Youth participants drawn from Mathira East and Mathira West Constituencies
Karatina University continues with its quest of impacting the community through various programmes. On Friday, 22nd September, 2023, the Centre for Community Outreach trained approximately ninety (90) youth from Mathira East and Mathira West Constituencies on ‘Youth, Skills and Work: Building Stronger Foundation through Empowerment’. The training mapped the youth from Magutu, Ruguru, Kirimukuyu, Karatina, Konyu and Iriaini Ward. The objectives of the training were to provide skillsets and entrepreneurial knowledge to the youth for individual development, provide mentorship and linkages with professionals in the industry for social economic empowerment and to provide an avenue of social change in political, social and economic development of society.
Prof. Hellen Kamiri, Ag. DVC (ARSA)
On behalf of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Linus Gitonga, the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic, Research and Student Affairs), Prof. Hellen Kamiri said that the University sponsored the training as part of its extended mandate and vision. She further stated that the University prides itself in impacting the local communities in many areas including mentoring high school students on career choices, sensitization on environmental awareness, offering medical camps, guiding schools in establishing libraries among others.
“Youth training and empowerment initiatives are very important to Karatina University. We will strive to impart high level quality skills so that the youth become marketable and serve the rapidly changing global community,” she said.
The training comes at the backdrop of heightened social and economic challenges which have placed skills development at the centre of the global education debate. Youth unemployment rates, for example, are high partly because the time taken to find work has become even longer as a result of the economic downturn. Long-term unemployment has been particularly damaging for young people, leaving them with little hope of earning a decent wage throughout their lives.
It is for this reason that Karatina University has set strategies to identify and meet the youth skills gap hence contribute to economic development. Such skills help young people adapt to labour market changes, including new technologies and the demands of a ‘green economy’. They can also help many young people working in the informal sector to become successful entrepreneurs.