CAP Youth Empowerment Institute and Mastercard Foundation Announce New Phase of Youth Employability Program

Nairobi, Kenya, July 26, 2016 – CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAP YEI) and Mastercard Foundation announced today a five-year, US$10.5 million partnership to provide economically disadvantaged young people with technical and employability skills as well as support to access job opportunities or start small businesses.

Building on the success of CAP YEI’s Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) model, this expanded partnership will directly provide skills training to 23,000 Kenyan youth and help them to secure employment opportunities, further education and training. The program will reach an additional 39,000 youth through partnerships with 100 vocational training centres that will be supported to deliver market-based, demand-driven skills training across the country. The program will also support 4,000 of the targeted youth to establish or grow micro-enterprises.

“The BEST model has become an important solution for youth seeking employment as well as employers seeking skilled and motivated workers,” said Ndung’u Kahihu, Executive Director of CAP YEI. “The plan now, is to expand the program in partnership with Government and other stakeholders so that it can enable more youth to participate positively in the social and economic development of Kenya.”

The partnership announcement was made at a two-day event hosted by CAP YEI which brought together more than 200 participants, including experts from Kenya, USA, Canada and India to reflect on evidence and learning from the first phase of the program and discuss ways of improving and expanding the program in its second phase.

“This new partnership will contribute to a sustainable solution for youth employment in Kenya, reaching tens of thousands of youth with the critical skills they need to enter the workforce or start a small business,” said Karen Moore, Program Manager of Youth Livelihoods at Mastercard Foundation. “It will also support ongoing advancements of the technical and vocational education system in the country, expanding the reach of the program so that more youth have the opportunity to improve their livelihoods.”

The first phase of the project was launched in 2011 and has directly trained more than 9,000 Kenyan youth with technical and life-skills. More than 88 percent of these youth transitioned to jobs, created small businesses or enrolled in further education and training.

According to a longitudinal survey from The University of Minnesota, the majority of youth who completed the program reported that they feel a greater sense of confidence and financial independence, have become role models within their communities, are able to save money and can contribute to the well-being of their families.

The program has also helped to build the capacity of vocational training centres by enabling them to apply the key principles of the BEST model in order to improve learning outcomes in their institutions. In this way, CAP YEI has reached an additional 5,800 youth through partnerships with 46 vocational training centres across Kenya.

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About CAP Youth Empowerment Institute

CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAP YEI) is a Kenyan organization that was established in 2010 with the mandate of providing employability skills training and support to marginalized Kenyan youth. This is done through the Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) model, a dynamic, demand-driven market-based model that has been successfully applied in more than 10 countries in Asia and Africa, benefiting over 200,000 youth. CAP YEI is an affiliate of CAP Workforce Development Institute of India, which developed the BEST model. In 2015, this model was voted one of the leading models for youth skills training Africa following a continent-wide competition organized by the Africa Union. For more information about CAP YEI, please visit: www.capyei.org

About the Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation works with visionary organizations to provide greater access to education, skills training and financial services for people living in poverty, primarily in Africa. As one of the largest, private foundations, its work is guided by its mission to advance learning and promote financial inclusion to create an inclusive and equitable world. Based in Toronto, Canada, its independence was established by MasterCard when the Foundation was created in 2006. For more information and to sign up for the Foundation’s newsletter, please visit www.mastercardfdn.org. Follow the Foundation at @MastercardFdn on Twitter.

For more media inquiries please contact:

Ndung’u Kahihu

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (CAP YEI)

Email: ndungu@capyei.org

Tel: 254-718-188-926