Work in the Developing World: Outsourcing to Nairobi Slums

Cross-linked with Bertelsmann Stiftung – Future Challenges’ site

In the Lead Article, entitled “Work in the Developing World,” I stressed the need for policy, partnership and cooperation across the private, non-profit, and public sectors to create jobs.

This applies especially to addressing youth unemployment in the developing world, where in the year 2005, Africa’s youth unemployment reached 21 percent, higher than the world average of 14.4 percent and second only to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s 25.6 percent. Furthermore, International Labor Organization (ILO) statistics estimate that young people make up approximately 36.9 percent of the total working-age population.

SAMSource, a U.S.-based non-profit organization is partnering with Techno Brain- a software development company incorporated in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with offices in 11 countries– to launch an initiative to create jobs in data entry, content moderation and other outsourcing jobs to hundreds of Kenyan youth from low-income households. This initiative, according to SAMSource Chief Operating Officer, Chelsea Cooper, aims to address rising unemployment rates among Kenya’s educated youth.

Lakshman Manickam, Director Operations and Human Resource at Techno Brain was quoted as saying, “The project we are in with SAMSource is about creating jobs to the youth from slums around Nairobi. We target those with IT skills that can help us do certain tasks for American companies.” These American employers include government agencies and corporations, including, but not limited to LinkedIn, Intuit, and the U.S. State Department. Additionally, local hospitals will be employing these skilled youth.

Essentially, SAMSource bids for contracts with employers in the U.S.’ private and public sectors, outsourcing data entry, content moderation and verification and other tech-related jobs to their offices in Nairobi, where youth from the city’s slums will be employed. Similarly, the Rockefeller Foundation has invested 35 million shillings (about 415, 500USD) into a project that aims to employ youth in informal settlements in Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana.

By funding the digitization of the Ear, Nose and Throat clinics at Kenyatta National Hospital’s four million records and awarding the contract to Techno Brain, the Rockefeller Foundation enabled the employment of 35 youth from Kibera and Mathare. As more hospitals and clinics adopt electronic medical records (EMR), there will be a greater need for skilled, computer literate workers.

As I said in the lead article, “it’s not enough for jobs to be created – they must be the right type of jobs, filled by the right type of workers.” Initiatives like these have great potential, as they match employers with contractors, matching jobs with employees. Beyond macroeconomic policy and labor market intervention, there needs to be multi- and cross-sector cooperation, as economic growth is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for lowering unemployment rates among African youth.

“Cash Back:” Remittances from the African Diaspora

[Cross-linked at Bertelsmann Stiftung - Future Challenges Organization's blog]

The African diaspora is comprised of over 30 million emigrants from Africa‘s 54 nations. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) estimates that each year the African diaspora contributes about 40 billion USD in the form of remittances to their families and communities. Between 1960 and 2003, the continent of Africa received over 600 billion USD in aid, but diaspora remittances were double that sum in the same period.

From a macroeconomic standpoint, diaspora remittances account for a significant percentage of some African nations‘ gross domestic products (GDPs). For example, in 2006, remittances to Uganda totaled 845 million USD or 9.3 percent of the GDP. Between 2006 and 2010, remittances from Ugandans living abroad increased by a staggering 235% to about 2 billion USD. This comprises about 4.76 percent of Uganda‘s current GDP, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data. In 2010, Lesotho was the largest recipient of remittances in terms of GDP, with money transfers accounting for 28.5 percent of GDP. Click here for this working paper on “Determinants and Macroeconomic Impact ofRemittances in Sub-Saharan Africa” which provides more useful information.

While the cost of sending money back home has decreased due to increased competition and new technologies, it still remains relatively high.

Abolitionism Alone Won’t End Slavery & Human Trafficking

So I saw this tweet and it set off a series of tweets about the fallacy of using the failure of police forces to enforce anti-trafficking laws to dispute the prevalence or significance of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a crime that is hard to quantify on a global & national scale b/c of the sheer lack of awareness/sensitivity.

