Thus, it seems obvious to many policy makers
that there must be a straight forward connection between productivity and employment/unemployment (Obadan
and Odusola, 2003:1).
In all modern economies, universities are places where specialized human resources are developed. Therefore,
they play a crucial role in generating human capacities for leadership, management and the technical expertise
(Bassey & Atan, 2012: 69). Among the reasons adduced for the quality deterioration in university education are
incessant strikes, lack of employee motivation, weak accountability for educational performance, shortage of
staff, corruption and admissions based on quotas rather than merit (Saint, Hartnett & Strassner, 2003).
According to Bassey and Atan (2012: 7475), the large numbers of unemployed graduates and the low
productivity of those who find work reflect poor social return on the investment. The tragedy is that while the
causes of low quality of university education and its consequences are widely acknowledged, there are no
mechanisms in place to correct them.

8. Manifestations of Graduate Unemployment

Mismatch in labour market demand and supply There is a general lack of appropriate skills and knowledge
among new recruits in the workplace. To compound this, there is a perception that the technical and ICT skills
learned in schools are outdated and do not match the state-of-the-art technologies in use at the workplace. This
has been a problem mainly with students of Computer Sciences and also Engineering courses. This has forced
students to do other courses like Microsoft Certification on top of their University Degrees in Computer Studies
to make them be relevant to the workplace or rather be accepted by employers. Most employers perceive the
engineering students to have been taught mainly theoretical work and dont have the hands-on in the practical
aspects which is critical. Another challenge is that most are only taught fabrication and repairs of machinery
from the developed countries, which by the way, become obsolete by the time they reach Africa.
Inadequate labour market information One reason for the mismatch between demand and supply lies in the
lack of appropriate and updated labour market information. As mentioned earlier, there also appears to be a
discrepancy between labour market demand and supply. The Universities do not have a comprehensive database
of what the market demands so as to gauge students admissions to the market demands. What has been
happening is a case of the golden rush, for example when there is demand for scientists, the emphasis is
centred on this to the detriment of the humanities. When everyone goes for the sciences, there comes a tragedy
when the country needs teachers for humanities as happened in Kenya in the recent past when there were few (if
any) students graduating to teach subjects like English, History, Religious Studies and even Social Education
and Ethics. Currently, these are selling like hot cake in Kenya.
Discrepancies between Graduate expectations versus market reality A major element pointed out by many
employers is the unrealistic expectations and demands of young employees, especially given their lack of
experience and skills.
Lack of work experience - In general, the divide between school and the world of work is imposed upon
students by the educational systems, in conformation to policies and pedagogical approaches in each country.
Similarly, social and cultural norms play a role in whether young people are exposed to work environments.
Lack of life skills training Another common complaint with the graduates that make them not appealing to the
employers is that of the lack of skills and experiences of the young people. Curricular contents in educational
institutions stress core competencies in reading, writing and arithmetic and core subjects. Life skills such as
social skills, interpersonal relationships, motivation, critical thinking, communication, creativity, language skills
and so on are usually not taught within the formal setting of the school system, yet these are really valued and
are at the centre stage during interviews.

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9. Innovation in Kenyan Universities


9.1 Universities and Research in Agribusiness Innovation Fair
The organisation of this fair is one of the activities in the ongoing Universities, Business and Research in
Agricultural Innovation (UniBRAIN) 1 programme. UNIBRAIN responds to the recommendations by the
African Union to strengthen linkages between Universities, Research and Business. It provide a platform for the
Universities and research institutions to showcase their innovations; enable the Small and Micro-Enterprises
(SMEs) to access information and products on innovative financing options and products; foster linkages
between the private sector and the institutions of higher learning; and enable agribusiness and agro-industry
players to make business contacts; linkages and explore the opportunities of up scaling the identified
innovations. In contrast to earlier universities concentration of producing graduates with theoretical background
in agriculture, without good in-the-field practical experience, UniBRAIN seeks to promote agricultural
innovation and produce graduates with entrepreneurial and business skills and research-based knowledge that is
relevant to the development of African agriculture and agribusiness.

9.2 Innovation as Economic Driver for Universities


In the very recent past, five Kenyan scientists have been feted for their exemplary innovations in Science and
Technology. One was awarded for inventing a new mobile application whose objective is to provide agricultural
information to farmers about agricultural activities in the country and beyond. Another one was awarded for
coming up with a dye for the textile industry. The product is now being used by a clothing company in Kenya
(Orengo, 2012). A technologies firm has been feted for its revolutionary car tracking and security system, which
uses a mobile phone to track and deliver actual geographical position of any vehicle when stolen, and last but
certainly not least, another scientist was awarded for developing a 3G mobile remote camera, which is able to
detect the presence of an intruder in ones house or property, then sends live video to the homeowner (ibid).
Most worthy to note is that all these are developing in the academic environment of the universities.

