Sustainable Development: TVET Training for The Present and the Future in Kenya

Abstract

This paper highlights the problem of youth unemployment in Kenya and the strategy adopted by the government nearly three decades ago to introduce entrepreneurship education to all Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to empower its graduates to seek to be self-employment as an alternative to formal employment. Data is scant on the success of this policy. However, formal employment continues to dwindle even as opportunities in the informal sector remain strong. Despite this reality, formal TVET institutions have continued to pay scant attention to the informal sector. Focus remains glued to a curriculum designed for the formal labour market with trainees often posted there for work experience. This paper argues that to better succeed in developing an entrepreneurial culture among trainees and hence build their confidence towards self-employment, TVET institutions must engage more with the informal and small micro enterprise (SME) sector. This would require a shift in the mindset of instructors and management. Students would need to be encouraged to seek work experience in both the informal and formal sectors as part of their training process. Further TVET institutions would benefit more by opening their facilities to the training of informal and SME sector operators by providing short and targeted courses to help them improve their operations.