ILO, Microsoft, Power Learn Project and Turkana County Open Digital Job Pathways for Refugees and Host Communities

The International Labour Organization (ILO), with the support of the Government of the Netherlands under the PROSPECTS Partnership, and together with Power Learn Project Africa, Microsoft, and the Turkana County Government has launched a new digital skills and employment programme. The initiative aims to equip refugee and host community youth in Kenya with in-demand digital skills, professional certifications, and pathways to employment.

Delivered under the ILO PROSPECTS Partnership, the programme will reach 1,700 learners across Turkana and Garissa counties through a 25-week blended learning model. Training will be delivered by Power Learn Project in partnership with local digital hubs, community-based organisations, refugee-led organisations, and local implementation partners. In addition, up to 1,000 Microsoft certification vouchers will be made available, enabling participants to earn globally recognised credentials aligned with emerging labour market needs.

Kenya’s digital economy is widely seen as one of the most dynamic on the continent, projected to contribute $5.1 billion to the national GDP by 2028. Yet while the opportunity is clear, access to relevant digital skills remains a significant barrier to inclusive growth. Employers continue to report a mismatch between available skills and market needs, with tertiary training programmes often failing to produce job-ready talent aligned to rapidly evolving technologies.

Each year, more than one million young people enter the labour market with the potential to fill these gaps. However, without formal skills, their ability to participate in the digital economy is limited. As a result, more than two thirds of Kenyan youth remain unemployed.

Against this backdrop, strengthening access to practical, market-relevant digital skills is increasingly viewed as essential to unlocking economic participation, particularly among underserved groups.

“Digital transformation is reshaping labour markets at a pace that demands deliberate policy action. For young people in refugee-hosting communities, the risk is not simply being left behind – it is being excluded from opportunities that are increasingly defining economic participation across every sector,” said Caroline Khamati Mugalla, Director, ILO Country Office for the United Republic of Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. “The ILO is committed to ensuring that technological change advances decent work, rights at work, and inclusive labour market participation. Investing in market-relevant, internationally recognised digital skills for these communities is a sound labour market investment – and a commitment to ensuring that no one is left outside the opportunities that digital transformation creates.”

The skills and employment programme is designed to bring training infrastructure directly into learners’ communities, and will be delivered across a network of local hubs, community-based organisations, refugee-led organisations and local NGOs.

The 25-week curriculum is structured in two tracks. An intermediate track that builds foundational digital and workplace skills, while the advanced track will support learners to specialise in high-demand areas including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and data analytics aligned to Microsoft certification pathways.

Winnie Karanu, AI Skills Director, Microsoft Elevate, said: “Digital skills are the foundation for inclusive growth, but access remains uneven, particularly in underserved communities. Through initiatives such as these, we’re working to close that gap by connecting learners not just to training, but to globally recognised certification and real pathways into employment. This builds on Microsoft’s broader commitment to expanding digital and AI skills across Kenya, ensuring more people can participate meaningfully in the country’s digital economy.”

The initiative contributes directly to Kenya’s digital transformation agenda by expanding access to practical, market-relevant digital training in counties that are often underserved by mainstream skills development infrastructure. It also supports Kenya’s broader ambitions around youth employment, digital transformation, refugee inclusion, and equitable regional development.

“Power Learn Project was founded on a simple but urgent belief: that talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. Across the country, we have seen what happens when young people are given access to practical digital skills and pathways into work. They do not just learn; they build, earn, solve, and transform their communities,” commented Mumbi Ndung’u, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Power Learn Project Africa. This partnership speaks directly to our mission. It allows us to bring digital opportunity closer to refugee and host community youth who have too often been excluded from the systems that shape the future of work. For us, this is about more than training. It is about dignity, economic agency, and ensuring that Kenya’s digital transformation is inclusive by design.”

Employment transition is a core outcome of the programme. To help learners move from training into work, graduates will receive support to access employment, entrepreneurship, remote work, and other income-generating opportunities. This will be enabled through career readiness support, employer engagement, and ecosystem linkages facilitated by Power Learn Project and its partners.

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