9.3 Innovation at Inoorero University


Among the objectives of setting up the Inoorero University Innovation Centre were to stimulate the interests of
staff and students to develop innovative ideas to solve business and social problems in the community; Promote
innovation as an integral part of academic activity to generate jobs and enterprises; Develop and package the
innovations into intellectual products; Engage industry to market and develop the innovations into business
solutions (Inoorero University, 2012). Some of the key milestones for the innovation centre include:
- Mobile Application Development of applications that run on mobiles phones, smart phones, Personal
Digital Assistants (PDAs) and other small devices hence solve business problems; development of
applications for buying through MPESA mobile telephone money services and E-Commerce services.
- Software development - Digitization and document management software development.
- Digital Content development Developing E-Books; Open education resources development and
utilization; and lastly
- Business Process Outsourcing They seek to develop BPO personnel capacity for the national
government and for the 47 Counties with the coming into effect of devolved governance.

9.4 Innovation at Egerton University

Egerton University has come up with the Agricultural Innovations Capacity of Graduates programme (Egerton
University, 2012) which is a regional project aimed at building capacity of African University Graduates to
foster change through Agricultural Innovations. It is coordinated by the Regional Universities Forum for
Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM). The implementing partners are regional and international
Universities and research institutes in the field of agriculture. It stresses on the need for the universities to be
innovative of perish as opposed to the old adage of publish or perish. The project dubbed Graduate
Opportunities for Innovation and Transformation (GO4IT) aims at contributing to and facilitating agricultural
and rural innovation processes.

10. What are the Opportunities for Kenya?


There are so many opportunities available in Kenya through which Universities could forge partnerships for
purposes of addressing the graduate unemployability situation. Here we identify three of such avenues, namely:
the effective implementation of the National Youth Policy and working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of
Youth Affairs and Sports (MOYAS); the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and lastly the Kenya Youth
Business Trust.

Available online at: http://apf-kenya.ning.com/events/universities-and-research-in <Accessed on 24 January


2013>

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10.1 The National Youth Policy

The National Youth Policy provides for among other things, that the private sector, CSOs and the Government
should encourage and promote initiatives from youth groups by providing them with necessary skills (technical
and financial assistance) to build their capacity; Government, CSOs, Private Sector should support and initiate
income generating activities by providing youth friendly micro-finance credit facilities; the Government, CSOs
and other developmental partners should allocate funds specifically for young entrepreneurs; and ultimately
creating awareness on labour laws and workers rights through civic education, especially through campaigns
organized by youth organisations (MOYAS, 2006:7)

10.2 Youth Enterprise Development Fund


The Youth Enterprise Development Fund is a recent initiative by the Kenya government to reduce youth
unemployment. It targets youth in ages 18-35. The objectives of the fund include among others, provision of
funds to micro-finance institutions for onward lending to youth enterprises (KIPPRA, 2009:40). The
Universities could establish partnership with this fund to ensure that innovative university graduates are
financed to commercialise their innovations.

10.3 Kenya Youth Business Trust (KYBT)


KYBT is the local chapter for Youth Business International (YBI) launched in March, 2003. It aims at reducing
youth unemployment by supporting new business start-ups and providing disadvantaged youth with personal
development opportunities. Kenya Youth Business Trust (KYBT) was founded in 2004 to help tackle the issue
of youth unemployment. It became an accredited member of YBI in 2005. KYBT was launched in Nairobi but
has since expanded to Mombasa (Kenya Youth Business Trust, 2012). KYBT provides seed capital, business
mentorship and business information. According to its own information sources, the KYBT has facilitated more
than 38 young entrepreneurs to establish their own businesses (KIPPRA, 2009: 42). This is another avenue the
universities could seek partnerships for ensuring that their graduates not only get the hands-on experience in
entrepreneurship, but that they can market their innovations to earn a living.

