Kenya certified 3,727 informal workers through recognition of prior learning (RPL) at State House, Nairobi, on Thursday 8 October 2026, turning years of on-the-job experience into formal credentials. For trainers and employers across Africa, the ceremony exposes a wider gap: most skills are learned at work, and most of them stay unproven.
Key facts
- The National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) certified 3,727 workers, 2,166 men and 1,561 women, from all 47 counties and 48 trades, under the World Bank-supported NYOTA youth programme.
- Of 63,825 people enrolled in NYOTA’s second cycle, 4,543 sat the final assessment, according to Switch TV and Mjengo Hub.
- President William Ruto also launched Fundi Locator, a national portal that matches certified artisans with customers and employers.
- More than 87% of the 822,100 new jobs Kenya recorded in 2025 were informal, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Economic Survey 2026.
Why can’t skilled workers prove what they know?
Take a plumber who learned the trade beside an uncle. He has the skill. What he lacks is paper. Where nearly nine in ten new jobs are informal, that missing paper decides who wins the hotel contract or the job abroad, and who keeps working for cash by the roadside.
The problem is continental. During Africa Skills Week, on Friday 16 October 2026, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the SASASNET network described skills gained through informal apprenticeships and self-employment as “invisible, unrecognised and disconnected from formal qualifications”. Their webinar on work-based learning and RPL focused on women, youth, refugees and rural workers.
Ruto put the same idea in one line at the Nairobi ceremony: “A certificate must be a key that opens a door.”
Recognition of prior learning in numbers
Kenyan reports give a detailed funnel, and it narrows fast.
| Stage | Number | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Kenyans who came forward for RPL | 177,338 | Switch TV |
| Assessed so far | 97,134 | Switch TV |
| Enrolled in NYOTA cycle 2 | 63,825 | Switch TV, Mjengo Hub |
| Sat the final assessment (cycle 2) | 4,543 | Switch TV, Mjengo Hub |
| Certified competent (cycle 2) | 3,727 | Switch TV, Mjengo Hub, Capital FM |
| Target over the next one to two years | 20,000 | Mjengo Hub |
One discrepancy deserves a flag. Uzalendo News and a second Capital FM headline put the total at 3,772, while Switch TV and Mjengo Hub report 3,727, a figure that matches their gender breakdown exactly. None of the reports explains why fewer than one in ten cycle-two enrolees reached the final assessment; many may still be in training or waiting for a slot.
Women are visible in trades usually closed to them. Mjengo Hub counted 17 women certified in masonry, 46 in plumbing and 15 in light vehicle mechanics.
Soft skills: the part a trade test rarely shows
A practical assessment proves that a welder can weld. It says little about whether she turns up on time, explains a quote clearly or handles an angry client. Yet those are the qualities employers keep asking for. In the Michael Page 2026 Talent Trends survey, hiring managers ranked communication (44%), adaptability (38%) and interpersonal skills (36%) as the capabilities they value most, and 66% of organisations said they had adopted skills-based hiring.
Fundi Locator tries to fill part of that gap with ratings, which appear only after a job is marked complete, according to Mjengo Hub.
Europe’s employers ask for the same thing
The demand reaches well beyond Africa. On Friday 23 October 2026, the employers’ federation BusinessEurope presented a Deloitte study on access to skills and called for better recognition of qualifications and skills gained at work. Director General Markus J. Beyrer noted that 82% of surveyed companies rely on continuous staff training, while time, capacity and cost hold back smaller firms.
How verifiable badges address this
A national certificate is the foundation. After it, workers pile up short courses, safety briefings and customer-care sessions that never reach any register. Credentials held by the person, rather than the institution, are one possible answer.
BBadges gives each person a free Booklet, for life, to keep proof of what they studied, did and attended. Every issuing organisation completes identity verification (KYC/KYB), so there are no anonymous issuers, and every badge is anchored on a blockchain with a public verification page. Existing Open Badges and W3C Verifiable Credentials can be imported into the same Booklet. In Italy, a single customer, Campus Editore – Salone dello Studente, issued close to 500,000 badges in the 2025/26 school year. The issuer stays responsible for the content, and the tool does not replace assessment. Details are at BBadges.
What this means for trainers and HR teams
TVET centres and private trainers can start by aligning short courses with the units NITA assesses, so a learner’s later RPL application rests on evidence rather than memory. Keep attendance, photos of finished work and supervisor statements from day one.
Soft skills need observable evidence. Record a customer-feedback score, a peer review or a supervised client interaction, and issue a small, dated credential for it.
HR teams should treat RPL certificates as full qualifications for the trade assessed, check them with the issuing body, and ask candidates for verification links where these exist. Read our earlier report on who checks credential issuers in Africa, and our coverage of adult education in Kenya and Nigeria and youth entrepreneurship training.
FAQ
What is recognition of prior learning?
It assesses and certifies skills gained through work, apprenticeships or informal training, without repeating a full course. In Kenya, NITA runs it under NYOTA.
Can soft skills be certified?
Rarely through a trade test. Trainers can document them with observed evidence and issue separate, verifiable records.
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