Let’s say that City X is a known hub for human trafficking- specifically labor trafficking or the trafficking of minors into the sex trade. In a year, the police force only makes 637 arrests pertaining to trafficking.  What went wrong here? Local police forces are likely not equipped to identify and address the crime of trafficking. This can be attributed to a lack of political will, which hinders the enforcement of the anti-trafficking laws. That fact is, the number of arrests (or even the number of convictions or the severity of the punishments) does NOT correlate to the prevalence of the crime.

The Feminization of Migration and the Fight Against HIV

[crossposted at Future Challenges Organization's blog]

Is there a direct relationship between the feminization of migration and HIV prevalence on the African continent? The answer is more complicated than it appears. While the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the aftershocks of regional conflict have had disproportionate impacts on African women, the assumption that HIV/AIDS and conflict/displacement are somehow related is spurious. Yes, migration in its myriad forms- primarily labor migration and forced migration- does add risk factors that contribute to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, but we cannot say that it is a direct relationship. Women who migrate for work face vulnerabilities (risk factors including separation from partners, family, loss of support base) that increase their chances of being infected with HIV.

Areas where there are disruptions in the social order tend to have higher HIV rates. This includes war zones, impoverished and disenfranchised outer-city slums. There are various forms of migration: examples include forced migration due to regional conflict or land grabs or labor migration in response to high regional unemployment. It is important to note that in the last fifteen years, we have seen the feminization of migration on a global scale. A majority of refugees and internally displaced people are women and their children, and an increasing percentage of migrant laborers are women. A growing number of rural-to-urban migrantsare women in both Asia and Africa. Globally, women represent about 50 percent of the migrants.

Areas with low levels of education, high unemployment tend to have high rates of circular labor migration. In South Africa, gendered migration patterns were largely due to the several factors. First, a decline in patriarchal control, plus the end of Apartheid afforded women greater mobility. Prior to the fall of the Apartheid government, Influx Control Acts specifically granted economically-productive (Black) African men the right to migrate for work, while limiting their female counterparts‘ mobility.

In 1995, 38% of South African women ages 15-65 were actively looking for work. In 1999, that figure was 95%. This trend South African women entering the migrant labor force occured in the context of decreasing marital rates and income insecurity. Taking all of these factors into account, there is a trend of women increasingly constituting temporary, migrant labor populations. Migration is essential to economic well-being- especially for women.

In West Africa, migration patterns have been a mainstay of the regional economic bloc, dating back to the trans-Saharan trade of the 8th century. This includes North-South migration within Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria and the longer distance migration between the northern Sahelian countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad) and the coastal countries to the south. Historically, migrant populations have been mostly male, but recently, women have comprised significant number.

High HIV Prevalence Among Migrant Women:

There is a circular relationship between HIV and population mobility.  Migrants face separation from their partners and families, also separation from the social mores that might govern their behavior- particularly when they face loneliness and isolation in communities that are not theirs. Additionally, migrants‘ vulnerability to exploitation is exacerbated by a loss of localized social support systems, linguistic differences and power imbalances between job seeker and employer. For migrant women, especially refugees and internally displaced persons, sexual violence is a risk factor. For all migrants, lack of access to healthcare is a major factor in heightened prevalences of HIV among migrant populations.

Labor Migration

In South Africa and Northern Tanzania, migrant women have higher prevalences of HIV than their non-migrant counterparts. This is due, in part, to the fact that the sex trade serves as a complementary work sector to local mining industries. In the mining sector, workers often live away from their spouses, living in company-owned housing. For this reason, among others, there is a demand for a localized sex industry. Within the sex trade, young girls often recruit their peers, citing opportunity and income. However, for the less-fortunate, sex trafficking is their entry into sex work. I discuss the overlap between human trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Africa in this article.

Forced Migration

A 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report questions the commonly-held belief that there is  direct relationship between conflict, forced migration and wartime rape and increased HIV prevalence among internally-displaced persons and refugees. The data, culled from seven countries/regions affected by conflict [Democratic Republic of the Congo, Southern Sudan, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, Burundi, and Sierra Leone] revealed that there was no increase in prevalence of HIV infection during periods of conflict. However, it is important to note that the sample population was primarily refugee and IDP women and children who sought and received antenatal care.

