1-1 Background of the Project Kenya’s National Youth Service (NYS) mainly targets the young who reside in poor and low-income neighborhoods. The NYS has aimed at promoting sound development of youth, public works, and human resource development through a program that combines volunteer work in public works projects and technical training using government funds. To start a program in the engineering field, which has great demands, NYS established the NYS Engineering Institute (NYSEI) in 1982. Only selected members (those who have joined NYS are called “members”) among those who completed the NYS volunteer service are entitled to enter NYSEI and be trained to learn the necessary skills needed for reemployment after graduation. The Kenyan government made a request to the Japanese government for Grant Aid for equipment to be used in NYSEI training, and the equipment was procured. Based on this, both countries began considering implementing a technical cooperation project that would improve the quality of NYSEI training, and later decided to conduct a five-year project-type technical cooperation in the 5 fields of mechanical engineering, automobile engineering, construction machine engineering, electric engineering and electronic engineering, beginning in 1988. This Project was extended twice, and ended up as a nine-year project lasting through the end of 1997. 1-2 Project OverviewFor the human resource development of young in poor and low income neighborhood in Kenya, Japan provided support in the development of curriculum, educational material, and instructor training, with the aim of advancing the level of the training program from "gcraft" (one of the academic degrees in Kenya) to "gdiploma" (one level higher). (1) Overall Goal
Engineers who have acquired engineering fundamentals and applications at the diploma level contribute to Kenya's socio-economic development. (2) Project Purpose
To train engineers in both engineering fundamentals and applications at NYSEI (target fields: mechanical engineering, automobile engineering, construction machine engineering, electric engineering and electronic engineering). (3) Outputs
1) To establish NYSEI's operation and management system.
2) To prepare necessary facilities and equipment at NYSEI.
3) To improve engineering abilities of Kenyan instructors at NYSEI.
4) To decide the training curriculum for the five fields and implement training appropriately. (4) Inputs Japanese side: | Long-Term Experts | 20 | Equipment | 286 Million Yen | Short-Term Experts | 17 | Local Cost | 145 Million Yen | Trainees Received | 37 | Kenyan Side: | Counterparts | 110 | Land and Facilities provided | 33 Million yen | Local Cost | 71 Million yen |
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3-1 Summary of Evaluation Results (1) Impact
Since NYSEI does not retain data on the NYSEI graduates’ employment rates or the names of the private-sector companies at which the graduates are employed, assessment of the Project’s impact was limited. However, interviews with private companies that have employed the graduates show that these companies give high marks to NYSEI graduates’ abilities and attitude toward work. Some employers also responded that the NYSEI graduates helped to improve productivity. Many of the employed NYSEI graduates have been working in middle-ranking management positions, and training their staff in each specialized areas. However, the economic slump in Kenya has hurt the graduates’ job opportunities, and there is little name recognition of NYSEI since it is a new training institution in this field, and the employment rate is not high. Although the number and percentage of graduates who are self-employed could not be confirmed, interviews with some graduates produced examples of some who had started their own companies and were employing their own staff. In any case, it is inferred that the employment rate is low, suggesting that the impact in Kenya produced by the Project overall remain relatively limited. However, it should be kept in mind that NYS takes on students from poor families who cannot attend the usual educational institutions, so the Project could be said to contribute to the empowerment of the socially marginalized. This point is important to consider. (2) Sustainability
Based on the Parliament Act, NYS has accepted students with financial difficulties. Since 1997, 20 students have entered each of the five-targeted programs, 87-97% have graduated every year, and 71-78% have received a diploma. At the beginning of the Project, the curriculum emphasized practical training, but currently NYSEI is following a curriculum based on the national syllabus, which emphasizes theoretical concepts, as other educational institutions do. As a result, students do not receive enough practical experience during the training as before, even with corporate internships at private-sector companies, also obligated by the national syllabus, which compensates for this lack of practice to some extent.
To augment the relationship with private-sector companies, the Industrial Liaison Committee was established during the project period, but this committee ceased to function after the Project was completed. Accordingly, as of this point, NYSEI's interaction with the industrial sector is limited to NYSEI graduates' corporate internships. Although NYSEI prepares brochures, there are almost no activities to help students find jobs.
NYSEI staff members feel that their role is to train technicians, not to improve employment rates. This is one reason that NYSEI does not retain records on graduates.
The NYSEI instructors' individual technical abilities are high, but the number of instructors is not enough, particularly in the electronic engineering division (out of 7 permanent staff, only 3 are instructors) and the library. A key reason for this is that the Kenyan government froze employment of civil employees in 1999. Although initiatives such as the "gharmonization program," designed to increase housing allowances and alleviate the discrepancies in the salaries of civil employees, boosted staff motivation, staff turnover rate is still high and the number of staff members has fallen since NYSEI's inception. Of the 29 instructors who received training in Japan, 17 have left their jobs. There are not enough assistants to help the instructors, and the instructors are responsible for 3 types of work: lectures, practice and equipment maintenance. Information management is not adequate and important information on students such as cumulative guidance record of division and school are not retained properly.
