Refugees in Kenya’s Kakuma camp have done data annotation, transcription, translation, web research and software work for technology clients. But basic digital gigs have become harder to find, and some newer assignments offer discretionary rewards rather than wages workers are guaranteed to receive. The Guardian’s October 8, 2026 report links the squeeze to several forces—including automation, changing client demand and the 2024 departure of the Remotasks platform from Kenya—not to AI alone.
What digital work refugees in Kakuma do
Digital work in Kakuma ranges from short, repetitive tasks to specialized technical jobs. Reported assignments include labeling data, transcribing audio, translating text and researching information online. Some refugees have also worked in software engineering and web development.
The work can matter to people facing limited local employment options, but it is not one uniform labor market. The Guardian’s account describes workers with different skills, work histories and access to clients; the prospects of a trained software engineer are not the same as those of someone seeking entry-level annotation or transcription tasks. The report also notes that refugees may face legal barriers to work in Kenya, but it does not establish the details of those barriers.
The International Trade Centre’s 2023 overview describes remote digital services as one possible livelihood route for refugees, while cautioning that remote work is not a panacea. Its discussion provides broader context, not evidence that any particular job is currently available: How refugees find work by selling digital services.
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Why entry-level opportunities and pay have become less predictable
Workers and organizations interviewed by The Guardian described fewer basic gigs and more client demand for specialized skills. The report says Remotasks left Kenya in 2024, removing one source of platform work. It also connects the contraction to automation and changing client demand, without establishing that any single factor explains every lost assignment.
International Trade Centre spokesperson Susanna Pak estimated an approximately 50% decline since 2022 in transcription, data-entry, translation and web-research jobs, according to The Guardian. This is an attributed estimate, not a figure independently confirmed by a primary dataset in the available reporting. It should not be read as a measurement of every kind of digital work or every worker’s income.
The Guardian reports that fewer than half of Kakuma households have income and that households with income earn less than $50 a month; the article does not identify a primary statistical publication for those figures. They describe the report’s account of the broader economic pressure, not a current wage benchmark for an individual worker.
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Some workers’ earnings were tied to a platform that is no longer operating in Kenya. Bahana Hydrogene of the Solidarity Initiative for Refugees recalled that some workers took home 500–1,000 Kenyan shillings (about $3–$6) a day before Remotasks closed in 2024. These are historical, reported daily earnings—not a current rate or a promise that workers earned that amount every day.
Wages and reward pools shift risk differently
A key distinction is whether a worker is owed a stated payment for completed work or may receive a share of a reward pool only after evaluation. A project described by The Guardian illustrates the difference: an AOP Connect hymns-research listing showed $9,000 in possible rewards, to be shared among an unknown number of contributors. That pool was not guaranteed wages for each participant.
The Guardian also describes a competition to create a 3D model of a potato. The winning five-person team received a reported 15,000 Kenyan shillings (about $116), split among its members. That is a contest prize, not evidence of a regular hourly or daily wage.
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With a guaranteed wage, the central questions are how much is owed and when it is paid. With a discretionary pool, workers also bear uncertainty about whether their work will qualify, how quality will be judged and how many others will share the available money. Mark Graham, a professor of internet geography at the Oxford Internet Institute, told The Guardian: “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,”
What AOP Connect says about its project
AOP Connect told The Guardian that participants are informed upfront about the reward structure and the nature of the copyright research. The company said compensation is based on quality, relevance and timeliness, and described the project as “not AI-enabled or used for AI-model training work”. That is the company’s stated position, not independent verification.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe Guardian’s report also describes concerns from participants and payment notices about how assessments affected compensation. The dispute therefore involves not only the size of a reward pool, but whether workers can understand the standards applied to their submissions and how those standards determine payment.
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Transparency and bargaining power matter alongside the rate
For workers, a headline amount does not answer the most important practical questions: Is payment guaranteed for completed work? Who decides whether the work meets the standard? Can contributors see why a submission was rejected or a reward reduced? Who commissioned the task, and how will the work be used?
Hydrogene, who established SIR’s digital-skills programs, told The Guardian: “They can’t get transparent answers from these companies.” His comment reflects the experiences described in the report; it should not be taken as a finding about every platform or client.
When workers are easily replaced and clients or platforms control the information about rates and assessments, individuals may have little leverage to challenge conditions. Milagros Miceli, principal investigator at Data Workers’ Inquiry and research lead at the Distributed AI Research Institute, told The Guardian: “Without data workers, tech companies do not have a product,” she said. “So there should be space for bargaining power.” Pamela Coke-Hamilton, the ITC’s executive director, said: “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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Training may open different paths, but it cannot guarantee work
The report describes organizations shifting training toward software engineering, digital marketing and e-commerce as basic task opportunities decline. SIR says it has trained more than 2,000 refugees and connected more than half with remote technology work, figures reported by The Guardian. Training and placement experience show that some routes exist; they do not mean every trainee can secure continuing work or stable income.
Moving into specialized work can be difficult for people whose schooling or employment histories have been disrupted. The Guardian also describes potential future roles in data cleaning and reviewing AI outputs, but these are possibilities, not confirmed jobs available to Kakuma workers now. Na’amal founder Lorraine Charles told The Guardian: “As AI became mainstream, some jobs started to dry up,”
The underlying story, including interviews with refugees and organizers and AOP Connect’s response, is reported by Claire Wilmot in The Guardian’s October 8, 2026 account.
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