There is no substantive evidence that refugees exacerbate the HIV epidemic in their host communities. With the exception of the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, HIV prevalence is higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Most refugees on the African continent are fleeing rural areas- which typically have lower HIV prevalence- affected by conflict. This may explain why refugees generally have a lower HIV prevalence than that of their host communities. In Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, HIV prevalence in urban areas  affected by conflict had similar rates to urban areas unaffected by conflict. In the rural areas of these countries, the prevalence of HIV infections remained relatively low and stable. Furthermore, there is no evidence that refugees exacerbate the HIV epidemic in their host communities.

One of the challenges here is to broaden the sample population beyond the minority of refugees who had access to medical care. While the regions of origin for most refugees and IDPs are rural areas are typically characterized by low HIV prevalence, we cannot assume the same for future conflicts. Unchallenged assumptions about trends in migration, pandemics and regional conflict will only endanger the most vulnerable among us.

Securing the Rights and Protections of Africa’s Sex Workers

[Crosslinked at Future Challenges Organization's blog]

Sex work is a business that requires only one‘s bodily capital. The economics of scarcity are often a factor in making sex work a viable and lucrative option for women and men.  Because sex work is illegal in 37 African nations, sex workers are often criminalized and subjected to harassment at the hands of policemen and government officials. In addition to criminalization, the migration that often accompanies sex work makes it harder to gather viable statistics on how many sex workers there are within one nation, or even track their transnational movement. In Southern and East Africa, sex work often occurs at the borders where bureaucratic processes leave truck drivers waiting for permission to enter the country. The wait can last from hours to days. Also, the sex trade is a complementary industry to mining industry, where mine workers are sometimes live away from their spouses and families in compounds.

Challenges include mobility, criminalization, language differences, cultural norms and entrenched traditions. However, this has not stopped sex workers across Africa from organizing collectively to raise awareness and campaign for an end to violence against sex workers.The African Sex Workers Alliance  (ASWA) is working in Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa and Kenya to decriminalize sex work and expand the rights of sex workers. In Kenya, the African Sex Workers Alliance marked December 17th, 2010 as the first International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. In Abuja, Nigeria, sex workers demonstrated for their rights and protections on March 3rd, which is International Sex Worker Rights Day.

In South Africa, where prostitution has been illegal since 1957, sex workers report regular harassment by the police. The Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT) is following up on all cases alleging harassment or wrongful arrest by the police. The Sisonke Sex Worker Movement, based in Johannesburg, had a large number of calls from sex workers who were arrested or assaulted by South African police following the March 3rd demonstration for the International Sex Worker Rights Day. In Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mussina, South African sex workers took to the streets and demonstrated with signs and red umbrellas. However, after the protests, some sex workers faced harassment from the police. Some reports included demands for bribes in the form of sexual favors or money in order to avoid arrest. Kyomya Macklean, South Africa‘s regional coordinator for the African Sex Worker Alliance, stated:

“People who brutalize sex workers do so with the hope that sex workers will feel too afraid to come out and report these events. Can these police officers not see that these women have feelings and that they were really scared or do they simply see sex workers as an object? When you kicked her do you not have any sense of remorse and concern for the victim or is this something that brings you enjoyment, a malicious and tic violence that comes from acting as a law unto yourself and feeling power, control and pleasure in hurting the other and reducing them to feeling helpless? But I want you to know, we will not be turned into objects and we will have the courage to be powerful and seek justice and demand we are treat with respect. You will not take taking away and undermine our capacity to experience ourselves in powerful and independent women.”

HIV/AIDS and Access to Healthcare

The HIV prevalance among sex workers in some nations in sub-Saharan Africa are up to 20 times higher than that of the general population. In Southern and East Africa, HIV prevalence in the general population is much higher than that in West Africa. However, up to a third of West African sex workers are living with HIV or AIDS. In Ghana, female sex workers, their clients and the sexual partners of those clients made up 33 percent of new reported HIV infections in 2009. This figure was 10 percent in Uganda, and 14 percent in Kenya.

The criminalization of homosexuality (it‘s a capital crime in Mauritania, Sudan and the Central African Republic) makes it difficult to find reliable statistics on HIV prevalence among male and transgender sex workers. One study in Mombasa, Kenya found that less than half of male sex workers interviewed consistently used condoms with their male clients. Condom usage among male sex workers was similarly low with female clients.

