Samasource aims to develop livelihoods for refugees in Dadaab refugee camps through remote work opportunities. They have established computing infrastructure and trained 22 refugee youth and 12 management committee members in two information and communication technology centers in Ifo and Dagahaley camps. Samasource plans to expand this program by training more refugee youth in marketable skills, having them complete paid remote projects to generate income, and upgrading the technology centers to handle larger volumes of work. An initial pilot successfully trained and enabled 16 refugee youth to perform basic web tasks and continue testing remotely.

1. Samasource in Dadaab Refugee Camps
Livelihood Development Through Remote Work

2. Mission:
Develop the livelihoods of refugees, particularly
women and youth

3. Dadaab: Ifo, Hagadera and Dagahaley
3 camps built to accommodate
90,000 refugees now host
250,000 refugees
94,000 of these are youth aged
16 - 34 years
Refugee Act of 2006 prohibits free movement of refugees to other
parts of the country
Many traditional jobs must compete with basic needs for resources

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. Phase 1: Four Weeks
: on location to train
the 12 existing ICT committee
members as Team Leaders, who
will manage youth trainees
CARE: assist in recruiting 180 youth to participate in Phase 2
and CARE: assess and upgrade the software available in
each ICT center

8. Phase 2: Four Weeks
: 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

9. Phase 3: Eight 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

10. longer program and additional funding for equipping the ICT centers to handle larger volumes of work.
Implementation Plan
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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Team
Leila Chirayath Janah Jess McCarter
Founder and CEO VP of Sales
Former Visiting Scholar, Stanford University Founder. Sagebit
Consultant, Katzenbach Partners Founder, RideBit
World Bank Development Research Group
Consultant, aSmallWorld.net
BA, Harvard University (African
BA, Dartmouth University
Development Studies)
Expertise: Start-ups, 10 years in software
Expertise: Remote work, social
sales and development
enterprise, development
Alex Onsager Kate Brennan
Marketing and Sales MBA Intern
Tech Lead
Investment Banking, JPMorgan
Developer, Send Hotness and Graffiti
Private Equity, Shamrock Capital Advisors
(leading Facebook applications)
BBA & BA, University of Iowa
Co-founder, Demigo
pursuing MBA, Stanford Graduate School of
BS, Stanford
Business
Expertise: Web application
Expertise: Media, entertainment and
development, product management
technology investing
Advisory Board
Ken Banks Darren Berkowitz Katherine Barr Bruce Cahan
Developer of Frontline Founder & CEO, DoMyStuff.com Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures Founder, Urban Logic
SMS
Mohamoud Jibrell Robert Hockett Premal Shah Emeka Okafor
CIO, Ford Foundation Professor, Cornell Law School President, Kiva.org Director, TED Global
Melissa Lau Joy Sun
Associate, Revolution Ventures Director, Clinton Foundation
HIV/AIDS Initiative