Providing relevant skills for our young graduates for the work place

Many young people are jobless because they do not possess the requisite skills required in the job market (whatever that means). Does it really mean that Universities in particular are producing graduates without the relevant skills? What surprises me is the same firms and organisations requiring "relevant skills" are headed and directed by individuals from the same universities where the current jobless young people are coming from. For many of us, being a lecturer requires one to play multiple roles. One of my roles at the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies at the University of Nairobi is career advisor to our students. Many of the students come to my office requiring advice on what to do during the their long holidays, fearing that they will be very, which is usually the case. Others are innovative and identify places where they will work part time for which they require reference letters.

What we have done at the Institute to alleviate this problem is to partner with a few organisations who provide internships for these students during the long holidays. The partnership works well for both parties. On the one hand, our students (unfortunately only a few of them annually) get to have a real working environment in which to not only gain experience but also acquire additional skills which come handy in future endeavours. They also build networks. Now, so many organisations are doing a wonderful job bettering the world out here, but very few people (especially in their networks) get to know about these programmes. At the Institute , we occasionally hold dissemination workhops in which our collaborating partners come and talk to our students about their programmes.

In this way, we provide a ready young and vibrant audience for our partners. During the workshops, ideas are exchanged and occasionally areas of collaboration are expanded. For these endeavours, we at the Institute are really grateful to Population Coincil, UNIFEM, UNFPA, the Anti-FGM Board (Kenya), State Departmant of Culture and the National Museums of Kenya for the fruitful partnerships we have had and continue to have in empowering the youth for the future. I believe through this network, there are many more organisations out there who can partner with our Institute along the same lines, if not even more such as collaboratve research on various issues. I look forward to lots of positive responses, for the world can only become better through fruitful collaborations and networks. Have a fabulous week ahead.