In Kenya, there is a condom shortage. The Kenyan government stopped importing condoms produced in China because they were of poor quality. The US‘ Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief has sent 45 million to Kenya. According to Peter Cherutich, the Deputy Director of Kenya‘s National AIDS Control Programme, the government signed a long-term agreement with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) to supply 180 million condoms in May. Additionally, female condoms, while convenient and effective in preventing pregnancy, are cost-prohibitive.

It is clear that accessible, good-quality healthcare is needed- especially for sex workers who have contracted sexually transmitted infections, which are co-factors for contracting HIV and for sex workers who are living with HIV/AIDS. This care extends beyond services like HIV counseling, testing, and therapy. Effective healthcare for stigmatized and criminalized populations like sex workers hinge heavily on the sensitivity of the personnel in the medical care center. Staff attitudes are instrumental to making patients feel as though they can ask for much-needed services without judgment. Additionally, waiting times, language barriers and environments that are not child-friendly can be impediments to vital healthcare.

HARM REDUCTION

Sex work is very risky on several fronts. Legally, sex work and sex workers are criminalized. Socially, attitudes toward sex work tend to excuse violence and abuse levied against sex workers. Physically, there is a risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and diseases like Hepatitis A, B, Syphilis and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). In addition, the overlap between drug use and sex work increases the likelihood of spreading HIV through injection-drug use infection.

Harm reduction methodologies include peer education, training in condom-use negotiating skills, safety training for street-based sex workers and community-based child protection networks. Harm reduction is just what the name implies- sensitive, responsive, non-judgmental approaches to education, empowerment and equipping within marginalized or stigmatized populations- in this case, sex workers.  The emphasis on education, empowerment and equipping is significant because it recognizes sex workers are individuals capable of making choices in their best interest with the information that is available to them. Rather than positioning them as victims, harm reduction approaches tend to focus on whole individuals with particular needs.

Among Chadian sex workers, peer-to-peer education and counseling has proven to be the most cost-effective form of outreach and empowerment. It is also one of the most sustainable approaches, because as veteran sex workers counsel less-experienced sex workers

Article: The Regional Economic Impact of Côte D’Ivoire’s Conflict

[Crosslinked at Future Challenges Organization's blog]

Seasonal migrant laborers from Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali face a prospect of unemployment as a result of the upheaval caused by the political conflict between incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and contested President Allasane Outtara. The conflict in Côte D‘Ivoire has displaced an estimated one million Ivorians. This is the aftermath of the November 28th election. There are reports of xenophobic attacks on migrant workers from these countries by Pro-Gbagbo militia forces (the self-titled ‚Young Patriots‘). Some two million Malians live in Côte D‘Ivoire and they live in increasingly dangerous conditions even as the United Nation‘s and France‘s military intervention draws the conflict to an end. The fabric of Ivorian society has been undeniably torn – as evidenced by reports of mass graves in Duékoué, in western Côte D‘Ivoire and the displacement of a million or more Ivorians.

Furthermore, the conflict has already proven a hindrance to Côte D‘Ivoire‘s argicultural exports. An estimated68 percent of Ivorian workers are in the agriculture industry. The Ivorian economy is heavily dependent on the export and sale of agricultural products including coffee, cocoa beans, bananas, palm kernels, corn, rice, manioc (tapioca), sweet potatoes, sugar, cotton, rubber and timber. Cocoa and coffee alone account for forty percent of Côte D‘Ivoire‘s gross domestic product (GDP).

Article: What Do Côte D’Ivoire’s Displaced Populations Face?