11. Policy Options and Lessons for Africa


In order to help address the issue of graduate unemployment, the need for comprehensive data on the
characteristics of the graduate population and its unemployed component becomes paramount. Among the key
issues to be considered to address mismatch between supply and demand as a tragedy to graduate
unemployment problem are: conducting needs assessment, developing more relevant curricula, implementing
appropriate pedagogical approaches to link educational institutions and industries, identifying and defining
qualifications based on real needs, assessing and ensuring the quality of competencies, certifying qualified
institutions and trainees (UNESCO, 2006:3). Dabalen, Oni & Adekoka (2000) have identified three major
sources of employment for University graduates. These are the public sector, the private sector and self
employment.
There is need to address the problem of businesses that would rather poach employees from other companies
than employ and train talented people who lack skills and work experience but could add value in the long term.
The biggest victim of this are the Commercial banks in Kenya which even employ University graduates such as
Engineers and even Lawyers as tellers. For job information needs, there is need to incorporate analyses of the
trends in labour market needs as part of the economic projections and plans, and communicate this clearly to the
education and training sectors. In giving an example from the South African context and linking the government
and the academia with the business community, the Business Leadership Centre observed that as
businesspeople, we must remember that youth unemployment is not just a problem for government; it is a
problem for everyone. It is also not a problem that one group can solve alone. The solutions are not simple, but
we have a common interest, and together we can make a start.2

11.1 Quality Assurance and Strengthening Partnerships


There is need to strengthen existing partnerships as well as scouting for new partnerships as this enhances
achievement of our goals. Providing educational opportunities, including study options, bursaries and
educational loans, and career guidance is equally important. Mechanisms should be put in place to involve
employers and businesses in needs assessment and development of curricula; developing a national qualification
framework, and ensure understanding and compliance of framework; provide certification of qualifications and
training and also develop and implement quality assurance systems.

Thero Setiloane CEO Business Leadership South Africa Beyond advocacy Business needs to get its
head in the game.

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11.2 Research and Database Management


Research and a credible database, especially of the unemployment trends and capacity needs assessment of the
public and private sector is critical. There is need for coordination and networking for purposes of identifying
capacity building and training needs for both the graduates and the potential employers. The Government should
facilitate the compilation and sharing of best practices in the region, encourage governments and employers to
plan events to develop career awareness, develop strategies to coordinate cooperation between governmental
agencies, industries and educational institutions and also establish web-based career guidance portals.

11.3 Graduate Networking Clubs


Graduates should organize themselves in establishing organized structures like Graduate Clubs which can
facilitate projects like networking and capacity building programs focusing in life skills.

11.4 Development of Graduate Development and Employment programs


This would be a very technical organ and requires a high level of expertise. It will have the potential to
contribute in linking graduates to work opportunities or internships. This would address the problem of
frictional unemployment, which refers to insufficient information in the labour market conditions, making job
seekers not able to obtain satisfaction from the job and continue to enter the labor market job search
phenomenon. Facilitate exposure of students to the workplace through mentoring, counselling, promotion and
on-the-job demonstrations.

11.5 Introduction of the Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP)


Programme
The Government should re-examine the policy of enlarging enrollment, adjusting the training level and
gradually build specialized focused on building a reasonable knowledge structure and ability to increase
employment guidance, smooth employment channels and making it possible for graduates to be able to own
businesses. Lack of life skills can be improved through developing more extra-curricular activities and
encourage students participation while enrolled as students or trainees.

11.6 Micro and Small Enterprise Development


Increase the number of small firms provides opportunities for jobs and skills for most entrants in the labour
market which in turn creates demand for skills among other scale-sensitive activities as fruitful targets for cooperation and collaboration among firms in an industry, particularly if the industry is populated by small and
medium-sized firms. Examples in this case include the textile industry, curios, and small scale manufacturing.

11.7 Formalisation of the Jua Kali Sector


The formalization of informal sector and also the community-based apprenticeship training schemes in all
Counties with the support of the Government to take care of the graduates trained in Engineering and other such
professional courses.

11.8 Policy on Technical, Industrial and Vocational Education and Training (TIVET)
Promote technological proficiency by training for skills to produce competitive products for the domestic and
international markets. Also develop training systems and mechanisms to facilitative linkages of the informal
sector and standards of skill acquisition with those of the formal technical and vocational system. There is need
to improve access and relevance of education and training provided to the youth with more focus on technical
and vocational skills as well as development of soft skills. This requires the effective implementation of the
Technical Industrial Vocational Education and Training (TIVET) policy.

11.9 Government Commitment through Budgetary Provisions


There is need for the Government to promote policies that increase demand and opportunities for more
graduates to be employed and to provide programmes and incentives to ensure that those that will be employed
are properly trained and equipped to work.

