SPEECH: OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IN KENYA (2026–2030)
Delivered on behalf of: Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associations (KNFJKA)
Deputy Country Focal Person for Kenya of the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET)
Occasion: World Youth Skills Day Celebration
Location: Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi
Date: Thursday, 16th July 2026
1. Introduction and Acknowledgment of the Jua Kali Sector
It is a profound honor and a moment of immense pride for me to stand before you today on behalf of the Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associations (KNFJKA).
Today, as we commemorate World Youth Skills Day here at the iconic Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), we are not just launching a policy document; we are witness to a historic validation of the very engine that powers this country.
On the onset, I wish to recall the words of Dr. Garry Conille, the United Nations Resident Coordinator which he made yesterday during the opening ceremony of this two-day forum. Dr. Conille said that we cannot continue to focus on the formal minority of the economy! The informal economy, popularly known as the Jua Kali sector in Kenya is not an “alternative” economy—it is the economy.
Accounting for over 80% of our national workforce, our open yards, and workshop sheds, and localized industrial clusters across all 47 counties represent the resilient heartbeat of grassroots innovation, industrialization, and absolute self-reliance. From the metal fabricator shaping structures under the hot sun to the carpenter breathing life into timber, our Mastercraftspersons and youth do not just earn a living—they build this nation.
2. The Shift from Legalistic Formalization to Transformation
Transitioning from Survival to Structural Competitiveness
For decades, our artisans have faced systemic bottlenecks. We have operated in localized, survivalist paradigms—stigmatized, criminalized and burdened by tax and registration measures, isolated from formal market value chains, shut out by traditional banking requirements, and ignored by formal certification systems.
We acknowledge that numerous attempts have been made before to ‘formalize the informal sector’, albeit without much success. The development of this national strategy has learnt from the painful lessons of leaving the informal sector behind and/or dictating the terms in these previous attempts.
The National Strategy for the Transformation of the Informal Economy (2026–2030) that we are launching today changes this reality completely. This strategy is an official declaration that our informal workforce will no longer operate on the fringes. By focusing on progressive formalization, technological transfer, and market integration, the Government of Kenya is establishing a realistic pathway that converts the agile, creative energy of the Jua Kali sector into a structured, high-yielding economic pillar.
3. Two Game-Changers: RPL and Direct Market Access
As we roll out this 5-year strategy, KNFJKA is championing two major pillars:
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Our sector is rich with experiential knowledge, but our artisans have historically lacked the “papers” to prove it. This prevents them from competing for lucrative corporate and public tenders. Through the RPL framework, we are finally dignifying our skilled workforce. We are formalizing experiential competencies into accredited national certifications so that a Mastercraftsperson’s (MCPs) practical skill is respected on equal footing with institutional training.
Strategic Collaborations: To make formalization attractive, we must offer immediate, tangible market rewards. Our incoming partnership with the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) is the first step in bridging the historical divide between the corporate elite and the Jua Kali sector engine. Through joint “One-Stop Formalization Desks” and structured B2B matchmaking, we will directly integrate our Jua Kali manufacturing units into corporate supply chains, the Affordable Housing Programme, and county-level industrial parks.
4. A Call to Our Youth and Artisans
To the millions of young Kenyans and Jua Kali operators watching today: This is your moment, this is your strategy. The days of viewing the informal sector as a desperate fallback option after the failure of the formal economy are over.
With interventions like informal sector digitalization to deepen its financial inclusion, support towards standardized and quality certification of existing skills, and facilitation of skills-upgrading and technology transfer, we will provide you with the tools to gradually transition from the informal to the formal economy, emphasizing on the need to secure your right of access to decent work. All our interventions under this strategy will be benchmarked with the International Labour Standards, particularly Recommendations R193, R204 and R208 of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
I urge all our members across the 47 counties to remain open-minded, organize themselves into associations and industrial clusters, register on our upcoming national digital platform, and actively seize other interventions by government and our sector partners and stakeholders. As always, KNFJKA assures you of our unwavering readiness to represent, protect and develop your interests as your voice and defender, a duty that we have committed ourselves for over three decades now and will continue to discharge.
5. Appreciation and Conclusion
I must express our deepest gratitude to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the entire Kenya Government system under the Kenya Kwanza Administration for considering the Jua Kali sector a worthy partner in the implementation of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and including KNFJKA in this critical policy document. When you support the Jua Kali sector, you are not engaging in charity; you are investing in the most practical, direct, and sustainable driver of Kenya’s industrial future. I wish to promise you that KNFJKA will lead from the front in the implementation of this strategy and assure you that you can count on us.
Lastly, Kenya is launching this national transformation strategy in the backdrop of ongoing African continental and sub-continental conversations under the auspices of the Sub-Saharan Africa Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network (SASASNET) on the role of the informal apprenticeship systems in skilling the Continent’s youthful population, a conversation that Kenya is leading as the current Continental Chairperson.
This therefore means that the launch of this strategy is not just a great milestone, but its successful implementation is what would provide a benchmark among other sisterly African nations on how to transform the Continent’s informal economy to power its development trajectory under the African Union Commission’s (AUC) Agenda 2063. The Strategy having recognized SASASNET and its advocacy role across Africa, Kenya will therefore be expected to provide key insights and useful lessons under the network, on how to upgrade and transform the informal economy across the Continent.
Let us therefore, all work hand in hand, formal and informal, to forge a self-reliant, inclusive, and sustainable national economy, for a prosperous Kenya and the African Continent.
Thank you very much, Ahsante sana.
God bless Kenya, God bless Africa.