Na’amal aims to be a thought leader in the space of digital livelihoods. We continually conduct and contribute to research that deepens understanding of remote work for refugees and other underrepresented communities — and that helps change the narrative for them. Our reports and articles are collected here.
A World Bank evaluation of Na’amal’s Opportunities Without Borders programme with 2,000 refugees and host-community members in East Africa. Training improved platform literacy, but payments, identity checks, and first-job barriers still block the path from learning to earning.
A systematic review of the programmes that carry refugees from digital skills training through to paid employment, and of what the published evidence says about them.
Co-authored by Na’amal’s Lorraine Charles with Dr Shuting Xia, Julieta Guzmán and Sonia Cătinean, this joint report examines the current landscape of digital livelihoods for refugees and other displaced people: the barriers they face, the pathways into digital work, and the practices that help more people build decent careers in the digital economy.
A practical handbook for organisations designing and running digital livelihood programmes with displaced communities.
A step-by-step guide through the recruitment and hiring journey, from strategic planning to implementation, produced with MIT Emerging Talent and Karam Foundation.
Peer-reviewed research asking why so much is invested in TVET to close the employment gap when many Syrian refugees show little interest in that training — and what remote work offers instead. Free to read.
A review of the labour market opportunities created by digital transformation, identifying the gaps and the avenues for future research.
A study of refugee livelihoods in the digital economy and what decent work means there. Start at page 83 for the section on remote work readiness.
A working paper on the livelihood options open to Syrian refugees in the region, and the policy choices that shape them.
Why the relationships behind a hire matter more than the platform it happens on, and what that means for programmes that treat technology as the answer.
On the infrastructure — payments, contracts, connectivity, trust — that has to exist before digital work becomes a realistic livelihood.
Kara, Charles, Gonzales and Ucak on connecting employer demand with displaced talent in a way that keeps the work dignified.
Charles and Cook set out what it would take for the digital economy to admit displaced workers at scale.
How remote work sits outside Jordan’s work permit regime, and why that makes digital skills training worth pursuing.
Lorraine Charles on remote work as a route past the legal and geographic barriers that keep refugees out of formal employment.
How employers hiring remotely can open roles to displaced talent, and what has to be true of a job for that to work in practice.
The argument that started this work, published before remote work became ordinary.
Nothing matches that search yet.
We collaborate with universities, humanitarian organisations and employers on evidence that widens access to dignified digital work. We would like to hear from you.