The government's new NYOTA project provides youth jobs and a Ksh. 6000 stipend

The government's new NYOTA project provides youth jobs and a Ksh. 6000 stipend.

In an effort to give young people job chances, the Cabinet has approved the National Youth chances Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project's impending debut.

To reach 820,000 vulnerable and unemployed youngsters, including those with disabilities, the government will collaborate with the World Bank for the August launch.

According to a Cabinet dispatch on Tuesday, the program's objectives are to improve access to good work, employability, and skills recognition.

NYOTA will be structured into different structures - paid on-the-job training, entrepreneurship support, and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) certification and over one million applications have reportedly been received.

"The ongoing call for the on-the-job experience programme targets 90,000 youth for three to six months paid placements with employers, with monthly stipends of Ksh.6,000 deposited into Haba Haba savings accounts," read the dispatch in part.

Applicants can submit their applications from July 11 to August 15, 2025.

This lies on the backdrop of the government's Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda as the state has remained firm on providing avenues for availing employment opportunities for the youth.

It seeks to increase job opportunities particularly among youth through a combination of approaches such as funding for small-scale traders, skills development programs, and targeted support for women and youth entrepreneurs.

This however comes amid a sharp rise in unemployment across the nation.

In 2024, the World Bank projected that the overall unemployment rate of the youth in Kenya was at 5.7 per cent.

The Federation of Kenya (FKE) says that the youth account for over 35 per cent of the Kenyan population and experience the highest unemployment rates as over a million young people enter into the labor market annually without any skill set or defined profession.