Nakuru Training
Youth in Kenya are always hungry to develop and nurture new skills. Sadly, the opportunities are rarely available and when they are, it comes with a cost. Digital literacy has ventured in Kenyan but not many people have embraced it. This is majorly due to ignorance, lack of knowledge or where to access the information.
The US Embassy partnered with Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) to improve Digital literacy in various counties. BAKE seeks to improve the Kenyan economy by reaching out to the youth.
Digital literacy showcases an individual’s grammar, computer, writing, and typing skills on platforms, such as social media sites and blog sites. A training workshop was held in Nakuru for two days to discuss digital skills in blogging and social media. BAKE’s role was to teach the participants all about blogging, social media and gaining up to date digital skills.
The youth in Nakuru came in enthusiastic and eager to learn all about digital, and of course, how to make money from it.
The participation was a mixture of college students to the staff of Kenya National Library Services in Nakuru. Their faces were hungry with expectations. From their introduction, it was quite impressive that some had tried out to set up blogs and some were actually active in the blogging arena.
Day one started with Digital communication landscape, social media ethics and crisis, introduction to blogging and practical blogging sessions. The workshop was officiated by US Embassy Director of American Reference Center, Mr George Kamau. The rest of the training was taken through by the BAKE staff. On the second day of the training, the trainees learned social media management, digital marketing, online freedoms, strategic digital footprint and fake news.
The topic on monetizing blogs was particularly interesting as the trainees wanted to know how to make money from their blogs and photographs, through public relations, cost per click/post per click, paid content, subscriptions and to measure their impact afterwards.
The training ended with all participants going home with certificates in hand and an active blog online. They are required to actively maintain their blogs by uploading content regularly. This will be in line with a country-wide competition where all the workshop participants within the various counties where the training was conducted will compete for the best blog award. The trainees were motivated to attend the training considering it an opportunity to learn from their peers and share their expertise with each other. The trainees hoped for more similar workshops that cater to even advanced writers to expand their knowledge.
We look forward to more similar training workshops all across Kenya that will enable to improve the country’s economy, diversifying economic sources and digitizing Kenya.
“I have asked many people on how I can start my blog, but no one could give me an answer. That is until I attended the blogging training by BAKE and the American Embassy. Now, I am able to blog.” Margaret Wanjiru