Plan International · Learning to Earning Programme Pilot
One message closerfrom stable income
Skills open doors, networks walk you through them. A programme designed to enable youth in Machakos and Homa Bay to explore employment pathways in entrepreneurship, SMEs, and youth-led cooperatives within the climate-smart blue and green economy.
- Building on Plan's YEEP — stay engaged after training
- Connect · Match · Learn — pathways you can fund
- SMS as an accessible, scalable channel for support
Why?
Training ends, the silence starts
Current skills training programs are often insufficient to help young people successfully access the labor market. Despite their training, many Kenyan youth still struggle to secure employment or start a business. They often lack the professional networks needed to find opportunities, as well as the financial resources required to pursue entrepreneurship. Research in Homa Bay and Machakos highlighted this challenge: No buyers on speed dial. No peer who knows ice packing. No trusted way to hear about a grant before it closes. Friends become the only alert system. That is the gap Learn to Earn was built to close.
What youth told us
Research insights from youth in Homa Bay and Machakos
Poor networks or lack of connections hence difficult in finding and getting a job.
I mostly relied on friends to alert me in case of opportunities. I did not have a virtual platform.
To be linked to more people/ experts in my field to gain more knowledge from them.
Information on grants, loans, online application platforms would also really help me.
I would recommend proper follow up after the program and monitor alumni's progress and know where to support.
My advice to whoever is ending the program soon is that they be actively seeking for jobs online and through friends.
Personally I would appreciate support to revive my business.
The approach
Connect. Match. Learn.
The platform has three overarching objectives: facilitate collaboration among youth, connect young people to market opportunities, and capture insights into young people's needs to inform future programme development. Click each pillar to see what this could look like in the pilot.
Choose Connect, Match or Learn
Connect
Setting up a system that enables a central and structured communication from Plan with alumni using SMS.
Such communication could be safely followed up by Plan to connect youth to fellow peers who want to learn from each other or build a business together, leveraging Plan’s network and enabling entrepreneurship as a pathway to stable jobs.
Blue Economy path 3 → mentor match — numbers only after mutual YES
Peer to peer
- AskYouth say who they want to meet
- ConsentBoth reply YES before numbers move
- ConnectPlan shares contacts safely
I am starting a pond in Mbita and want to talk to someone who knows where to buy good fingerlings.
Numbers stay private until both say yes. Meet in a public place — or reply CALL for staff-first support.
The network
From one text to a web of opportunity
When youth help each other, mentors answer and partners step in, a living network appears — the one alumni said they never had. Explore it. Fund it. Grow it.
Illustrative demo network of 200+ youth, mentors, peers and experts — anonymised. Light drag to pan, +/− or ⌘/Ctrl+scroll to zoom gently. Live pilot data appears here for Plan staff once the programme is running.
The proof
Impact you can see — and stand behind
The platform will enable to collect traceable data, which overtime, would allow Plan to have a comprehensive reasoning over the challenges young people face, the support they need and the opportunities they are looking for. These insights help Plan and its partners improve their support and respond to changing needs over time.
For example
72
Youth in a network
157
Peer matches
86%
Response rate
1477
SMS volume
What type of information are you looking for?
SMS answers from a check-in. Shows what Plan would learn — not live pilot results.
Message sent
What type of information are you looking for? 1. Learn about the topic 2. Answer to specific questions 3. Connect to youth who know this topic Reply 1, 2 or 3
Who makes it work
Youth. Plan. Partners.
In this programme, youth, Plan and you will be working hand in hand.
Next step
Help young people move from learning to earning.
We welcome partners who can support the delivery of this pilot and play an active role in the broader programme as it evolves.
Talk to Plan International Kenya