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Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp have done data annotation, transcription, translation and web research for technology projects, alongside more specialized work such as software development. But workers and advocates told The Guardian that basic gigs have become scarcer, rates less predictable and some project payments dependent on discretionary rewards rather than guaranteed wages. The report describes several pressures—including automation, shifting client demand and the 2024 exit of Remotasks from Kenya—not a single cause for every lost opportunity.
What digital work have refugees in Kakuma been doing?
Digital work in Kakuma has ranged from short, task-based assignments to higher-skill remote jobs. The Guardian’s October 8, 2026 report draws on interviews with more than two dozen refugees, organizers and experts, as well as researcher documents and manuals.
- Basic digital tasks: data annotation, transcription, translation and web research.
- More specialized work: software engineering, web development, digital marketing and e-commerce.
The opportunities are not interchangeable. Microwork can be accessible without a conventional career history, while specialized roles demand skills and experience that may be difficult to build amid disrupted schooling and work. The report describes a move toward more demand for specialized skills as basic gigs have diminished.
Solidarity Initiative for Refugees (SIR) said it had trained more than 2,000 refugees, with more than half connected to remote technology work, according to The Guardian. That historical reach does not establish how many people currently have regular work or dependable income.
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Why are workers reporting fewer gigs and lower, less predictable pay?
The Guardian reports that workers and organizations have seen fewer basic online tasks, while clients increasingly seek specialized skills. It identifies the 2024 departure of Remotasks from Kenya, automation and changing client demand as contributing factors. Lorraine Charles, founder of Na’amal, said: “As AI became mainstream, some jobs started to dry up,” The Guardian reports. The account does not establish that AI alone caused the decline.
International Trade Centre spokesperson Susanna Pak estimated an approximately 50% decline since 2022 in transcription, data-entry, translation and web-research jobs, as reported by The Guardian. This is an attributed estimate; the underlying ITC dataset or publication was not available in the material supporting that report, so the figure should not be read as an independently confirmed count.
Some workers recalled earning 500–1,000 Kenyan shillings (about $3–$6) per day before Remotasks closed in 2024, according to SIR’s Bahana Hydrogene. Those are historical daily take-home earnings reported by The Guardian, not a current wage benchmark. The article also says fewer than half of Kakuma households have income and that households with income earn less than $50 a month; it does not identify a primary statistical publication for those figures.
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How can a reward pool differ from a wage?
A wage is payment owed under the agreed terms for work completed. A discretionary reward pool, by contrast, may be divided among contributors based on evaluation, with no guaranteed amount for each person. That difference affects who carries the risk when workers invest time but cannot predict what they will receive.
The Guardian describes an AOP Connect hymns-research listing that advertised a possible $9,000 pool in rewards, to be shared among an unknown number of contributors. The report says this was not guaranteed wages. It also describes a separate 3D potato-modeling competition whose winning five-person team shared a reported pool of 15,000 Kenyan shillings (about $116).
Workers raised concerns about opaque assessments and unclear payment notices. Hydrogene told The Guardian: “They can’t get transparent answers from these companies.” Oxford Internet Institute professor Mark Graham said: “The language of ‘rewards’ instead of wages shifts risk entirely on to workers, who invest their time and expertise without any guarantee of fair compensation,” as quoted in the report.
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AOP Connect’s response
AOP Connect told The Guardian that it communicates the reward structure and the nature of the copyright research upfront, and that payments depend on quality, relevance and timeliness. It also said its platform is “not AI-enabled or used for AI-model training work”. These are the company’s statements; they do not independently resolve workers’ concerns about how individual assessments affect payment.
What makes these jobs difficult to evaluate or challenge?
For a worker deciding whether to accept a project, the headline amount alone may not reveal the likely return. Important terms include whether a payment is guaranteed, how many people share a pool, what criteria determine rewards and whether those criteria can be appealed. The Guardian’s reporting describes uncertainty around assessment and payment notices, while AOP Connect says it discloses its structure and evaluates work on specified criteria.
Client identity and intended use also matter. Work mediated through a platform can leave contributors with less visibility into who commissioned it or how the result will be used. The report includes a project involving hymns and copyright research, and AOP Connect’s response says participants are told the project’s nature upfront. Workers’ accounts of opacity should be understood as reported experiences, not as proof that every project or platform operates the same way.
Some assignments can involve distressing material, adding a non-financial cost to work. Workers’ ability to negotiate is also shaped by the risk that a client will choose someone willing to accept less. Data Workers’ Inquiry principal investigator Milagros Miceli said: “Without data workers, tech companies do not have a product,” she said. “So there should be space for bargaining power.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What other routes into digital work are being explored?
The Guardian describes training efforts that extend beyond microwork into software engineering, digital marketing and e-commerce. These routes may open access to more specialized work, but training is not a guarantee of a job: advanced roles can require sustained learning, experience and a market connection. The article also points to possible future work in data cleaning and reviewing AI outputs, without establishing how many such roles will become available.
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThe International Trade Centre’s 2023 discussion of refugee livelihoods describes digital services as a potential route to work while cautioning that remote work is not a panacea. Its overview offers institutional context, not evidence that a particular job is currently available in Kakuma. See How refugees find work by selling digital services.
Training is only one part of the challenge. Reliable access to clients, understandable work terms and a way to contest decisions also shape whether online work can provide a livelihood. The Guardian reports legal barriers to work in Kenya but does not provide a detailed legal analysis, so the scope of those barriers should not be inferred from this account.
What does the decline mean for workers and the tech companies that rely on them?
For refugees in Kakuma, the contraction means that having digital skills does not necessarily translate into steady work or a predictable income. Workers and advocates describe a market where basic assignments have become harder to find, while the shift to specialized work excludes people who cannot readily acquire advanced skills or compete for those roles.
The pressure is not only about the number of tasks. When payment depends on an opaque assessment or a reward pool, contributors can bear the cost of uncertainty even when their labor supports a technology project. ITC executive director Pamela Coke-Hamilton told The Guardian: “We are at a tipping point,” she said. “AI has taken people by surprise with its speed and impact, and we need to ask what labor organizing looks like now. We need guardrails to prevent mass exploitation.”
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