Science, Research and Innovation PS Prof. Shaukat Abdulrazak will lead rollout of the Sh5 billion government youth empowerment National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) at the Kwale cultural centre.
Speaking in Kwale, ahead of Monday consultative forums in Kwale, Prof. Abdulrazak commended the government of Kenya for offering a sustainable and scientifically proven solution to the problems faced by vulnerable youth, who are all innovative, energetic and have the time resources on their side.
The PS said science is the backbone of the society and that the country was set on the right trajectory when it elected President Dr William Ruto, who is a scientist to steer the country on a path that has historically built the leading economies in the world through science, research and innovation.
“It is through these three ingredients that sustainable solutions to socio-economic and political problems can be sought, positioning the country at levels to attain development status in a record time,” he said.
Prof. Abdulrazak called on the youths countywide to utilise the opportunity to elevate themselves through gainful decent skills and experience to empower themselves and their families.
The government of Kenya and the World Bank Group partnered to cushion the Kenyan youth from vulnerabilities through the NYOTA project.
The project aims to increase employment opportunities, increase earnings, and inculcate a savings culture among the youth in Kenya.
In a recent meeting held at State House, Nairobi, all principal secretaries joined President Dr William Ruto where they were apprised of the NYOTA project rolloutahead of county-level consultative forums.
The President directed all principal secretaries to participate and lead in leadership sensitisations and validation forums on October 6 and Friday 17, 2025.
This is aimed at fulfilling the constitutional mandate on public participation to give the country a chance for all the youth to benefit from the empowerment initiative.
NYOTA is an upscale from the Kenya Youth Employment Opportunities Project, designed to improve the livelihood of vulnerable Kenyan youth through a multi-agency implementation approach on national scale.
The levels of interventions include improving youth employability, expanding employment opportunities, supporting youth saving, strengthening youth employment systems, capacity and project management.
Other interventions include enhancing youth entrepreneurs’ access to markets through digital AGPO and e-GP training, as well as the provision of e-commerce platforms (marketplaces) to ensure sustainability and scalability of businesses.
The project scope targets 820,000 vulnerable youth countrywide from every ward including refugees in Garissa and Turkana (gazetted) camps.
The demographic requirements are vulnerable youth aged 18-29 years (and up to 35 years for PWDs), who are unemployed with Form 4 level education and below from all genders.
The Nyota Project Components will improve youth employability, provide socio-emotional skills development, support intermediation through a skills craft model, skills transfer through on-the-job experience, review additional apprenticeship standards and testing instruments, and operationalise labour market observatory and linkage to foreign labour markets.
By Joseph Kamolo (PCO)
