EmpowerX

EmpowerX is an accelerated learning program through which the youth can learn skills of the future to find better jobs as freelancers and connect to online job marketplace and/or get enabled enough to launch their own businesses.

The idea of EmpowerX is based on the concept that with increasing digital economy around the world, there is an increase in the demand of digital skills and therefore we are training the youth in these skills so they are able to connect with the international online job market. The model has been very successful in South Asia and therefore we want to use the same model and apply it in Kenya to make the youth active contributors to the digital economy.

Our theory of change is to empower the youth through digital skills and entrepreneurship and we are doing that by training them in 3 major areas such as (1) soft skills (2) digital skills and (3) business skills

Soft skills are skills that are needed by employers such as good communication, decision making, showing commitment, time management, creativity, leadership and problem solving.

Digital skills are the skills of the future that give the youth competitive edge such as learning how to build a website, designing, data analysis, virtual assistance, content writing, digital marketing etc.

Business skills are the skills required to launch a business such as entrepreneurship, freelancing, team management, project management, marketing, finance, legal etc.

Two major problems that we are solving.

1. Most of the unemployed youth has some sort of formal education but they do not posses any relevant digital skills and this is one of the great learning for our program.  2. Even skilled youth isn't able to find jobs so the true way to empower them is to create an-to-end cycle and get partners on board who would employ people who are trained through our program.

Our theory of change is to empower the youth through digital skills and entrepreneurship and we are doing that by training them in 3 major areas such as (1) soft skills (2) digital skills and (3) business skill

This program is targeted towards the youth aged 20-35 and offers a well structured approach to training the youth through different levels of skills. The outcome of the program is to create empowered individuals who are active contributors to the digital economy.

Skills assessment - People learn skills

Track skills to job - People find jobs

User driven Approach:

Our solution is focused around the user. Most of the ideas out there in similar domain are mostly just market driven but we are trying to create a balance in which we not only see the demand for the digital skills in the global market but also try to understand the needs, abilities and circumstances of our users/beneficiaries so we can create a solution that is very user focused.

Market Knowledge & Partnerships:

We have the benefit that we are not just trying to create a skills training program (we know many have tried similar things already)

Lets be honest - Digital skills training is not something entirely new. Bigger organization like Rockeffler Foundation and Google have taken a jab at providing digital learning programs for the youth of Africa.

However, such programs, miss out on the fact that teaching digital skills to the youth is just half of the solution and the other half is about creating an opportunity for the youth in form of connections to the global market and building their capacity by teaching them other skills like soft skills and business skills to make them capable enough to find jobs and become online entrepreneurs.

Blended learning

We hope to use the revenue from the workshops to sustain ourself

Market adaptability 

http://facebook.com/sofskills/

Facebook, Payoneer, University of Delaware, World Bank

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