Kenyan President William Ruto has announced a digital wallet initiative designed to let people obtain, hold and share trusted evidence of qualifications and work experience across employers, recruitment services, platforms and countries, especially in Africa.
Dubbed MasterKey, the pilot is between Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda.
It will serve as a digital skills passport, letting African credentials be verified across borders, with the aim of widening job opportunities for the youth.
Speaking at the Accra Reset Full Circle event on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Ruto said the initiative is built around a digital skills and work wallet through which participating institutions and employers would issue verifiable records, while individuals would retain control over the information they share.
Kenya is leading the first national implementation, with a planned skills and work wallet accessible through its eCitizen platform.
The first phase is targeting 150,000 placements across Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya, with the wider system intended to support cross-border work and mobility.
Mr Ruto said the ambition was for a qualification or work record issued in Nairobi to be verifiable in Accra, Kigali and, ultimately, wherever opportunities exist.
The system, he said, would not itself award jobs, visas or professional recognition. Those decisions would remain with employers and the relevant authorities, while Masterkey would provide verifiable records to support such decisions.
The initiative forms part of the Accra Reset’s wider work on skills, mobility and economic opportunities. Its official programme lists Masterkey among the initiatives being advanced alongside health reform, negotiating capacity and other areas of cooperation.
Mr Ruto said Kenya was ready to advance the initiative with Ghana, Rwanda and other African partners.
He said the test would be whether trusted records issued in one African country could be recognised and used in another.
