Swisscontact was recently honored at the Diversity and Inclusion Awards & Recognition (DIAR) for convening private-sector companies to craft a new curriculum as part of an update on the commitment to inclusive and sustainable TVET in Kenya.
The recognition highlights a dual training model that has reportedly shown high employability rates in its pilot phase. According to a report from The Kenya Times, lessons from this model have informed a new curriculum designed for national scaling. This initiative addresses the challenge of connecting a large youth population with relevant skills, as the same report notes that nearly one million young people enter the Kenyan labor market each year.
What We Know So Far
- Swisscontact was honored among Kenya’s top-performing institutions at the DIAR awards for convening over 60 private-sector companies to develop TVET curricula, The Kenya Times reports.
- The organization was also named among the DIAR Top 100 Taifa Champions, an award recognizing organizations with measurable and scalable impact from inclusive practices.
- Since 2022, Swisscontact has piloted a private-sector-led dual training model named PropelA.
- The pilot involved collaboration with Don Bosco Boys Town Technical Institute, more than 60 private sector companies, and the National Industrial Training Authority.
- Under the PropelA approach, students reportedly spend 75% of their time in structured workplace experience and 25% in classroom instruction.
- A report from The Kenya Times states that employability rates among graduates from the PropelA pilot have reached approximately 80 percent.
Sustainable TVET Programs and Their Impact in Kenya
Initiated in 2022, the PropelA pilot program is structured around practical, on-site learning. According to The Kenya Times, students spend 75% of their time in structured workplace experience and 25% in classroom instruction, gaining practical, industry-relevant skills and meeting a potential employer from day one.
A central feature of the model is the direct involvement of industry partners beyond a simple advisory capacity. The Kenya Times reports that under this framework, "Private sector companies are not passive recipients of graduates, but active partners co-designing curricula, offering workplace training opportunities and providing stipends during industry placements." This collaboration aims to align training directly with the needs of employers from the outset.
The context for these initiatives is Kenya's demographic landscape. Youth aged 15-34 constitute about 35% of the country's population, with a significant number of new entrants to the job market annually. The reported 80 percent employability rate for the PropelA pilot graduates suggests a potential pathway for connecting this demographic with skilled trade professions, though the pilot's scale remains specific to its participants.
What We Know About Next Steps
The PropelA pilot phase's primary outcome is the development of a new curriculum. Lessons learned from the PropelA model directly informed the creation of this newly launched private sector–led dual training curriculum, according to The Kenya Times.
The new framework's stated intention is national expansion. The same source reports the curriculum is designed to be scaled nationally, though no specific timeline or official schedule for this scaling has been provided in the available information.
