Open Skills Education (OSE™)

Founding Charter

Open Skills Education (OSE™) is a global skills equity framework founded by Alfred Gitau Mwaura to remove educational gatekeeping and unlock economic participation for youth and marginalized communities through skills-based learning, digital certification, and job-ready training.

OSE™ exists to realign education with human dignity, employability, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Why OSE™ Exists

The world has over 260 million out-of-school youth, and hundreds of millions more trapped in informal economies with no access to formal credentials.

Traditional education systems:

  • Exclude the poor
  • Filter out the gifted
  • Privilege those with historical access
  • Punish those who learn differently

Yet the global economy needs practical skills more than academic theory.

OSE™ was founded to close this gap.

OSE™ and the SDGs

Open Skills Education directly advances the following SDGs:

SDG 1 – No Poverty

By converting skills into verified income pathways.

SDG 4 – Quality Education

By redefining education as accessible, practical, and lifelong — not exam-locked.

SDG 5 – Gender Equality

By opening equal access to skills, finance, and certification.

SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

By producing job-ready graduates and certified micro-entrepreneurs.

SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities

By eliminating education gatekeeping.

SDG 12 – Responsible Production

Through sustainable coffee, hospitality, food, and trade training.

SDG 17 – Partnerships

Through cross-border recognition of skills via digital credentials.

OSE™ Core Principle

Skills are a human right.

A person should never be denied training, certification, or employment because of:

  • Grades
  • Background
  • Geography
  • Gender
  • Disability
  • Poverty
  • Colonial education systems

OSE™ replaces exclusion with verification.

How OSE™ Works

OSE™ operates through:

  • Open-access training models
  • Industry-aligned skill frameworks
  • Digital & blockchain-verified certificates
  • Employer recognition systems
  • Community-based training hubs
  • Youth-centered entrepreneurship pathways

A learner does not need to pass school exams.
They need to prove competence.

OSE™ in Action

Through Kenya Coffee School & Barista Mtaani, OSE™ is already delivering:

  • Barista & hospitality careers
  • Coffee value chain skills
  • Digital literacy
  • Enterprise pathways
  • Youth employment creation

This makes OSE™ not a theory — but a living system.

Founder’s Declaration

“Open Skills Education was founded to make opportunity borderless.
Talent exists everywhere — access does not.
OSE™ corrects this injustice.”

— Alfred Gitau Mwaura
Founder, Open Skills Education™
Founder & Executive Secretary General, Kenya Coffee School