Awuor Ponge,
Institute of Education (IoE),
University of London
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Tables and Figures

Table 1: Employment Projections, 2008 2012


2003 2007
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2008 2012
Total Avg. Projections
Total Avg
5.4
4.7
8.4
8.7
9.1
10.0
8.2
Employment growth (%)
2, 344
3, 698
469
425
759
787
823
904
740
Total Employment (000s)
Source: Kenya, Government of the Republic of. (2008). First Medium Term Plan (2008 2012) of Kenya
Vision 2030 A Globally Competitive and Prosperous Kenya. (pg.14)
Figure 1: Jobs Created, Targets and Variance 2007 2009
Jobs Created, Targets and Variance 2007 - 2010

2010

Variance

319.5
503.5

Actual
Target

823

2009

Years

Variance

341.1

Actual

445.9

Target

787

2008

Actual

2007

Variance

Baseline

295.7
463.3

Target

759
485.5
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Jobs in Thousands

Source: Kenya, Republic of. (2012). Third Annual Progress Report (APR) on the Implementation of the First
Medium Term Plan (2008 2012) of Kenya Vision 2030. (pg. 56)
Table 2 : Targeted and Actual Employment levels 2008/2009 2011/2012
FY 2008/2009

FY 2009/2010

FY 2010/2011

Target Actual Target Actual Target


Employment Growth
8.4
-2.2
8.7
5.9
9.1
Total Employment (000's) 759
474.7
787
502.9
823
Source: Kenya, Republic of. (2012). Third Annual Progress Report (APR) on the
Medium Term Plan (2008 2012) of Kenya Vision 2030. (pg. 23)

FY 2011/
2012

Actual
0.12
10
503.5
904
Implementation of the First

Table 3 : Employment status: Women 1 Age


Percent distribution of women age 15-49 by employment status, according to age, Kenya 2008 2009.
Employed in the
12 months preceding
Not employed
the survey
Number
in the 12 months
Total
of women
Background
Not
preceding the survey
Currently
Characteristic
currently
employed3
(Age)
employed
15-19
19.3
1.8
78.9
100.0 1,761
20-24
50.5
3.7
45.7
100.0 1,715
25-29
66.6
3.1
30.3
100.0 1,454
30-34
71.4
2.1
26.5
100.0 1,209
35-39
73.7
1.5
24.8
100.0 877
40-44
78.7
1.8
19.5
100.0 768
45-49
74.2
1.3
24.5
100.0 661
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro. (2010). Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey 2008-09 (pg. 37).
Currently employed is defined as having done work in the past seven days. Includes persons who did not
work in the past seven days but who are regularly employed and were absent from work for leave, illness,
vacation, or any other such reason.

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Table 4 : Employment status: Men 1 - Age


Percent distribution of men age 15-49 by employment status, according to age, Kenya 2008 2009.
Employed in the
12 months preceding
Not employed
the survey
Number
Total
in the 12 months
of men
Background
Not
preceding the survey
Currently
Characteristic
currently
employed
(Age)
employed
15-19
59.9
3.9
36.3
100.0 776
20-24
86.9
2.8
10.3
100.0 630
25-29
97.4
0.7
1.9
100.0 483
30-34
95.4
2.5
2.1
100.0 461
35-39
98.6
0.5
0.9
100.0 344
40-44
98.6
1.0
0.4
100.0 306
45-49
97.9
0.9
1.2
100.0 257
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro. (2010). Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey 2008-09 (p. 38).
Table 5 : Employment status: Women 2 - Education
Percent distribution of women age 15-49 by employment status, according to education, Kenya 2008 2009.
Employed in the
12 months preceding
Not employed
the survey
Number
Total
in the 12 months
of women
Background
Not
preceding the survey
Currently
Characteristic
currently
employed
(Education)
employed
No education
50.6
3.0
46.4
100.0 752
Primary incomplete 52.7
2.6
44.7
100.0 2,526
Primary complete
60.1
2.9
37.0
100.0 2,272
Secondary+
58.8
1.7
39.5
100.0 2,894
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro. (2010). Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey 2008-09 (pg. 37).
Table 6 : Employment status: Men 2 - Education
Percent distribution of men age 15-49 by employment status, according to education, Kenya 2008 2009.
Employed in the
12 months preceding
Not employed
the survey
Number
in the 12 months
Total
of men
Background
Not
preceding the survey
Currently
Characteristic
currently
employed
(Education)
employed
No education
93.7
3.2
3.1
100.0 112
Primary incomplete 81.7
3.2
15.1
100.0 883
Primary complete
93.9
0.7
5.4
100.0 804
Secondary+
84.6
2.2
13.2
100.0 1,459
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro. (2010). Kenya Demographic and Health
Survey 2008-09. (p. 38).

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