NAIROBI, Kenya — The Cabinet has approved the rollout of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project, a flagship initiative aimed at tackling youth unemployment through skills training, paid internships, and entrepreneurship support.
Set to launch in August in partnership with the World Bank, the programme targets 820,000 vulnerable and jobless youth across the country, including persons with disabilities.
According to a Cabinet dispatch issued on Tuesday, NYOTA seeks to enhance youth employability through a three-pronged approach: on-the-job training, certification through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), and entrepreneurship support.
The programme is also expected to boost access to decent work and help address systemic barriers to employment for young people.
Over one million applications have already been received ahead of the August 15 deadline.
Paid Placements and Monthly Stipends
One of the key components of the project is a paid on-the-job experience programme, which is currently open for applications.
It targets 90,000 youth for three- to six-month placements with employers across various sectors.
Each participant will receive a monthly stipend of Ksh.6,000, to be deposited into a Haba Haba savings account.
“The NYOTA programme represents a transformative step toward equipping our young people with the tools they need to thrive in a modern economy,” the dispatch stated, highlighting the programme’s alignment with the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.
Unemployment Crisis Looms
The rollout comes at a time when Kenya is grappling with rising youth unemployment. World Bank data from 2024 placed the national youth unemployment rate at 5.7%.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) estimates that youth comprise over 35% of the population and account for the highest share of the jobless — with over a million young Kenyans entering the labor market each year, often without adequate skills or vocational training.
Despite ongoing government efforts to support youth through MSME funding, women and youth enterprise programs, and technical training, job creation remains a critical national challenge.
What’s Next?
Applications for the NYOTA on-the-job training component opened on July 11 and will close on August 15.
The government is expected to unveil additional implementation details, including employer partnerships and funding disbursement plans, at the official launch next month.
The success of NYOTA, observers say, could serve as a blueprint for long-term employment initiatives aimed at reversing the country’s worsening youth job crisis.
