[Kenyan Chapter] Understanding the Disconnect Between Skills and Jobs in Africa Using NLP

This Omdena Local Chapter Challenge runs for 6 weeks and is a unique experience to try and grow your skills in a collaborative and safe environment with a diverse mix of people from all over the world.

You will work on solving a local problem, initiated by the Omdena Machakos, Kenya.

The problem

We want to better understand the disconnect between skills and jobs in Africa, particularly digital skills.

According to the AfDB, Africa’s youth population is expected to double to over 830 million by 2050, but currently, out of Africa’s population of nearly 420 million aged 15 to 35 years, one-third are unemployed, another third are not secure in their jobs and only one in six is in wage employment. More youth than ever are graduating from schools and universities, but are not finding jobs.

Why? The social problem we want to help avoid is youth becoming discouraged and turning to militancy, insurgency, and risky illegal immigration. The potential impact is better alignment between skills youth are attaining and the skills that employers need, which will lead to more and better jobs, fewer people facing poverty through unemployment, and greater human well-being across the continent.

The project goals

We envision an AI solution that can aggregate various public big data to help better assess the demand and supply of jobs and job seekers. Ultimately the outcomes can influence curriculum, learning approaches, public-private partnerships for job training, higher education policy, and industrial policy.

The AI solution can compare supply data from unemployment data, graduation data, jobs data, etc., and demand data from online job postings, numbers and types of private sector companies in specific sectors, etc. to identify gaps or skills mismatches. It can also be used to compare skills training offered online, apprentice programs, and on-the-job training opportunities.

Finally, the AI solution can use sentiment analysis and natural language processing to have a better understanding of how companies, schools, and individuals feel about the education they receive, the jobs available, the skill levels of job seekers, and policies that incentivize greater skills/jobs alignment.

Why join? The uniqueness of Omdena Local Chapter Challenges

Omdena Local Chapter Challenges are not a competition or hackathon but a real-world project that will grow your experience to a new level.

A unique learning experience with the potential to make an impact through the outcome of the project. You will go through an entire data science project lifecycle. This covers problem scoping, data collection, and preparation, as well as modeling for deployment.

And the best part is that you will join the global and collaborative community of Omdena with tons of benefits to accelerate your career.

Read more on how Omdena´s Local Chapters work