The ENABLE Youth Kenya program is a skill and capacity development program targeting the unemployed population.
It largely entails training of youth on business skills and development of business plans; providing mentorship and linkages to markets and financing.
But according to surfacing reports, this has not been the case.
Frustrated beneficiaries have come forward to lament apparent double games by the project’s administrators who are yet to disburse funds to enable them to actualize the business plans that they had submitted during the application stage three years ago.
To make matters worse, none of the executives has offered clarity regarding the matter.
Despite multiple requests by beneficiaries, they have issued no statement on the way forward.
This has left many youths who quit their jobs and ventured into the scheme on the brink of depression.
Hundreds of potential job opportunities have also gone down the drain. “Hi, Nyakundi, To whoever will hear our plight and help us. I would like to draw your attention to the ENABLE YOUTH PROJECT, which competitively selected various incubate standards and accelerates. They interviewed, enrolled, trained, and enlisted them for funding from the AFDB. The project has gone beyond time. To make matters worse, so many youths quit employment hoping that immediate assistance would come in the form of funding to enable them to implement the business plans that they had submitted during the application stage, but this has not happened. It has turned into increased anxiety, stress levels and more desperation for the youth who, as of now, could have been employing several other youths through the support. It is also worth noting that there is no solid communication that the incubates and accelerates are being supplied with. That is meaningful other than waiting and this is really not something we can buy. Three years later, for a project that was budgeted and funded way before. Ideally, the information that was supplied to the incubates and accelerates was that they were going to receive a grant after training in the various agribusiness value chains they had applied for. This information was twisted to mean that it was going to be a loan, something that was not there in the original communication,” the source writes.