There are an estimated 82 million refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people in the world. In Kenya, nearly 80,000 of them are hosted in Nairobi, half of whom are women. These exiled women live in difficult conditions. They have been victims of exploitation and sexual and gender-based violence and are very often cut off from their families and the professional world. Their employment rate is less than 50% and very few of them have access to computers and lack digital skills. As a result, very few of them apply for jobs in the digital sector, even though the needs of companies are increasing. The digital and technology sector is growing in the country and is widely promoted by the government to reduce unemployment. Digital technology represents a significant opportunity for refugee women, with the creation of 149 million jobs by 2025. The online freelance market is particularly concerned with a 50% increase in its offers.
It is in this context that the organization Konexio and its local partner RefuSHE have launched a training program in digital skills and freelancing for refugee women in Kenya to enable them to benefit from the opportunities that the market offers. The program has already been successfully piloted in Malawi with 60 women. They all increased their income after the training.
Created in 2016, Konexio is an non-profit and training organization with the objective of fighting against the digital exclusion of disadvantaged people and fostering a world where everyone is included in the digitalization of society. Their main mission is to train the most vulnerable to digital skills – from the most basic to the most advanced – in order to facilitate their socio-professional integration.
