Samasource in Dadaab Refugee CampsLivelihood Development Through Remote Work

Mission:

Develop the livelihoods of refugees, particularly women and youth

Dadaab: Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley

3 camps built to accommodate 90,000 refugees now host

250,000 refugees94,000 of these are youth aged

16 - 34 years

Many traditional jobs must compete with basic needs for resources

Refugee Act of 2006 prohibits free movement of refugees to other parts of the country

Dadaab’s Need: Marketable, technology-based skills that

consume fewer resources, increase current income and future earning potential in the camps, and make use of prior education

Partner: CARE International

Currently operating two Information and Communication and Technology (ICT) centers in Ifo and Dagahaley

Established computing infrastructure & internet bandwidth

Employs 22 school-aged refugees (50% female) and 12 management committee members

Photo

Project Objectives

1) Increase future earning potential for refugees through ICT training in marketable skills

2) Increase immediate income of refugees by helping teams identify and complete paying projects

Phase 1: Four Weeks

: on location to train the 12 existing ICT committee

members as Team Leaders, who will manage youth trainees

and CARE: assess and upgrade the software available in each ICT center

CARE: assist in recruiting 180 youth to participate in Phase 2

: assist Team Leaders in training 15 youth each (180 total)

Every trainee: take and pass a skills proficiency test at the end of Phase 2

Phase 2: Four Weeks

Small teams of trainees: complete paying projects for clients

: identify paying projects; assist Team Leaders in selecting youth to participate

and CARE: visit centers to ensure projects are going well, coach Team Leaders, and collect raw inputs for developing marketing collateral

Phase 3: Eight Weeks

Implementation Plan

SAMASOURCE PROPOSAL: ICT Training and Livelihoods Development in Dadaab 5

longer program and additional funding for equipping the ICT centers to handle larger volumes of work. Phases 1 and 2 will support the first core objective of the project, to increase future earning potential through skills-training, while Phase 3 will focus on the second objective, to increase immediate income via completion of revenue-generating projects.

In Phase 1, lasting approximately four weeks, Samasource’s Program Manager and Trainer will be on location to provide intensive training to the 12 existing ICT committee members from IFO and Dagahaley, building their skills as Team Leaders capable of managing youth trainees in completing work. The core curriculum includes skills required in managing teams to complete remote work, based on Samasource’s assessments of current market needs. Training will take place for 6-8 hours per day, 5 days per week, in a facility at one of the camps. Team Leaders will complete the training together, to ensure that they start off with the same knowledge base and management practices. During this process, CARE will assist in recruiting 180 youth across the two camps to participate in the next phase of the project, and Samasource and CARE will conduct assessments and upgrades of the software available in each ICT center, with a focus on free or open-source software products. During Phase 2, lasting another 4 weeks, Samasource will assist the Team Leaders in training 15 youth each in their respective ICT center, a total of 180 youth across the two camps. Each Team Leader will be responsible for training a group using the methods and curriculum developed by Samasource and any additional learnings that come out of Phase 1. Since space in the ICT centers is limited, each team leader will work with his or her group for a few hours each day, rotating through the center to make optimum use of the facilities. At the end of Phase 2, every trainee will take a skills proficiency test; those that do not pass with a score of 60% will spend another week in training and re-take the test to ensure they are prepared to perform paying work. During Phase 3, lasting eight weeks, small teams of trainees will complete paying projects for clients identified by Samasource’s sales team and through various marketing efforts undertaken with San Francisco-based clients in the business process and IT industries. Samasource’s Program Director and Trainer will assist four Team Leaders in selecting youth to participate in at least 3 projects across the two centers. Samasource and CARE staff will rotate through the centers for the eight week project duration to

Outputs

1) Upgrade software in the two existing ICT centers

2) Train 180 refugee youth and 12 team leaders in marketable skills

3) Successful negotiation of at least three paying projects

Current Status: Pilot Successfully Completed

1) Identified 16 refugee youth (9 female) with basic knowledge of computing and internet usage and interest in additional income

2) Trained the youth to perform 2-3 types of basic web-based tasks

3) Enabled the youth to continue testing for 1-2 weeks post-training

Ken BanksDeveloper of Frontline SMS

Darren BerkowitzFounder & CEO, DoMyStuff.com

Katherine BarrPartner, Mohr Davidow Ventures

Mohamoud Jibrell CIO, Ford Foundation

Robert HockettProfessor, Cornell Law School

Premal Shah President, Kiva.org

Leila Chirayath JanahFounder and CEO

Kate BrennanMarketing and Sales MBA Intern

Former Visiting Scholar, Stanford University

Consultant, Katzenbach Partners

World Bank Development Research Group

BA, Harvard University (African Development Studies)

Expertise: Remote work, social enterprise, development

Investment Banking, JPMorgan

Private Equity, Shamrock Capital Advisors

BBA & BA, University of Iowa

pursuing MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Expertise: Media, entertainment and technology investing

Advisory Board

Jess McCarterVP of Sales

Founder. Sagebit

Founder, RideBit

Consultant, aSmallWorld.net

BA, Dartmouth University

Expertise: Start-ups, 10 years in software sales and development

Alex OnsagerTech Lead

Developer, Send Hotness and Graffiti (leading Facebook applications)

Co-founder, Demigo

BS, Stanford

Expertise: Web application development, product management

Team

Bruce CahanFounder, Urban Logic

Emeka OkaforDirector, TED Global

Melissa LauAssociate, Revolution Ventures

Joy SunDirector, Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative