Promoting Prosperity for Young Refugee Women in the Digital Economy
Young, urban refugee women and girls in Kenya face numerous obstacles in their quest to build a life of safety, dignity, and empowerment. Having fled conflict in their country of origin and sought safety in Kenya, they arrive to conditions of limited freedom of movement, extreme poverty, minimal income generation opportunities, high rates of sexual and gender-based violence, and broad-based social and economic marginalization. As a result, many young refugee women are pushed into exploitative situations, e.g. sex trade, unpaid domestic labor, or opt for marriage as a means of economic survival.
RefuSHE is on a mission to ensure that young, urban refugee women are no longer relegated to the margins of society and pushed into economic activities and situations that rob them of their safety, dignity, and power. In collaboration with Google.org, we are boosting the socio-economic potential of young refugee women by providing gender-responsive digital skills training and access to job opportunities in the growing freelance economy.
Our on-campus ICT Lab officially launched in 2021 and is a hub for local women looking to enter the digital marketplace and increase their earning potential from anywhere in the world. The ICT Lab trains participants in digital skills that are currently in demand in the gig economy. This includes audio and video transcription, image annotation and tagging, data analysis and management, digital marketing, social media management, and content writing. These skills prepare girls for careers as data analysts, technical and customer support specialists, transcribers, virtual assistants, content writers, digital marketers, and social media managers. Several graduates from the program have gone on to intern with DHL and enroll in continuing education programs at Ashesi University in Ghana.
The program curriculum takes six months to complete, and participants receive access to other services on our Nairobi-based campus like talk therapy, somatic healing, on-site daycare, trauma psychoeducation, nutritious meals, documentation assistance, and financial inclusion.
Over the next two years, RefuSHE will train 180 young refugee women in digital skills and link them to job opportunities in the growing online freelance economy.
We are so grateful for the support provided by our ICT Lab funding partners and collaborators, including CISCO, SlovakAid, The French Embassy in Kenya and Somalia, Team4Tech, Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls, Konexio, UNFCU Foundation, and Zakat Foundation for America.
RefuSHE is seeking new partners to join us in creating dignified livelihood opportunities for young refugee women in the digital economy so that they can increase and sustain their earning potential from anywhere in the world.
On December 8th, we held our first ICT graduation ceremony to celebrate the monumental achievements of our students. 52 graduates were presented with a certificate and start-up kit comprised of a laptop and internet bundles to support their growing careers in the online freelance economy. Congratulations to our first cohort!