[Cross-linked at Future Challenges Organization]

Macrotrends: [Migration + Pandemics + Globalization + Security & Anti-Terror Policy]

According to the United Nations, the conflict in Côte D‘Ivoire has displaced an estimated one million Ivorians. This is the aftermath of the November 28th election. Allasane Ouatarra is recognized by both the United Nations and the African Union as the winner, but the incumbent President, Laurent Gbagbo refuses to cede power, alleging voter fraud. The climate has devolved into one of violence. On 3 March, 2011, six women were shot by the Ivorian government‘s forces while peacefully participating in an all-women protest against Gbagbo‘s continued rule. On 17 March, 2011, pro-Gbagbo forces fired mortars into a market in the Abobo region of Abidjan, killing between twenty-five and thirty, injuring at least sixty. Residents in Abidjan‘s shantytowns live in fear of being harassed by militias claiming to be looking for Pro-Outtara „rebels.“

The events in Abidjan are a microcosm of the conflict in the country as a whole. Côte D‘Ivoire is flanked by Ghana to the east and Liberia to the west. The fighting has displaced an estimated 4 percent of the nation‘s population- about 100,000 of whom are fleeing westward to Liberia. There are also significant, untold numbers of Ivorian refugees fleeing eastward across the Ivorian-Ghanaian border. Estimates from the Ghana Refugee Board suggest that, as of early March, about 2,000 Ivorian refugees have fled to Ghana.

Liberia is recovering from a 14-year civil war that ended in 2003. Liberian orphans and child soldiers still remain a vulnerable group.

Idea: New Governance & Counter-Narcotics in West Africa

Crosslinked from Future Challenges Organization’s blog

The rise of tricontinental drug trafficking between North America, Africa and Europe is directly tied to increased demand for drugs on the European continent. The insufficiency of INTERPOL, the UN‘s Office on Drugs and Crime and other organizations‘ responses to the influx of drug trafficking in West Africa suggests that the political will of the nations of West Africa is necessary. The fact is that drug trafficking is a matter of national security; the business of drug trafficking creates the pathways for illegal weapons dealing and even trafficking in persons. The “Economic Community of West African States” (ECOWAS) is currently well-positioned to be an acting body in the fight against drug trafficking in West Africa.Cooperation between ECOWAS‘ fifteen member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte D‘Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinee, Guinee Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo) can address the national security weaknesses exposed by drug traffickers‘ activities: police/military vulnerability to corruption (exacerbated by gross socioeconomic inequalities) and high unemployment.  For example, the “Inter Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa” (GIABA), under the umbrella of ECOWAS, can possibly expand its operations to cover drug trafficking, as it already combats weapons trafficking and the financing of terrorist organizations in West Africa.  Even if West African nations don‘t have the resources for effective counternarcotics operations on the individual level, it is possible that collectively, the resources can be better used.

Addressing Human Trafficking on the Continent of Africa

[Cross-Posted at Future Challenges]

Scan the newspaper headlines and you might see the words „white slavery“ or „human trafficking.“  Neither of these phrases conveys the full injustice that is trafficking in persons.   Trafficking refers to the movement of human beings across borders- state, country and continental.  This movement will usually be from a country of origin to a country of destination.  There are links between emigration/immigration and human trafficking- especially where smugglers and traffickers (associated w/ organized crime) overlap. The fact is that there are an estimated 27 million enslaved people on this planet- more than at any point in history.  This is an estimate, as human trafficking is the 3rd largest underground industry- very difficult to track.

In addition to this, the price of a slave is at a historical low- the global average is about $90.  The price of a human being has collapsed at the point when the number of slaves reached historical heights. 

Human Trafficking: An Overview

There are an estimated 27 million slaves today.  There are more slaves at this moment than at any point in history.  In addition to this, the average price of a slave today is about $90 USD, when the historical average is about $40,000 USD.  The price of a human being has collapsed at the point when the number of slaves reaches historical heights.  The United States spends an average of $6000 a second on it‘s military industrial complex, a rate at which it could free every slave in about 4.5 days.  Of course, the purchase of every enslaved person‘s freedom only reifies the system that enslaved them, increasing their market value, as the purchase is a sign of increased demand.  On an ethical level, the purchase of enslaved persons‘ freedom does nothing to combat the ideologies that make slavery permissible and normalized.

What is Trafficking in Persons?

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth [above] shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth [above] have been used.

Of course, this definition does not encompass the full range of exploitation, which includes but is not limited to:

• illegal (transnational) adoption
• sexual exploitation
• coerced labour
• child brides
• recruitment of children into armed conflict
• forced begging
• removal of organs

Contributing factors to the vulnerability of victims of trafficking in persons include: