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Youth

Governor Mutula flags off Makueni team to KYISA Games, Tharaka Nithi.

Governor Mutula Kilonzo Jnr today flagged off Makueni team to the eighth edition of Kenya Youth Inter-County Sports Association (KYISA) Games slated for next week in Tharaka Nithi.
While addressing the youngsters aged 18-23 years during the flagging off ceremony, the governor assured them of his support in nurturing talents and ensuring Makueni continues producing champions in sports.
The Executive for Gender, Children, Youth, sports and Social ,Services, Nicholas Nzioka, on his bid said he was very certain that they had a formidable team in the three disciplines of football, volleyball and basketball that will excel in the competition.
The KYISA games under theme, “Talanta Mashinani” kicks off on Monday and will be played in Kajiunduthi stadium, Kairuni, Kibugua, and Chuka University, Chuka Girls’ High School and Chuka Boys’ High School.
The ceremony was attended by CECMs-Japheth Musyoka Mang’oka (Devolution, Public Service, Public Participation & Special Programmes), Peter Mumo Nyamai (Trade, Marketing, Industry, Culture & Tourism, Irene Makau (CO Devolution), Stephen Ndolo (Health), Catherine Syombua (C.O gender & sports), MCAs Felix Mateso (Wote/Nziu) and Elizebeth Muthike Muli (Nominated).

At least 120 youth in Makueni to benefit from free Advanced ICT Training

120 youth in Makueni are set to benefit from free three-weeks Advanced ICT Training under the Tusomeei Computer Nduani initiative, courtesy of the County Government of Makueni.

The training which began on Monday, aims at equipping the youth with computational thinking and problem solving skills in order for them to succeed in the ever changing digital world.

The young people who were competitively selected, 4 from each of the 30 wards will be intensively trained on Web Design, Computer Hardware and Software, Graphics Design and computer Networks with each trainee choosing one area of interest.

According to Kivuva Mwangangi of Emali-Mulala ward, a beneficiary of the program and a graduate of Computer Science from Maseno University, the initiative has given him a platform to perfect his networking skills especially after experiencing some challenges in the field immediately after his graduation.

“After graduating from Maseno with a degree in Computer Science, I was shocked I could experience some difficulties in field work. When I saw this opportunity, I was excited because I knew it was a good avenue for me to perfect my networking skills,” Mwangangi said.

The trainees, according to Youth and ICT Executive Dr. Joshua Wambua, will in the long run be employable, have hands on skills to create websites or be ripe for start-up ventures using the digital skills gained.

Makueni set to reap big from proposed digital media city project at Konza technopolis

Makueni county, and especially the youth, is set to reap big from aproposed Konza Digital Media City (DMC) to be established at the Konza Technopolis.

The media city will be modelled after the Sangam Digital Media City in Seoul and other similar cities in Korea.

According to Jaehoon Lee, a lead pre-feasibility research consultant of the proposed project and lecturer at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea, the Digital Media City Project will mainly incorporate gaming, animation, filming, photography and entertainment centres as one of the sectors under the Knowledge Economy and Innovation pillar of Konza Technopolis Project.

Lee is leading a team of Korean researchers and ICT experts in a six month feasibility study of the proposed project and subsequently development of a Masterplan and Implementation of the Digital Media City.

On Wednesday, the Korean delegation held a consultative forum at Makueni’s Nairobi Liaison office with governor Kivutha Kibwana and KotDA Chief Executive Officer John Tanui to agree on how to partner through information and logistics sharing during the feasibility and implementation of the project.

Tanui said the Konza Digital Media City (K-DMC) is proposed to provide an excellent digital media and entertainment ecosystem for research, training, propagation of new technologies, innovation and production of content with the African themes and perspectives for the global markets. 

He said the proposed project will leverage on a robust smart city infrastructure to attract leading global investors in the sector, thereby creating employment and boosting the national economy.

K-DMC project objectives

When complete, the project is expected to create over 50,000 direct jobs to the youth, with Makueni taking up a substantial chunk of these offers.

The project is proposed to host among other segments of the industry:

World class film and music production studios; Production studios for Photography, Advertisements, Cinema and TV Industry; Animation and Computer gaming industries; A film/multi-media campus; Theme Parks
; Specialized photography and filming facilities; Modern sound production studios and film labs
; Sound design studios and color correction facilities.

Governor Kibwana said his administration will work closely with the implementers of this project for the benefit of the Makueni youth. 

Kibwana also pledged to lobby his colleague governors Charity Ngilu, Alfred Mutua and Joseph Ole Lenku to take key roles so the region can benefit from this project under the South Eastern Kenya Economic Bloc (SEKEB) framework.

