More than 2,800 young women graduate from digital employability programme
More than 2,800 women graduated with Certificates in the Digital Employability Programme, during a ceremony that took place at the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) last week.
African Centre for Women, Information, and Communication Technology (ACWICT) partnered with Microsoft to implement the programme.
Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) saw the trainees through the audio-visual training, which involved creating competitive films.
ACWICT Executive Director Constantine Obuya, said the partnership with Microsoft enabled it establish more than over 50 courses, giving the young women a diversity of career path options.
“I’m happy to report that out of the 2,800 young women that participated in the programme, 981 have already secured work,” she said.
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On her part, Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau, said the government is committed to creating an enabling environment for entrepreneurs to thrive.
“You will agree with me that ICT (Information and communications technology) is the transformational catalyser across all sectors of our economy. Thus, digital transformation is at the core of the government’s agenda with the intention of easing business, creating jobs and leveraging on emerging technology,” Ms Wanjau said.
This was realised with financial support from the British High Commission in Kenya, under its Digital Access Programme.
The Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission Ms Josephine Gauld applauded partners who made sacrifices to ensure the young women excelled noting that exercise was a clear result and demonstration of fantastic teamwork.
She noted that the programme brings the UK Government’s commitment to working with all partners to build more open, inclusive and resilient societies, in particular championing and supporting women’s participation and girls’ education and to promote gender equality, working with women’s rights organisations to tackle the discrimination, violence and inequality that hold women back.
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“The UK Government will continue to collaborate with the Government of Kenya, the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, other Ministries, Departments and Agencies like the Communications Authority of Kenya and other Government Agencies in support of such noble courses,” she added.
Themed: ‘Young Women for the Digital Economy’, the programme saw the training of at least 2,832 vulnerable women from informal settlements and rural areas to leverage on the digital space to help them create and monetize creative works with the aim of enhancing their livelihoods.
On his part, KFCB acting chief executive officer Christopher Wambua, said the review is part of its plan to encourage more young women to venture into the creative industry.
He said, for decades, the women have lagged behind in the creative space. According to 2019 Economic Survey, women filmmakers constituted between 30 per cent and 40 per cent of the total number of film makers in the country.
“To encourage more ‘video on demand and over the top commercial audio-visual’ platform operators to venture into the local market and thus open up new opportunities to monetise your content, the board is working with the parent ministry to introduce a self-regulatory framework,” he said.
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