• President William Ruto unveils 4,000 paid internships in the construction sector under the Affordable Housing Program.

• The initiative aims to reduce youth unemployment, build affordable homes, and formalize informal artisans.

• The move responds to recent social unrest, rising living costs, and ongoing youth job pressures.

Kenyan President William Ruto (photo) declared on July 15, 2025, the availability of 4,000 paid internships for recent graduates specializing in "the building profession including architects, surveyors, engineers, construction managers, among others". He introduced the program as part of the Affordable Housing Program (AHP), launched in Nairobi to boost technical skills and youth employment.

Ruto explained that the interns are expected to assist both the companies and the government in strengthening supervision and accelerating the program’s execution.

The internships will last twelve months. The Public Service Commission (PSC) will set monthly wages, The Kenya Times reported.

The AHP aims to cut Kenya’s chronic housing deficit by building 200,000 affordable homes each year for low- and middle-income families. The government budgeted 92.18 billion Kenyan shillings ($711 million) for housing, urban planning, and public works for 2024/2025.

This program also shapes Kenya’s economic future. Currently, the construction sector employs about 320,000 people. The government aims to boost that number to 600,000 shortly. It also plans to formalize the informal “Jua Kali” sector by linking artisans and small businesses with the formal industry and promoting local construction materials.

This announcement arrives amid tense social conditions, with youth protests erupting in July 2025 against the 2024 Finance Bill, rising living costs, and corruption allegations. The July 7 protests turned violent, causing multiple deaths, injuries, and arrests.

Faced with this crisis, the government intensifies efforts to improve youth job opportunities. The World Bank reports youth unemployment (ages 15 to 34) dropped to 11.9% in 2024 from 13.6% in 2020. Kenya’s “Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA)” trained over 200,000 young people in three years, creating 187,451 jobs.

The cost of living also rose. The National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) recorded a 0.2% increase in prices for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels between June 2024 and June 2025.

Through paid internships and housing growth, Kenya tries to tackle housing shortages, ease social tensions, and meet youth demands for jobs.

Charlène N’dimon