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{
    "id": 57603,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/57603/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 187,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mudavadi",
    "speaker_title": "The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 84,
        "legal_name": "Wycliffe Musalia Mudavadi",
        "slug": "musalia-mudavadi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the KKV I projects were implemented directly by line Ministries. According to the World Bank KKV I made good progress in employment creation with actual employment achieving 112 per cent of the planned target. Initial plans targeted a total of 232,911 but by mid September, 2009, a total of 296,080 youths had been employed under the programme. This was achieved under tight budgetary constraints which occasioned delays in disbursement of funds. In the Financial Year 2008/2009, the Government contributed Kshs2.8 billion to the KKV I projects. In the Financial Year 2009/2010, the Government committed Kshs4.3 billion to KKV I. Sixty eight per cent of the funds were paid as wages to the youth; 21 per cent was used in purchasing tools, equipment, seedlings, et cetera, while 11 per cent was applied to cover administrative costs. Various line Ministries are still implementing KKV I projects. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the inequality gap in our country is of serious concern. Poverty has a predominantly young face in Kenya, with the youth exuding the highest rates of unemployment and under-employment, with the rate for the youth being double the adult average, at about 21 per cent. Thirty eight per cent of our youth are neither in school nor at work. Our economy is not creating jobs fast enough to match the number of new entrants to the labour market. The Government has been seriously concerned about youth employment. To this end, the Government has been undertaking various interventions to empower the youth through training, employment and entrepreneurship support. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund is an example. To create more opportunities for our youth, the Government is working with our development partners on various youth initiatives. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) committed US$45 million to empower the Kenyan youth through employment and entrepreneurship. The Department for International Development (DFID) is preparing a project to assist with youth employment. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Italian Corporation are supporting capacity building at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. Japan is supporting our youth empowerment project. Mr. Speaker, Sir, building from the experience of the first phase of the KKV, the Government engaged the World Bank in late 2009 to assist with developing and rolling out a more long-term intervention to succeed the KKV I Programme. The outcome is the Kenya Youth Empowerment Project which we can greatly call KKV II. The KKV II unlike the first phase has been designed over a longer period and without the pressures of a crisis. The KKV II is anchored on both Government of Kenya procedures and those of the World Bank. It has a much stronger governance structure; its scope is wider and incorporates long-term objectives. While creating temporary youth employment opportunities, the KKV II will also improve youth employment. The project has three components, namely, labour intensive works and social services to be funded at US$43 million; private sector internships and training to be funded at US$15.5 million and capacity building and policy development to be funded at US$1.5 million. A total of 1,200 labour intensive projects will be implemented under this programme at the district level. These projects will employ 190,000 youths in the 18 to 35 years age bracket, of whom 40,000 will be fulltime. Activities will include water and soil conservation, forestation, well maintenance, irrigation projects and urban area cleaning. Districts with the highest rate of unemployment and those facing drought and hunger challenges will receive priority."
}