Our Impact

Unlocking Potential

From the Grassroots Up: Mapping Kenya's Hidden Skills

KACET’s work starts long before a certificate is issued; it starts with finding out what skills already exist
in a community, often skills that have never been formally counted anywhere. Since our first Training
Needs Assessment (TNA), we have engaged communities across Samburu, West Pokot, Homa Bay,
Laikipia, Narok, Kajiado, Kwale, Kitui, and Nairobi counties.

Finding Talent

We uncover hidden abilities and transform them into opportunities for individuals and communities.

Featured Story:

Samburu County

From Hidden Talent to Global Recognition

In late October and early November 2016, a KACET team travelled to Baragoi, Maralal, Wamba and
Archers’ Post in Samburu County, supported by Hon. Maison Leshomo, the County’s Women’s
Representative. Over five days, the team surveyed 107 artisans and workers, discovering a community
with deep, generationally-inherited skill — most strikingly in beadwork, the specialty of 72% of
respondents.
Among those the team met was Lydia Letipila, a bead-work artisan from the interior of Baragoi who had
learned her craft from the women before her. Her hand-made church regalia so impressed the local
Bishop that samples were sent to the Vatican — and in time, Lydia was commissioned to create the
beaded hat that Pope Francis wore during his official visit to Kenya on 25th November 2015.
Stories like Lydia’s are exactly why KACET exists: extraordinary skill that the market had never had a way
to recognise, certify or scale.

What the Assessment Found

1.)
107 artisans surveyed across four Samburu sub-counties

3.)
Skills were overwhelmingly self-taught or passed down traditionally, rather than gained through formal training

2.)
Beadwork was the leading specialty (72%), followed by salon services, local cuisine, clothing, and woodwork

4.)
Key gaps identified: access to capital and markets, raw-material shortages, and a lack of standardisation and trainer capacity

How We're Responding

Findings from each county assessment feed directly into KACET’s national skills database and
curriculum-development work with CDACC, helping us design training that reflects what communities
actually do, and connect them to standardized markets rather than relying on unreliable middlemen.

Where We're Going Next

Our 2022–2027 Strategic Plan targets a sustainable membership framework of 500 training institutions.
100 industry partners and 100 individually certified members, alongside continued county-level Training
Needs Assessments across Kenya’s 47 counties.