More than 2,800 young women who were enrolled on the Digital Employability Programme have finally graduated.
The women from informal settlements and rural areas graduated during a ceremony that took place at the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) on 26th January 2023.
Secretary to the Cabinet Mercy Wanjau presided over the graduation.
Themed: ‘Young Women for the Digital Economy’, the programme saw the training of the women aimed at enabling them to leverage the digital space and help them create and monetize creative works with the aim of enhancing their livelihoods.
The Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) in 2021 partnered with the African Centre for Women, Information, and Communications Technology (ACWICT) among other co-implementing organisations to empower high-potential young/vulnerable women with market-driven digital skills in order to pursue career opportunities in the digital, online and creative workspaces.
Digital space
Under the initiative, young women got the opportunity to learn and specialize in a variety of skills, including digital marketing, online writing, and administrative support (transcription, data entry, and virtual assistance) among other digital space-based areas.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, Wanjau said, “As a country, we have made significant strides in the digital space. Like many other countries in the world, it is because of ICT technology that we were able to remain resilient despite the difficult operating environment at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
She further said that the Digital Employability Programme was a silver lining because it was birthed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and through the programme, the beneficiary young women can now eke a living and by extension contribute to nation-building.
Sports and the Arts Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke, in remarks, read on his behalf during the event noted that over 54 per cent of mobile telephone users in the country have access to smartphones and encouraged the graduands, particularly those in the creative space, to leverage on the same to generate wealth as well as create more jobs in the digital space.
On her part, ACWICT Executive Director Constantine Obuya reiterated the need to help young women develop market-driven digital skills that could enable them to secure employment or get re-employed to suppress the effects of COVID -19 arose.
“As part of our sustainability and increased reach, we have over the last year integrated a one-of-a-kind eLearning platform that is giving students everywhere an opportunity to scale up their essential skills from the comfort of their homes and at their convenience,” Obuya said.
Women participation
The training was facilitated with the funding from United Kingdom’s Digital Access Programme.
“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,” noted Josephine Gauld, Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission in Kenya.
In his remarks, KFCB acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Christopher Wambua noted that women’s participation in the creative space has long lagged behind that of their male counterparts.
“According to the 2019 Economic Survey, female filmmakers constituted between 30% and 40% of the total number of filmmakers in the country,” said Wambua.
Wambua also assured the creatives that the Board was keen on creating a facilitative environment to monetize their content, noting the Nairobi Film Centre, formerly the Nairobi Cinema, is one of such avenues, which they can use to showcase their work, be it film screenings and stage performances.
He further noted that KFCB is working with its parent Ministry to introduce a self-regulatory framework that will 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 monetize your content.
“This framework will promote the ease of doing business in the sector by ensuring that broadcasters and commercial online streaming service platforms self-classify content instead of submitting it to the regulator for assignment of age-appropriate ratings,” said the KFCB acting boss.
