Paul Arithi 
Dr. Shaheen Nilofer - UNICEF Country Representative, Kairuki Ngari - CEO & Managing Director Standard Chartered Bank Kenya & Africa
- Standard Chartered Foundation and UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited partner to secure 750 jobs for young women;
The Standard Chartered Foundation (the Foundation) and UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (UNICEF GenU) have announced a partnership to help secure 750 decent jobs for young women in Kenya.
The investment by Standard Chartered Foundation worth KES 97.5 million, aims to address both the supply and demand side of the job market.
The three-year partnership will focus exclusively on women aged 18-24 from under-served backgrounds and will support UNICEF GenU’s dynamic and expanding ecosystem of global and local partners, which is a public-private approach that has already made significant strides in skills training for young people.
The partnership builds on this successful work by selecting participants from the existing pool of talent that have come through UNICEF GenU’s skills training initiatives, prioritising support to help young women secure decent work*.
UNICEF will work closely with local job placement experts to connect young women with employment opportunities in the private sector.
Additionally, UNICEF will support collaborations with local government initiatives to explore pathways to jobs which are based on local needs.
Kariuki Ngari, Standard Chartered Kenya CEO, said: “This partnership reflects our strategic commitment to unlocking economic opportunity for young people through decent employment.
By combining UNICEF’s extensive skilling ecosystem with our employability ambition focusing on work readiness and vocational training, we are building a model that connects talent and training to real jobs.
Securing decent work opportunities is our foundation to strengthening local economies, deepen private sector participation, and foster long-term, inclusive growth.”
Shaheen Nilofer, UNICEF Kenya Representative, said: “UNICEF Kenya is proud to partner with the Standard Chartered Foundation to support young women gain access to skilling and decent work opportunities.
This initiative complements the ‘National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement’ (NYOTA) programme recently launched by the Government of Kenya with support from the World Bank which aims to tackle youth unemployment in the country for the next five years.”
