Refugees in Kenya get software development work

Software developers displaced by war and living in a Kenyan refugee camp are getting the opportunity to use their skills thanks to an effort by outsourced service provider Samasource and CARE International.

Refugees are usually not expected to leave the camps, cannot get jobs locally and have minimal interaction with people in the host country. But a data center at the Daadab refugee camp in Kenya is changing the lives of refugees, mainly from war-torn Somalia, giving them a chance to contribute to digital services growth in the region.

Samasource works with partners in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon and Zambia and has provided online outsourcing opportunities for 550 workers through its partnership with oDesk. The company provides the marketplace for outsourcers and ensures quality through training; workers perform tasks such as data entry up to software development.

Last month, Samasource launched the "give work" iPhone application, a tool that allows users to verify remote work deliverables in order to speed payment to those in need. After workers complete a simple task such as checking pictures for copyrights, an iPhone user then double-checks the work for accuracy.

"This is what we've been looking for since the Internet was connected to our center," said Zeinab Hassan Mohamed, a Somali refugee who acts as director of the data center in Daadab refugee camp.

The data center in Daadab was set up with support from CARE International, which has supported refugees since the camp was set up after the collapse of Somalia in 1991. Although it was built to accommodate 90,000 people, Dadaab now hosts more than 280,000, making it the largest refugee site in the world.

"The quality of the work output is normally very high. At first it takes time for people to adjust to doing business in a new place with new clients; Samasource helps smooth those difficulties out through our training programs," said Jess McCarter, Samasource vice president.

"The beauty about it is that they are empowering people. Not only are they helping them make some money but they are also giving people the opportunity to engage themselves in productive work," said Wilfred Mworia, the lead developer at Afrinnovator Limited, an online outsourcing company.

Samasource started its work by assisting developers in Africa to land online jobs and training them in required skills.

"Developers have been excited to expand beyond local markets and show the entire global business community the skills they have. Samasource has placed web development, database development and is now getting many requests a month for iPhone development," added McCarter.

While Samasource's work with software developers aims to expand the scope of local markets for software development, the work with refugees is geared towards sustenance and helping them rebuild their countries when they return home.