The government is widening its youth support programmes by combining job placements, business funding and skills training with measures designed to reach young people in rural and underserved areas.
Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya said the approach was aimed at bringing government services closer to beneficiaries while giving women and persons with disabilities a defined share of opportunities under the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme.
“We are operating through Youth Development Offices to reach youth in rural and remote areas, thus reducing the need for expensive travel to seek services in Nairobi,” Mvurya said.
The government has set a 50 per cent reservation target for women and five per cent for youth with disabilities under NYOTA, with the age limit for PWD beneficiaries extended to 35 years.
“Reservation targets 50 per cent women and five per cent youth with ilities in the Project Appraisal Document (PAD), with age extended up to 35 years for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs),” he said.
The programme also provides for childcare support, facilities for lactating mothers, flexible schedules and transport or proximity assistance where possible.
Mvurya said the government was designing support for young people with lower levels of formal education. NYOTA targets youth with education below Form Four, while the Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF) provides products including Vuka and Talanta loans and group-based lending.
The government is also seeking to make borrowing easier by reducing dependence on traditional collateral such as land title deeds.
“We are utilising ‘soft’ collateral, such as group guarantees, household/business assets, or flexible repayment terms,” Mvurya said.
The ministry is working with local organisations to identify vulnerable youth in remote communities, while regional quotas and representation targets are being used to promote access without discrimination. NYOTA also has provisions for refugee and host-community youth in Garissa and Turkana.
So far, 51,604 youth have benefited from NYOTA’s on-the-job experience component against a target of 90,000. Another 39,176 youth are expected to be covered in Baringo, Isiolo, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kilifi, Mandera, Marsabit, Mombasa, Nairobi, Nandi, Turkana, Uasin Gishu and Wajir.
Mvurya said Sh2.55 billion had also been disbursed to 101,721 youth under the first business support tranche.
The government is seeking to prevent duplication among NYOTA, YEDF, Uwezo Fund, Women Enterprise Development Fund and other programmes by using beneficiary identification systems.
“We have beneficiary Identification Systems in programmes like NYOTA, which use the ID as a unique identifier,” he said.
Mvurya said beneficiaries would also be connected to further financing as their enterprises grow, with YEDF expected to provide expansion loans to youth who have received NYOTA start-up grants.
“For instance, in the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement project, YEDF will provide expansion loans specifically for youth who have already received initial startup grants from the project,” he said.
He said training would remain part of the support package to improve business management and enterprise survival.
“Mandatory pre-financing training and continuous entrepreneurship development programmes equip beneficiaries with essential business management skills, improving enterprise viability and resilience,” Mvurya said.
YEDF has supported more than 1.3 million youth to start or expand businesses and facilitated the creation of more than 2.18 million jobs, according to Mvurya.