Mt Kenya women trained to take up digital jobs
What you need to know:
- Ajira Digital was started by the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy with an aim of providing solutions for young people to work and earn online.
- eMobilis is charged with the operationalisation of Ajira Youth Empowerment centres, Ajira Clubs in universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges.
Over 70 young women from Mt Kenya who work online have been trained by Ajira Digital and eMobilis to explore more opportunities in the digital space.
Under the theme ‘DigitALL, Innovation and Technology for gender equality’, the women met at the Kirinyaga Central Ajira Youth Empowerment Centre to network, share experiences, opportunities and peer-to-peer mentorship to help achieve individual and collective growth in the digital space.
This comes at a time when the disparity between women and men in relation to the adoption of—and their relative opportunities to access—digital technology remains a major barrier to equal participation in online work and e-commerce.
Ajira Digital regional coordinator for Lower Central Hellen Kimindiri said the training was in different online platforms that the women can use to earn a living. “The women working online were exposed to different online platforms, including Fiver, Remotask, Upwork, click worker and Guru, among others. Our focus was to show them other new avenues where they can earn their living. The sessions were interactive because women were able to share ideas on how they can manoeuver in digital space.”
Ajira Digital was started by the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy with an aim of providing solutions for young people to work and earn online.
eMobilis is charged with the operationalisation of Ajira Youth Empowerment centres, the institutionalisation of Ajira Clubs in universities and technical and vocational education and training as well as the implementation of training and mentorship.
“Ajira has introduced new modules such as artificial intelligence, advanced excel and also assistive technologies to introduce people with disabilities into the digital economy. Other training sessions that young people, particularly young women, can access free of charge include graphic design, web development, programming, and financial literacy among others,” Ms Kimindiri said.
Ms Susan Gichobi, a participant in the meeting, narrated how she enrolled herself on the programme and how it has impacted her life. “I discovered the Ajira Digital programme in 2022, which opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me. I was trained in content writing, digital marketing, and data entry. I was able to master the art of content writing. I have been able to secure gigs on Remotask and Upwork to earn a dignified income. Currently, I am also involved in writing online novels and I have so far delivered over 10 chapters and built a portfolio,” said Ms Gichobi, who lives with disability.
“The income from digital freelancing has enabled me to support myself and also set up a small grocery business for my mother. Through this community meet-up, I have learnt many skills on how to succeed in online work and achieve my dream to create a platform where other young women and persons living with disabilities can monetise their writing skills.”
Ms Mary Wambui, from Murang’a County, said she learned about the Ajira Digital programme when she was pursuing a public administration course at Karatina University in 2020. She studied digital marketing, ecommerce and data entry. Through that, she has been able to earn online and become economically empowered. Currently, she is looking forward to taking up the Ajira advance training on web development.
“Today’s meet-up has been very impactful as I have been able to interact with other online writers, data entry, content writers among others who will impact on my skills and I will be able to do more than what I usually do. The online work needs consistency,” Ms Wambui said.
Also read: Embrace online Ajira jobs, youths asked
eMobilis Managing Director Ken Mwenda said they aim at empowering over one million young people annually to access meaningful work opportunities from the online ecosystem with 70 per cent of that target being young women.
“In terms of skills development, operationalisation of Ajira Youth Empowerment centres and institutionalisation of Ajira Clubs, which eMobilis is mandated to do, we have seen over 220,000 young people trained in digital and digitally enabled work skills, with 53 per cent of them being women,” Mr Mwenda said.
“A women-only online workers’ community meet-up as this held here today saw lots of young women coming together to share their experiences, opportunities and learn from each other how they can navigate and harness the full benefits of the digital economy through digitally enabled work opportunities.”
