KEPSA held a meeting on 6^th February 2024 with the Ministry of Public Service, Performance and Delivery Management and a representation from KEPSA Members.  This was a follow-up meeting from the one initiated by the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service, Performance and Delivery Management, Hon. Moses Kuria, on 30^th January 2024, seeking collaboration in absorption and opportunities for graduate interns.

The KEPSA members present were drawn from corporates such as Safaricom, M-Gas, Wedgetech Flash, and Belovast Ltd. among others. The meeting was also attended by heads of business member organizations (BMOs) from the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), Business Processing Outsourcing Association of Kenya (BPOA-K), Kenya Private Schools Association, and Retail Traders Association of Kenya (RETRAK).

The Ministry’s team was led by Dr. Peter Mbae, Head of Ministerial Programmes, Office of the Cabinet Secretary while the KEPSA team was led by the Executive Director of KEPSA Foundation, Ms. Gloria Ndekei.

In her remarks, Ms. Ndekei expressed her gratitude to KEPSA members and the Government. She took the team through the commitment matrix while thanking the private sector for the good response to the Coalition for Jobs (C4J) initiative. Ms. Ndekei reported that members had committed and pledged close to 5,000 internships in the last seven days. She said that the process was a growing concern across Membership, BMOs and corporates to enhance internships in Kenya.

Ms. Ndekei further underscored the need for the private sector to work closely with the Government for the generation of future skills that match private sector demand. Ms. Ndekei noted that the internship initiatives were many across the government and the private sector, it was therefore necessary to harmonize, put standards and develop trackable mechanisms to make it effective for Kenyan youth to access decent work.

In representing the Ministry, Dr. Mbae hailed the role and commitment KEPSA had taken in the C4J programme. The government would work in partnership to deliver its mandate of providing jobs to Kenyans. Dr. Mbae reminded the members present that the leadership needed to see a unified internship program and noted that C4J would host joint periodical events and conferences to enhance and raise awareness about the initiative.  He urged KEPSA Members to back the common goal of providing decent jobs to Kenyan youths.

He also intimated that many organizations were offering internship programs but it was not in the public domain. The two teams agreed that there was need to ensure that all the key players were brought on board. It was therefore necessary to advertise the internship program through Government and private sector members. He noted that the private sector had capacity to create and absorb majority of jobs in Kenya.

Safaricom made a short presentation on their talent Marketplace and internship programmes. They were ready to work with the rest of the private sector to enhance the C4J internship programme. The presentation touched on the need for the right skills, mentorship and coaching of the interns in preparation for the job market.  Together with other members, they committed to take the initiative further by building capacity and capabilities through training, mentorship and coaching.

The meeting agreed on the following steps:

1. A breakfast meeting to be held on Thursday, 15^th February 2024, with stakeholders including relevant government departments that would push for the right skills for available jobs to eradicate skills mismatch.
2. Need for a skills inventory to better understand the applications that were already in the Government internships’ portal.
3. The team recognized that academia had a big role to play in relation to future skills building.
4. Formation of the C4J Steering Champions who will steer the National Internship for Private Sector headed by Government leads, BMOs and Corporates.
5. C4J Initiative to be launched on 21^st February 2024 by H.E. the President, Dr. William Samoei Ruto.