USAID Kenya is not offering over 3,500 job opportunities to Kenyans across all 47 counties, as this Facebook post claims.

The post provides a link directing users to a Google document which indicates that shortlisted applicants will earn Ksh 2,500 per day, while those in hard-to-reach areas will receive Ksh 3,500. On top of the pay, there is daily lunch, t-shirts and transport.

“At the end of the exercise, those who will have done excellent work will be retained on permanent basis. We are recruiting 180 people per County based on first come first served basis,” the document adds.

The United States Agency for International Development, abbreviated as USAID, is a leading international development agency. It is funded by the American people and operates in many countries across the world, including Kenya.

The jobs purportedly on offer at USAID include data entry clerks, accountants, messengers, receptionists and secretaries, field officers, drivers, supervisors, tea girls and field data collectors.

As part of the registration process, applicants are required to complete an application form provided in the document.

Additionally, the document states that first-time applicants are required to pay a registration fee of Ksh 450, refundable if one does not qualify for the job.

“Ksh 450 will be used to cater for training and uniform branding for those who will have qualified to work with us,” the document adds.

USAID Kenya, which the post claims is recruiting staff, has dismissed the job advert through its official Facebook and Twitter pages, terming the ad as a scam.

“Beware of fraud! USAID and partners never ask for money so that you can apply for a job or other opportunity,” the organisation says.

Additionally, no such job opportunity has been listed on the official USAID Kenya website.

“Please note we are not responsible for staff recruitment for activities that we fund, as our implementing partners recruit staff directly,” the website states.

When it comes to current employment opportunities at USAID Kenya, the organisation has provided a link to a non-government, third-party website known as myjobsinkenya.com.

PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post claiming that USAID Kenya is seeking to recruit over 3,500 Kenyans across all 47 counties and finds it to be a HOAX.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Cynthia Kanyali and edited by PesaCheck chief copy editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by managing editor Enock Nyariki.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.

PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.