The Power Learn Project is training 1,700 young people from refugee and host communities in Kenya’s Garissa and Turkana counties in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data analytics. The 25-week programme, backed by the International Labour Organization, Microsoft, and the Garissa County Government, combines technical training with workplace skills, professional certification, and employment pathways.
More than 700 learners have already enrolled in Garissa from over 1,000 applications, according to the Power Learn Project. Women account for 35% of applicants, while 16 of 37 partner digital hubs across Garissa and Turkana are now delivering the programme.
Program Details
Microsoft is providing as many as 1,000 certification vouchers to graduates, covering credentials including Azure Fundamentals, Azure AI Fundamentals, Power BI Data Analyst, and Microsoft 365 Fundamentals. This initiative reflects a growing push by governments, technology companies, and development organizations to connect young people in underserved and refugee-hosting regions with skills that can be sold into local and international labor markets.
The programme is designed to link graduates with employers and other ecosystem partners while supporting opportunities in employment, entrepreneurship, and remote work. Garissa Governor Nathif Jama Adam said the county sees digital skills as increasingly important to the future of work and economic participation.
Addressing Digitalization Gaps
Garissa Governor Nathif Jama Adam stated that the county recognizes the future of work is increasingly digital. The Garissa programme follows the launch of the initiative in Kakuma, Turkana County, in June, extending the training model to more young people in Kenya’s refugee-hosting communities. The International Labour Organization said the programme is aimed at addressing the risk that digitalization could widen existing gaps in access to employment.
Caroline Njuki, chief technical adviser at the International Labour Organization Kenya, said digital transformation is reshaping labor markets faster than policy can keep pace. For refugee-hosting communities, the risk is being excluded altogether from the opportunities now defining economic participation.
Measuring Success
The partners ultimately intend to measure the programme by its ability to convert training and certification into jobs, businesses, freelance work, and sustainable livelihoods. For Kenya’s refugee and host communities, that could make digital skills less a development intervention and more a direct route into the country’s expanding technology economy. Mumbi Ndung’u, co-founder and executive director of Power Learn Project Africa, noted that talent is universal, but access to opportunity is not.
The focus is shifting from digital training alone to whether those skills generate income. The programme’s expansion comes as employers increasingly seek workers with capabilities in AI, cloud computing, and data analysis, while young people outside Kenya’s main technology centers continue to face barriers to accessing relevant training and employment.
With the Power Learn Project, the goal is to build the skills, infrastructure, and pathways that allow young people, regardless of geography or circumstance, to compete, create, and earn in the global digital economy. As the programme continues to grow, it may provide a model for other initiatives aimed at connecting underserved communities with the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in the digital economy.
They are working to create a model that can be replicated in other regions.