Eng. Tanui has said the  Media City project has the potential to go into the pipeline for projects with funding consideration by Korea Exim Bank

Makueni youth in Rwanda for continental networking summit

20 young people from Makueni are taking part in this year’s Youth Connect Africa summit staged in Kigali, Rwanda.

The summit brings together young people from across the continent to share ideas on the possible opportunities that they can collectively exploit to empower themselves and engineer the much needed continental transformation.

According to the organizers of the event, the forum seeks to connect 100 million young Africans, empower 25 million youth with skills, create 10 million jobs for the youth and nurture a million young leaders.

The three-day forum was officially opened by Rwandese Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente on Monday 8th.

Makueni governor Prof. Kivutha Kibwana, also addressed the forum on Tuesday 9th.

He challenged policy implementers to involve the youth in policy formulation and work with them on youth empowerment initiatives instead of working for them. He also called for a paradigm shift in youth mobilization as many miss opportunities for lack of information.

“For young people to be empowered, they have to be informed. Most ordinary youths miss opportunities because policy makers only target elite youths by means of communication,” he said.

Makueni County executive for Education, Youth, Sports and ICT Dr. Naomi Makau said the 20 youths from Makueni are in Rwanda to interact globally with other youths from the continent and learn from best practices on how to empower themselves.

Naomi said plans have been made to ensure the skills acquired from the forum cascade down to all the villages across the county.

The 20 were competitively selected from the six sub counties, with each sub county represented by three youths and two from the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES).

An application to facilitate the youth networking will be launched at the end of the forum.

150 young people to benefit from agribusiness training scholarships

At least 150 young people from Makueni County will undergo an intensive three months agribusiness training at the Miramar International College, Nairobi.

The 150 are representatives from the 30 wards, awarded scholarships by the German International Development Agency (GIZ), through the County government and KCB foundation.

The youths will be trained on hydroponics technology at the college for three months, and undergo a further three month training at the field.

They will also undergo business incubation where they will learn how to develop business and marketing plans besides enjoying discounted financing and ready market for their products.

This training is spearheaded by the Makueni Youth Empowerment Service (M-YES) and Makueni County Government’s department of Education,Youth, Sports and ICT.

The 150 youths were flagged off to Nairobi by governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana, GIZ advisor on Employment for Sustainable Development Dr.Henrik Schmidtke and KCB senior manager partnerships John Waimiri at ATC Kwakathoka Wednesday.

Governor Kibwana said his administration will continue to invest in projects that create jobs or enable youths to start their own businesses.

“It is our hope that initiatives like this one shall make agriculture more attractive to youth, promote use of technology in Agriculture, improve young people’s skills and enable them create job opportunities in Agribusiness,” he said.

“Engaging the youth population fully is therefore nolonger a choice but an imperative in the development process that is also recognised by the Makueni County Government Vision 2025,” Kibwana said further.

Dr.Schmidtket said the economic potential of the youth working in the informal sector is far from being fulfilled, mainly due to their insufficient access to knowledge, information and education, limited access to capital assets including land, inadequate access to financial services and limited access to markets.

He said providing youth in the informal sector with skills and enterprise development is a critical driver of job creation, income generation and overall improvement of livelihoods.

Kibwana, Lusaka tell youth to claim their space in the country’s development

Makueni governor Prof Kivutha Kibwana and Senate speaker Kenneth Lusaka have challenged the youth in the country to claim their space in the country’s development agenda and leadership.

The two spoke at the Kenya School of Government in an address to representatives of the youth from across the 47 counties during an inaugural Youth and Devolution symposium.

Prof Kibwana told the youth not to allow the country lose direction while watching from the periphery as they stood to lose the most.

“You must not allow your country to lose direction under your watch as you will be around much longer and will lose most. You have to be a people fired up to achieve a mission in nurturing the future,” Prof Kibwana told the symposium.

He said the youth should use their numerical strength to push for their agenda and shun the culture of tribalism, handouts and protests as the only way to be heard.

“Young people make almost 70 percent of the Kenyan population. With these numbers, they can work for change that favour them, either through the electoral process or through pushing for adequate budgetary allocation for their agenda in public participation forums,” he said.

Prof Kibwana said young people cannot decry lack of experience as those who started off the country after independence were under 30s without prior experience.

Mr Lusaka challenged the youth to be in the forefront in addressing tribal balkanisation and hail true Kenyan patriotism if they are to succeed in advancing their agenda and driving a positive change in the country’s leadership.

The governor and the speaker insisted on morality, ethical and spiritual values for the young people to steer a positive change capable of safeguarding the interests of the future generations.