Students go to post-secondary school in the hopes of learning the skills they need to find a rewarding job. They are donating their time, money, and talent to an organization that they believe will assist them. A Kenyan graduate, on the other hand, takes an average of 3- 4 years to find work. Youth leave school without the skills and competencies they need to succeed in the twenty-first century (Amber McMunn 2018) According to research by the Federation of Kenya Employers. In today’s world, knowledge is considered the engine that drives a country’s economy. Any mismatch in the knowledge that graduates possess and what markets require would not make the economy more effective. In Kenya, there has been an increasing trend in skill mismatch among employees in the Labor market. According to the 2010/2011 National Manpower Survey Basic Report (NMS), each year, our education and training institutions churn out tens of thousands of graduates who end up in careers for which they were not trained. This anomaly, described as a skills mismatch by Labor economists, leads to wastage and impedes Kenya’s global competitiveness. It has also led to mass unemployment among Kenyans. Based on a report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), about three in 10 Kenyans aged 15 to 64 are unemployed. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released its latest Future of Jobs report, which examines trends in 20 economies across 12 industries. According to the research, 75 million present work jobs could be supplanted by robots and algorithms between 2018 and 2022. However, 133 million new employments are expected to be created within the same time span. And these new professions will necessitate a different set of abilities. According to the research, by 2022, 42% of needed workplace abilities would have changed.
According to the report, here are the top 10 emerging skills for 2022:
1. Analytical thinking and innovation
2. Active learning and learning strategies
3. Creativity, originality, and initiative
4. Technology design and programming
5. Critical thinking and analysis
6. Complex problem-solving
7. Leadership and social influence
8. Emotional intelligence
9. Reasoning, problem-solving
10. Systems analysis and evaluation
CoWA has launched a training page that will be offering all these emerging skills in terms of short courses. Feel free to reach out to us in case of any questions or clarifications.
