Ajira Digital: What You Need to Know

With the advent of technology and the internet, there has been an increasing utilization of online digital platforms to sell their goods and services. In line with this, the Government of Kenya, under the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology launched Ajira Digital on the 24^th of November 2016.

About Ajira Digital

The main aim of the initiative is to empower over one million young people to access digital job opportunities. It also seeks to bridge the gap between skills demand and the lack of jobs among the youth.

The program seeks to position Kenya as a choice labor destination for multinational companies as well as encourage local companies and the public sector to create digital work. The government digitization projects already create lots of viable micro work that can be completed by digital workers.

The main objectives of the program are:

• To raise the profile of digital work among all Kenyans
• Promote a mentorship and collaborative learning approach to finding digital work
• Provide Kenyans with access to digital work
• Promote Kenya as a destination for online workers

The guiding principles of the Ajira Digital Program are:

• Private sector first – value generation through the private sector
• Sustainability – orchestrate the ecosystem to self-regulate and grow organically
• Eliminate brokers – generating more value to the youth
• Promote the domestic economy – the realization of a knowledge economy

The components of the Ajira digital program have been designed to address the main challenges that hinder the youth from benefiting from digital job opportunities. They are:

• Access to dignified work – growing the local demand, Government becoming an anchor client and positioning Kenya as a choice labor destination for multinationals globally
• Education and skills for the dynamic, always changing online jobs
• Access to infrastructure – Innovation Hubs, Kazi Connect Centers, Studio Mashinani, Y254 TV Channel
• Awareness – Building trust and confidence

Key Project Interventions

1. Training

The project targets to train youth (inexperienced (new) online workers) through a one-week residential training. The training aims to equip the youth with basic soft skills and introduction to online work skills, digital marketing, and basic financial management skills across five implementation locations in Kenya namely: Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Meru, and Nakuru.

In addition, the project targets to train experienced online work freelancers through a 2-day training with the aim of equipping the selected online work freelancers with skills to scale up and develop their businesses into agencies and source for more work to share with new online workers. The experienced freelancers are ultimately expected to handhold the new online workers through one-month mentorship.

2. Mentorship

Upon successful completion of the training, the participants are transitioned to one-month mentorship through handholding by the experienced freelancers. The mentorship is aimed at enhancing the trained youth’s skills on online work thereby increasing their access to online jobs.

How to Join Ajira Digital Kenya for Training

Ajira Kenya carries out ongoing training and mentorship and offers guidance on how to work online in Kenya. Spaces are limited so you have to book early. Training is offered on a first come, first served basis.

To Register for Ajira training, visit official Ajira Digital website and enroll. You will then receive an email with your booking information. Print the details as you will need to present them in order to be allowed to attend any training sessions. After registration, you will be notified via email when Ajira training sessions are available in your County.

The training, which is free of charge, lasts one week after which one is given a certificate. The requirements are simple; a personal computer, internet connection, and basic computer skills.

Pros of Ajira Digital

• Increased awareness of online jobs in Kenya
• Training and mentorship are offered free of charge, helping those who would otherwise have been unable to pay.
• Possible provision of tools of trade such as easy access to computers and the internet for the disadvantaged.
• The admin keeps editing the site regularly since its creation to weed out possible bugs.
• Thought leaders and entrepreneurs may come up with splendid online solutions due to the fact that it will give rise to increased competition.

Cons of Ajira Digital

• It may lead to a decline in the price of doing business and possibly mess up existing struggling online workers as there will be many workers but few or no jobs.
• The site only provides links to a few sites that existing online workers already know, which is nothing new.
• Their current model makes the goal of creating one million jobs is unrealistic. This is because the 1 million people targeted will need access to computers and the internet, which are still very expensive to low-income earners. Some parts of Kenya are also not connected to electricity, let alone high-speed internet connectivity. They will also need daily jobs to sustain themselves.
• Creation of jobs does not happen on the site. People are simply directed to sites that may or may not give the perceived results.
• The possibility of Ajira Digital becoming obsolete and forgotten after many young Kenyans join all these sites and don’t get the intended results leading to high chances that they will quit online work.

Available jobs

Ajira digital online offers different type of jobs for different professions including:

• Transcription
• Writing
• Sales and marketing
• Software development/programming
• Data science and analytics
• Engineering and architecture
• Support and customer service
• Web design/graphics and creative design

Ajira digital ensures that they provide genuine and trusted websites that are currently looking for online workers. They, however, advise workers to do thorough research on the available websites to avoid unscrupulous websites on the internet.

Ajira digital program contacts and office locations

Physical location

Ajira Digital Offices: 10th floor, Teleposta Towers, 29 Kenyatta Ave, Nairobi

Mobile contacts: +254 20 4920000/1

Email: ajira@ict.go.ke

Twitter: @AjiraDigital

Facebook: Ajira Digital

Website: Ajiradigital

Conclusion

Ajira Digital is a good initiative from the government. However, the government needs to improve it and find ways to link young people using the platform directly to jobs. Entrepreneurs creating online businesses would also be of great benefit to the program. They would create the jobs needed to sustain these youths as they look for work online.