“Kabla sijachukuliwa na Safaricom, nilikuwa nachunga ng’ombe za mzee fulani huko kijijini.” (Before I was admitted to the Safaricom program, I used to herd cows in my village.)
Meet 22 year old Rasul Mbwana* from Mwavumbo Ward of Kwale County. Rasul is one of the 855 beneficiaries of the Safaricom Foundation Scholarship (SFS), in which Safaricom, in partnership with Zizi Afrique Foundation are supporting at least 1000 vulnerable youth to access technical training, life skills and digital skills in about 40 vocational training centres (VTCs) across the country.
Rasul had thought he was going to be a herder all his life. His young life was shattered one day in 2017 when his parents perished in a road accident. He was only in Form 2 at Mwatate Boys in Taita Taveta County. His parents’ death also marked the end of his pursuit for education: he dropped out of school because there was no one to pay his school fees and that of his younger and older brother.
According to a research conducted by Dalberg in conjunction with Zizi Afrique Foundation (Youth not in education ,employment or training-Youth NEET, 2019), loss of a loved one not only leads to a breakdown of a family support system but also often leads to a condition of heightened responsibilities at an early age. Youth who have faced the loss of a loved one, especially a parent or guardian, tend to drop out of school in order to look for work and provide for their families. In another study by APHRC (Youth in TVETS, 2019), up to a quarter of trainees in VTCs had lost one or both parents and majority of them did not live with their parents. Parents play a big role in the development of a youth.
Rasul says when he heard of the scholarship, he thought it was a joke. All the same, he went with his older brother to apply. He was successful but his brother, who lives from one casual job to another, was not. As Rasul began his journey as one of the 17 beneficiaries at Eastlands College of Technology (ECT) in Nairobi, focusing on Electrical Installation (Electrical Wireman), his brother still depends on casual jobs…although he might have acquired a lot of skills, he has no ‘papers’. After institutional training, Rasul was placed for industrial attachment at the African Gas and Oil Company (AGOL) in Mombasa. The three-month attachment ended in September 2021 but just before completion, Matunda Ltd*, took him on board as one of their long-term casual workers until he acquires his National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) certificate after completing the examinations scheduled for December, 2021.
In the Dalberg study, increasingly employers demand a formal document certifying the ability to perform a job, skills or training possessed. The study further goes to show that lack of certificates, also commonly known as “qualification papers” restricts youth who have gained technical skills through on- the-job- training or a technical training institute to access relevant opportunities.
The process of acquiring the certification or paper is a financial burden that keeps skilled individuals out of the workforce. This is what Zizi Afrique Foundation and Safaricom have embarked on doing through the SFS program that is focused to transform the lives of more than 2000 youth across the country.
“Mimi nawashukuru sana…maisha yangu yamebadilika kabisa sasa.” {I am grateful to you people (Safaricom and Zizi Afrique Foundation) because my life has completely changed}.
Rasul is one of the early success stories of the SFS journey and we wish him all the best!
*Names changed to protect identity
By Beria Wawira and Renaldah Mjomba, Zizi Afrique Foundation, TVET Programme
