By Vishal Shah
The meteorological forecast expects a sixth failed rainy season in March-April-May 2023. For the ASAL counties, we might see hunger and banditry increasing. These issues are not going away easily; A long-term approach of serious innovation and mindset change to create skills and local economies is needed.
When I started working with communities six years ago, I was shocked by the near-complete lack of access to skills development opportunities for women and youth. It is one of the contributing factors to the persistent banditry.
All over the world, youth between the ages of 12-21 spend their years training for their life careers, gaining education and skills that set them up for future productive lives. In contrast, youth in the ASALs have limited access to modern skills and trades and default to livestock keeping. However, sole reliance on the livestock economy will increasingly be difficult due to the growing climate crisis and the increase in population.
Our education system must be able to respond to the needs of remote, nomadic communities in the ASALs. From the skyscrapers of Nairobi, it might seem like a non-issue, until it creeps up in the form of acute hunger or widespread banditry.
It’s not that the youth of northern Kenya does not want to join the modern economy. In our consultations with youth in the manyattas, we discovered a huge appetite for learning new, and productive skills. However, relocating to far away towns with Training Institutes is an insurmountable barrier for these youth. Many are illiterate, many do not speak Kiswahili, they have no relatives or funds to be able to board in towns, and they cannot abscond from livestock herding duties. The rigidity of the educational system is another barrier. Training Institutes require minimum certification (at least KCPE).
The organization which I now lead, NRT Trading, was set up to address some of these complex issues. Our mission to get skills to the villages received a breakthrough when, with some catalytic funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) in 2019, two plucky Principals of Vocational Training Institutes decided to take the risk with us and agreed to move trainers and equipment to two manyattas. The experiment was a huge success! 60 morans with no education were learning how to fix motorcycles and repair mobile phones after only three months of training.
Since then, “Ujuzi Manyattani” (‘Skills in the Villages’) has been gaining momentum with full cooperation and support from the State Department of TVET, and the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA). With further funding from USAID, DANIDA, TNC, and IUCN, we have graduated 779 women and youth from remote villages in Garissa, Isiolo, Samburu, Marsabit, Baringo, Laikipia, and West Pokot.
Village-based Graduation Ceremonies showcase the potential of new technical skills to change mindsets and create vibrant local economies. Graduates who can use their new creative skills for income generation have little inclination for guns and conflict. More such role models are needed to shift mindsets.
Banditry can become a thing of the past if thousands of youths and women are graduated and turned into craftsmen and service providers for their remote communities. Ujuzi Manyattani is an example of a long-term solution to poverty and climate change. The government and development partners should consider embracing similar innovations and funds and expanding them all over the ASAL landscape.
Vishal Shah is the CEO of NRT Trading. Previously, he has been a management consultant, brand manager, entrepreneur, and MBA graduate from the Wharton Business School.
