By Jane Muigai Kamphuis
Founder-Director, The Toolkit Skills & Innovation Hub
The challenges facing young people are formidable. More than half of Kenyans without jobs are under 29, while the climate crisis poses a growing threat to future generations.
One solution can help address these problems and many others – equipping young people to create Kenya’s green energy future. Training them to power up farms for greater productivity, light up homes and hospitals, and ensure families can access news and information wherever they are.
The country is aiming for a transition to 100% clean energy sources by 2030. We must also bring safe, affordable power to the 30% of our people who currently go without reliable access to energy. These challenges will call for a massive expansion of the clean energy workforce, particularly in marginalised communities and regions. A tough task – but one that can bring jobs and social benefits where they are needed most.
So how can we deliver high-quality training at the scale required? A skilled workforce is needed to install and maintain cutting-edge technologies, but also in management, marketing and other business areas.
First, it’s vital to close gaps between training and industry. Too often, courses don’t meet the needs of employers in this fast-moving sector – they are too theoretical, or taught using outdated equipment and ideas.
Funders and government should support partnerships that deliver practical learning, and ensure employers can influence training curriculums. Customers and employers also need to know that training is up to scratch. Research by the Power for All coalition suggests only 43% of Kenya’s off-grid clean energy workforce has formal qualifications. Formalising the sector will boost confidence and speed the spread of clean energy.
Digital innovation can support teaching and also help trainees find work. For example, apps that deliver digital learning can also highlight job opportunities, and keep jobseekers up to date with the very latest technical news and certification requirements.
It’s also vital to build a diverse workforce – without training accessible to all, the sector will miss out on much-needed talent. For example, while on-the-job learning is essential, unpaid internships are a barrier to low-income students and should be avoided.
Gender inequality in the sector is a key issue to tackle, with too few women entering the workforce. More data is needed to understand the true scale of the problem, but one effective response would be improving microfinance services, grants and loans that will help women set up thriving solar energy businesses.
With the right training and support, our young people will embrace careers in the sector. One woman who shows what is possible is Anne Njeri from Kipkaren. Hands-on training from my organisation, The Toolkit Skills & Innovation Hub, led her to employment with clean energy company BBOXX.
Now she makes a good living zipping around Nandi County on her motorbike, installing and fixing rooftop solar systems. Affordable power helps her customers end their reliance on polluting kerosene lamps. So Anne’s brighter future creates brighter futures for her community too.
Kenya’s 2030 energy goal is a tough challenge, but also an opportunity for economic growth and resilience. Another opportunity arrives even sooner, with the Africa Climate Summit and Africa Climate Week taking place in Nairobi next month. There, the Power Up campaign – backed by Toolkit and more than 70 other organisations inside and outside Kenya – will call for investment and policy action to widen access to clean and affordable energy.
Speeches, panel discussions and press articles will all put the spotlight on Kenya’s green ambitions. At this pivotal moment, it’s vital that leaders across society recognise the need to grow an effective, inclusive clean energy workforce.
