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Module 01
Device literacy & content creation
Trainees move from basic smartphone navigation to producing polished graphics, short videos, and written content — the raw materials of any digital income. Canva, CapCut, and Google tools are covered.
← Humanitarian Initiatives
AgeWatch Futures · SDG 4 · SDG 8 · SDG 10 · Active across Kenya since 2016
Digital skills that travel beyond the camp fence.
Cohorts equip refugee youth and women with mobile freelancing, graphics, digital marketing, and online safety — livelihoods that do not depend on ration lines alone. Part of AgeWatch Africa's commitment to self-reliance and economic empowerment across Kenya.
A programme story · Kakuma Refugee Camp
What a settlement looks like when it learns to sell.
Before AgeWatch Futures arrived in Kakuma, digital work was something that happened in Nairobi — not here. Smartphones existed. The internet existed. But the bridge between a phone in a pocket and an income on a screen did not. The first cohort ran in a borrowed room with forty chairs. People came because someone they trusted told them to. They stayed because, for the first time, a programme assumed they had a future worth training for.
Eight weeks later, something shifted at the market. Traders began asking who made their flyers. Remote platforms started showing Kakuma addresses. Graduates began passing the skills to the next wave — not because they were paid to, but because what they had learned felt too valuable to keep to themselves. That is the pattern AgeWatch Futures has repeated across every cohort since: not a handout, but a transfer of capability — from a programme to a community, from a community to itself.
The settlement did not change. But what we believed was possible inside it did.
What trainees learn
A complete livelihood toolkit.
Every module is built for smartphone delivery, so trainees learn on the device they already carry. Sessions are practical, portfolio-oriented, and directly linked to paid work opportunities.
Module 02
Freelancing & remote client work
How to build a compelling profile on Upwork, Fiverr, and local platforms; how to write proposals, price services, deliver on time, and collect payment safely — covering every step from first gig to repeat client.
Module 03
Digital marketing & cyber safety
Social media marketing for small enterprises, WhatsApp business strategies for local traders — combined with cyber-safety grounding so trainees protect their earnings, identity, and privacy online.
Financial literacy online
A dedicated session covers mobile money management, safe withdrawal methods, scam recognition, and how to save and reinvest digital earnings — the skills that turn a first gig into a sustainable income.
How it works
From intake to first paid gig in nine weeks.
Open intake
Any refugee or host-community resident aged 16–35 in our Kenyan programme counties can apply. Selection prioritises those with least prior access to digital tools — the programme is designed for beginners, not the already-connected.
Nine weeks of live sessions
Three sessions per week — two hours each — delivered in the settlement learning centre and over WhatsApp for participants who miss a session due to household duties.
Portfolio build
By week six, every trainee has a live online profile, three portfolio samples, and at least one completed practice brief reviewed by the facilitator.
First client, first payment
Facilitators introduce trainees to vetted starter clients and help them land their first paid job during the final weeks — so graduation day comes with proof that this works.
Why digital skills change everything
A skill that travels anywhere there is a signal.
Smartphone-only delivery
Global client access
No prior experience needed
Earn in hard currency
Your gift at work
Fund the skill that outlasts any camp.
Your donation covers data bundles, facilitator time, device access hours, and the first-client matching support that turns trainees into earners.
$50
One month of data bundles and device-access hours for a trainee with no smartphone of their own.
$150
One full cohort seat — nine weeks of training, portfolio support, and first-client matching for one young person.
$500
Sponsor an entire cohort session: facilitator fee, materials, data, and first-gig support for ten trainees.
Questions
What people ask before joining.
Does a trainee need their own smartphone?
Not necessarily. We have shared devices at the learning centre for in-session use. Donor support helps us provide data bundles so trainees can continue practising on borrowed or shared phones between sessions.
What language are sessions delivered in?
Sessions are delivered primarily in Swahili and English, with peer-to-peer translation in Arabic, French, and Dinka where group composition requires it. No formal education level is required for enrolment.
Can women join — and are there spaces designed for them?
Yes. We actively recruit women and maintain a minimum 50% female enrolment target per cohort. A dedicated women's safety module covers digital harassment, privacy, and safe online work — because the internet is not equally safe for everyone.
What happens after graduation?
Graduates join a WhatsApp alumni network, receive ongoing mentorship for three months, and are referred to our VSLA savings circles if they want to reinvest their first earnings and access small credit for expansion.
Explore more
Other ways we build futures.
Give a young person a skill that travels with them.
Whether they stay in Kenya's settlements or resettle across the world, the digital skills they learn here will work wherever a signal reaches. Fund the next cohort today.