NYSEI has two management and supervisory systems. One is for training and education, to which instructors belong, and is headed by the director of the training section at NYS. On the other hand, NYS members are managed under a different system from the training and education, and the instructors have no authority over it. This makes NYSEI's operations and management very complex. Instructors within NYSEI are not very active in exchanging information, and the department heads only hold about two meetings per semester.
The technical equipment that the Project provided NYSEI with is very sophisticated, but this evaluation study showed that most of it is not functioning. For example, only seven of the 20 computers supplied are operable. This is because there are no technicians to check and maintain the equipment due to insufficient personnel in NYSEI. Although daily cleaning and minor maintenance work is performed very well, the budget is never enough for major management work such as supplying spare parts and carrying out full overhauls. Applications for the purchase of spare parts require the approval by the Ministry of Finance, and therefore procurement takes a great deal of time, sometimes as much as a year.
The educational materials prepared during the project period have not been revised. Most of the books are very old, and there are not enough textbooks. The impact of insufficient textbooks is particularly acute before examinations, and some students have to do without them. This is partly caused by the lack of funds to purchase books and the complexity of the procurement process. Access to new information for revising textbooks is another serious problem. In many cases, teachers borrow books from other universities or the British Cultural Association to obtain the necessary information.
The government of Kenya gives preferential treatment to NYS in the matter of budget allocation, and the budget given to NYSEI has increased since the fiscal year starting in February 2002. If this trend continues, the program's financial sustainability will be high. NYSEI's independent revenue earned from in-service training courses are used for course-related expenses and the remainder is returned to the national treasury. If NYSEI's training courses are opened to the public and increase, and this revenue can be used for NYSEI's equipment maintenance expenses, it could benefit technical sustainability as well. 3-2 Factors that Promoted the Realization of Effects (1) Factors Concerning the Planning
N/A (2) Factors Concerning the Implementation Process
According to interviews with the private-sector companies that are employing NYSEI graduates, they highly evaluated the graduates' attitude toward work and approach to their jobs in particular. This has more likely to do with the parent body NYS, than with NYSEI. 3-3 Factors that Impeded the Realization of Effects (1) Factors Concerning the Planning
N/A (2) Factors Concerning the Implementation Process
1) During the Project, a committee to strengthen ties with private-sector companies was put together, but it did not function practically. As a result, training details, textbook revisions and job search services did not function effectively.
2) The two management lines?training and education, and member management?make the process of decision-making on school administration and information management very inefficient.
3) Kenya's overall economic slump prevents the demand for staff from rising. As a result, the graduates' employment rates are low, despite their high evaluation. 3-4 ConclusionNYSEI maintains the sustainability of its functions as training high-quality engineers, with their high rates of passing national tests and high praise for graduates from their employers. However, much of the equipment cannot be used, due to their decrepit conditions or the lack of spare parts, and this is causing the solid foundation built up during the Project to weaken. Also, the organizational assets that the Project provided are being lost, with the Industrial Liaison Committee and the regular meetings within the institution no longer functioning.
Although the extent to which graduates contribute to their employers cannot be quantified, many private-sector companies have said that they improved productivity and improved the technical abilities of other staff. In addition, there are several examples of students who have started their own businesses, and they will no doubt transfer their technology to the staff they hire. Impact at the micro-level was observed as above.
Despite the lack of specific figures, it is appropriate to regard the graduates' employment rate as being low, given the generally low level of demand for staff in Kenya and NYSEI's failure to market its students to private-sector companies. Accordingly, the development impact of the Project at NYSEI by which society of Kenya was given had only limited results at the micro-level at the moment.3-5 Recommendations(1) To help students to find a job, the Industrial Liaison Committee should be revitalized to strengthen ties to the industrial sector. Also, considerable efforts by NYSEI staff need to be made toward information management, to maintain data on its students and follow-up on its alumni. Moreover, equipment should be regularly updated to ensure that technical development is not being delayed. (2) To resolve the shortage of instructors and technicians, the government of Kenya needs to be convinced of the necessity and urgency of hiring more instructors and technicians. In addition, NYSEI should not return its revenue to the treasury, but should convince the government of Kenya to allow it to be used for equipment maintenance and updating. Short-term courses should also be opened to the general public. 3-6 Lessons Learned (1) Manuals for equipment and other documents should be prepared so that the recipient country can utilize them. Moreover, full attention should be given to whether spare parts can be obtained for new equipment being introduced. (2) To assure that equipment can be maintained with a small amount of personnel resources, all staff members-with no distinction between instructors and technicians-should receive training in equipment use and management. (3) Recognition from society is a key to achieving the anticipated impact from newly established institutions. In particular, raising the program's recognition is critical in terms of attracting students and helping graduates find employment. An appropriate system should be created to accomplishing this. 3-7 Follow-Up Situation N/A |
