Closing Kenya's construction skills gap for future-ready workforce

The local and global labour markets are experiencing rapid changes.

These changes have been brought about by developments such as digitisation, globalisation, demographic changes, and climate change, including the green transition.

New occupations are emerging while others are changing or becoming obsolete. In response to this, the government, in its efforts to fulfil the constitutional provisions on relevant education and employment, worked in collaboration with stakeholders to develop the National Skills Development Policy 2023. The overall goal of this policy is to promote sustainable socio-economic development by developing a skilled workforce that is employable, productive, enterprising, innovative, adaptable, and competitive. The policy has been developed in response to the skills mismatch, which has contributed to high youth unemployment in the country.

The policy, therefore, provides a coordinated response to the skills mismatch towards developing an education and training system that is responsive to labour market demands. 

The policy framework covers the broad areas of governance and management, human capital development, education and employability, entrepreneurship education, labour market information and skills anticipation, school-to-work transition, skills for national development priorities, skills for the economy, and skills for non-traditional and new occupations.

Separately, in November 2025, Kenya launched the National Dual Training Policy, marking a key milestone in transforming technical and vocational education and enhancing youth employability.

The new policy establishes a structured framework for integrating classroom instruction with hands-on industry experience, ensuring graduates acquire both theoretical knowledge and practical skills aligned with market demands.

The Dual Training Policy guides institutions, employers, and trainers in delivering structured work-based learning, strengthening quality standards, and promoting sustainable skills development aligned with industry needs.

In tandem with these two policies, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has established targeted skills-training and development programs for employees.

These initiatives are designed to upgrade technical capabilities and foster long-term career advancement, serving as a key pillar of CRBC’s social-responsibility commitment and its strategy for harmonious coexistence with host communities. The company has trained tens of thousands of talents in infrastructure technology and operational management during its overseas projects, including in Kenya.

Kenyan trainees have studied railway and road operations and management through CRBC-supported scholarship programmes. This is a strong indicator of skills transfer, which directly strengthens Kenya’s construction and engineering workforce. The skills transfer couldn’t have come at a better time. The skills gap in Kenya’s construction industry is wide, well-documented, and a clear barrier to national development goals.

Evidence from the World Bank, Ministry of Labour, and Federation of Kenya Employers shows that Kenya urgently needs stronger technical training, better Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) industry collaboration, more hands-on, competency-based learning, and greater investment in mid-level skills. Without closing this gap, Kenya’s infrastructure ambitions will continue to rely on external expertise, slowing long-term economic transformation.

But compared to China, Kenya’s construction sector faces deep structural barriers that limit the adoption of modern training methods—far beyond internet connectivity or electricity issues.

Kenya struggles with weaker industry–training integration, outdated equipment, low digital adoption, fragmented industry practices, insufficient funding, and safety challenges. These systemic issues slow down the modernisation of construction training and limit Kenya’s ability to fully leverage advanced methods used in China.

In the end, policy will not resolve the issue of construction skills in Kenya, but deliberate collaborations will ensure that policy is transformed into practice.

- The author is a Marketing and Public Relations practitioner

Synchronisation of the National Skills Development Policy, Dual Training Policy, and industry-led skills transfer programmes through CRBC presents an opportunity to create a skilled workforce, locally based and competent enough to provide Kenya with infrastructure dreams on a sustainable basis.

Through enhancing industry-TVET partnership, emerging methods of modernising training systems and supporting work-based and hands-on learning, Kenya would lessen its dependency on external expertise, accelerate economic transformation, and prepare its youth with a set of skills that are not only useful in current projects, but also in an ever-changing, rapidly shifting landscape of work.