In an effort to combat a high youth unemployment rate in the country, the Kenyan government has initiated a program aimed at enabling one million young Kenyans with the digital skills required to become employable within a growing tech industry.

The program is called Ajira, which means employment in Swahili, and is funded by the government in partnership with Ajira Digital.

Youth unemployment in Kenya stands at 17.3 percent, comparing unfavorably with Tanzania and Uganda, who have 5.5 and 6.8 percent youth unemployment figures respectively, according to Businessdailyafrica.

Already, thousands of Kenyans participate in the world of online work. There are at least 40,000 Kenyans registered on Upwork, the leading freelance platform.

In a 2014 survey of oDesk (now Upwork) Kenya ranked 10th overall on a list of countries providing workers, No 1 in Africa.

The Daily Nation reports that the minister of Information Communications and Technology in the Kenyan government has committed to building 24-hour innovation hubs with free internet to help make the employment initiative more efficient.