UDA gubernatorial hopeful Dr Pamela Odhiambo has intensified her grassroots engagement in Migori, turning her attention to technical and vocational education and the growing demand for practical skills among the county’s youthful population.
Dr Odhiambo paid a courtesy call at Kababu Technical and Vocational College in Suna West Constituency, where she engaged the institution’s management on issues surrounding the smooth running, development and future of the college.
She later held an afternoon interaction with students, popularly referred to as comrades, where discussions centred on skills development, student welfare, youth empowerment and the role of young people in shaping the future of their communities.
The visit placed technical and vocational education at the heart of a wider conversation about how Migori can prepare its young population for a changing labour market while creating opportunities for young people to turn their skills into livelihoods.
Dr Odhiambo said technical and vocational education should be regarded as an important pathway for empowering young people with practical skills that can enable them to become self-reliant and contribute to the local economy.
“Technical and vocational education is an important pathway for empowering our young people with practical skills that can help them become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to the economy,” she said in remarks during the engagement.
She said the increasing number of young people joining middle-level institutions demonstrates the importance of strengthening institutions that provide practical and market-oriented training.
For many young people, the transition from secondary school to a technical institution represents an opportunity to acquire skills that can be applied directly in the workplace or used to establish small enterprises.
But beyond access to training, Dr Odhiambo said the conversation must also address what happens after graduation.
“Our young people must not only be prepared to look for employment; they must also be equipped with the skills, knowledge and support they need to create opportunities for themselves and others,” she said.
Listening to the students
At Kababu, Dr Odhiambo also had an opportunity to interact directly with students and listen to some of the issues affecting their education and aspirations.
The engagement provided a platform for students to discuss matters concerning skills development and their expectations as they prepare to enter an increasingly competitive employment environment.
Dr Odhiambo said young people should be involved in conversations about the future of their communities instead of being treated merely as recipients of policies designed by others.
“I was encouraged by the opportunity to interact with the students and listen to their concerns. Young people must be part of conversations about the future of our communities because they are not just the leaders of tomorrow; they are important stakeholders today,” she said.
Her message comes at a time when youth unemployment, access to skills and opportunities for self-employment remain major issues in Kenya’s development debate.
For counties such as Migori, where thousands of young people enter the labour market every year, technical and vocational institutions provide an important link between education and economic participation.
Dr Odhiambo said investment in such institutions should therefore go beyond buildings and enrolment numbers to include the quality and relevance of courses offered.
“When we invest in skills development, we are investing in the economic future of our communities. A young person with practical skills has a better foundation from which to pursue employment, entrepreneurship and self-reliance,” she said.
From classrooms to livelihoods
One of the central issues emerging from the engagement was the need to bridge the gap between training and economic opportunity.
While technical institutions equip learners with practical competencies, graduates still require access to markets, capital, mentorship, technology and business networks if they are to translate their skills into sustainable livelihoods.
Dr Odhiambo said Migori’s technical and vocational institutions should therefore be supported to offer training that responds to actual economic opportunities.
“Our technical and vocational institutions must be supported to provide quality, relevant and market-oriented training. We need to ask ourselves whether the skills our young people are acquiring are matching the opportunities available in the economy,” she said.
The approach puts TVET education within the broader question of economic empowerment.
A trained mechanic, electrician, mason, tailor, farmer, ICT specialist or entrepreneur, for instance, requires more than a certificate to establish a sustainable livelihood. Access to finance, equipment, customers and an enabling business environment can determine whether skills acquired in college translate into income.
It is this transition—from training to opportunity—that increasingly occupies the centre of youth-development conversations.
Youth and the political conversation
Dr Odhiambo’s engagement with Kababu also comes as she continues to build her political profile ahead of the 2027 Migori gubernatorial contest.
Her interaction with young people adds another dimension to the political conversation in the county, where education, unemployment, entrepreneurship and access to economic opportunities are expected to remain major issues.
Rather than limiting the discussion to electoral politics, the Kababu engagement focused on issues directly affecting students and the institutions preparing them for the world of work.
Dr Odhiambo said young people should have a meaningful voice in determining the direction of their communities.
“Young people should not be treated merely as an audience during political and development conversations. They must have a voice in shaping the policies and decisions that affect their future,” she said.
The message places youth participation alongside skills development as part of the broader question of how Migori can harness its youthful population as an economic asset.
A wider skills challenge
Across Kenya, technical and vocational education has increasingly been promoted as an important component of the country’s skills-development strategy.
The institutions provide an alternative route for learners who may not necessarily follow the conventional university pathway while offering practical training in areas linked to industry, construction, agriculture, ICT, hospitality, automotive engineering and other sectors.
For Migori, strengthening this pathway could have implications beyond individual employment.
A skilled young population can potentially contribute to the growth of small businesses, agricultural enterprises, construction, manufacturing, services and other sectors of the county economy.
But the challenge remains ensuring that training institutions are adequately equipped and that graduates can access opportunities once they complete their courses.
It was against this backdrop that Dr Odhiambo’s visit to Kababu focused not only on the students but also on the institution’s management and its development needs.
She said investment in young people should be viewed as an investment in the county’s long-term future.
“The future of Migori depends greatly on how we prepare and empower our young people today. We must invest in relevant skills, strengthen our technical and vocational institutions and create an environment where our youth can turn their skills into employment, enterprise and sustainable livelihoods,” she said.
For the students at Kababu, the engagement offered an opportunity to place their concerns directly before a political leader seeking to occupy the county’s top office.
For Dr Odhiambo, it provided another grassroots platform to articulate a development message centred on education, skills and youth empowerment.
As the 2027 political conversation gathers momentum, the contest for Migori’s leadership is likely to increasingly involve competing ideas on how to address unemployment, improve education, empower young people and stimulate local economic growth.
At Kababu, Dr Odhiambo’s message was that the county’s young people should be at the centre of that conversation—and that skills must ultimately translate into opportunities for a dignified and productive future.
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