POLICY: The government must refocus on the informal sector so as to create jobs at a faster rate and get thousands of idle youths off the streets and into sustainable careers.

Industry players say manifestos of political coalitions battling to form the next government must tell Kenyans in detail their game plans on the so-called jua kali sector.

National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) Director General Stephen Ogenga said the informal economy constitutes an important component in the economic activities and a source of employment in the country.

“About 84 per cent of Kenya’s workforce is in the informal sector, posing the biggest challenge in skill development,” he told Business Hub in an interview in Nairobi.

The rate of job growth in the informal sector, he added, is estimated to be four times more than in the formal sector.

According to the Economic Survey 2022, 80 per cent of the slightly more than 900,000 jobs created in 2021 were in the informal sector dominated by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Ogenga said the Jua Kali industry must be encouraged in Kenya as it requires less capital to establish, adding that this helps in industrial decentralisation as well as inclusive participation by the masses.

Despite the huge opportunities, the lack of standards in the sector makes it difficult to map out existing skills and gauge the skilling requirement.

For instance, while thousands of workers in the sector are experienced, expert welders, plumbers, carpenters, masons and electricians, few have the certificates and testimonials to prove their worth to railway, road, and building contractors.

Worse, curriculums that inform the training content are non-existent in the informal sector, Ogenga observed, adding that delivery of content is also done by Master Craftsmen on a need-to basis.

‘The trainee in such a set-up is at the mercy of the trainer and doesn’t have any background of what should be delivered. In addition, the Master Craftsmen lack the required skills in quality training delivery.

There is a complete lack of training standards in the informal training,” Ogenga said. Pedagogical skills, However, NITA, a State Corporation established under the Industrial Training Act Cap 237, revised in 2011, has now prepared a training programme to equip the Master Craftsmen with the necessary pedagogical skills to enhance their training delivery.

“We have taken a lead role in the implementation of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in Kenya, a process that allows for identification, assessment and certification of informally and non-formally acquired skills,” said Ogenga.

The learning method is expected to benefit thousands of youth in the informal sector who have skills but have been disadvantaged by the formal systems, for lack of evidence that they possess the skills.

Ogenga said going forward, the Jua Kali sector requires attention and financial inclusion by the incoming government just like other sectors heavily contributing to development in the country’s industrialisation process.