Fight Poverty in a Refugee Camp With Your iPhone

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-10-13 12:01:00 UTC
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Sustainable outsourcers Samasource, in conjunction with Crowdflower, have just launched Give Work, a new iPhone application that allows users to complete micro-tasks alongside refugees in Kenya, in the process creating a new source of income and opportunity.

The way it works is pretty simple. Crowdflower provides a set of basic tasks - thinks like checking websites for quality assurance - that can be completed with just a little training. Samasource has been and is currently training refugees in Dabaab, Kenya to complete the tasks, from which they will get basic income that they can translate into new opportunities.

When a user in the states downloads the application, they complete the same task and the money they earn is automatically donated to the refugee training programs. What's more, the responses and way that people complete tasks here helps Samasource learn how best to improve the training.

I think it's an awesome way for people to be involved with international development. One of the things that I think is great is that the tasks being served are actually valuable to businesses who are willing to pay for them to be completed. This makes the whole process much more viable as a long term strategy to build around. I also think that Samasource is on the right track by trying to add some game mechanics to the system by assigning people different points.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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