Article
We Keep Training Refugees. But Where Are the Jobs?
2026-09-16 · By Lorraine Charles, Executive Director/Founder, Na’amal
Digital skills training can help refugees prepare for online work, but training alone does not guarantee employment. Drawing on research from Na’amal and the World Bank, this article explores the “conversion gap” between skills and sustained income, highlighting the importance of first-job opportunities, professional networks, employer partnerships and trusted intermediaries in refugee employment.
In the refugee livelihoods sector, we have invested heavily in digital skills training. Refugees are learning software development, data analysis, digital marketing, freelancing and other skills intended to connect them to a global labour market.
This investment matters. But there is an uncomfortable question we need to ask: where are the jobs?
At Na’amal, our research increasingly points to a gap between becoming ready for digital work and actually securing it.
One example is the 2026 World Bank report Opportunities Without Borders?, conducted by Na’amal. The randomised controlled trial, involving 2,000 refugees and host community members, found that although participants improved their understanding of online labour platforms and became more oriented towards freelancing, these gains did not translate into statistically significant increases in job applications, online work, hours worked or earnings. The report identifies this as a persistent “conversion gap” between improved capability and actual employment.
The implication is clear: training can build readiness, but on its own, it is not enough to move people into sustained income.
The First Job Can Determine What Happens Next
The research highlights another important barrier: securing the first contract. Participants who were unable to obtain an initial piece of work struggled to build the ratings, reputation and feedback signals that online platforms use to allocate future opportunities. Many therefore remained stuck at the point of market entry despite having improved their knowledge and readiness.
For some, that frustration was very tangible. In our forthcoming Kenya research, one woman in Nairobi described sending proposals for months without receiving a single response. The problem was not simply knowing how to apply. It was getting across the threshold into a first opportunity.
One year after the World Bank programme, participants’ trajectories had diverged. These differences were not primarily explained by motivation or skills, but by access to connectivity, financial tools, professional networks and sustained support.
This is why the challenge is not simply one of training. It is whether the wider employment pathway works.
Digital Work Is Online. Access to It Is Still Personal.
Our forthcoming research on digital livelihoods among refugees in Kenya helps explain part of this gap. Based on a survey of 345 digitally skilled refugees, alongside focus group discussions and key informant interviews, the study finds that digital labour platforms are not as frictionless as they are often assumed to be.
Refugees may search for opportunities online, but the opportunities that actually lead to work are often mediated through people and organisations: mentors, peers, training providers and refugee-led organisations that share opportunities, make introductions and create trust. This finding builds on an argument we previously articulated in LSE Inequalities: “it is not digital platforms that hire refugees; it is people.”
The forthcoming Kenya research also shows a clear difference between how people search for work and what helps them access it. Those without digital-work experience relied more heavily on platforms alone, while experienced digital workers used more diversified strategies, including social media, professional communities and personal networks.
Personal and professional networks can therefore be crucial in bridging job seekers and clients, providing the credibility, trust and connections that new workers often lack.
Business Has a Critical Role in Closing the Gap
The 2026 Jobtech for Refugees Summit, convened by Na’amal and the Jobtech Alliance, reached a similar conclusion. Training providers, employers, platforms, funders, refugee-led organisations and intermediaries each control part of the journey from skills to income, but no single actor controls the whole pathway. Too often, the result is activity without outcomes: courses are delivered, certificates are awarded and employers express interest, while too few people reach sustained work.
Businesses can help close this gap by creating paid internships, apprenticeships and project-based work; providing real assignments through which people can build portfolios and references; using skills-based assessments rather than relying only on previous employment; opening supplier and contracting opportunities; and working with intermediaries that can identify talent and support workers through their first work opportunities.
Providing a first paid opportunity does more than generate income. It gives a worker the portfolio, reference, work history and credibility that can unlock subsequent opportunities.
The World Bank report explicitly recommends structured first-job pathways, including project placements, intermediary models and agency-led work, to help participants build the credibility needed to transition into sustained income.
For businesses, this is an opportunity to shift the conversation toward creating real pathways into work.
We should continue investing in skills. But if employment is the objective, we also need to invest in what happens afterwards: professional networks, first-work opportunities, employer relationships, trusted intermediaries and the practical infrastructure that converts readiness into income.
The question is no longer only how many refugees we can train. It is how many can turn those skills into sustained work.
References
World Bank (2026). Opportunities Without Borders? The Impact of Access to Remote Work for Refugees.
Lorraine Charles, Shuting Xia, Emma Smith, Alice Danon and Layane Alhorr. World Bank Social Policy & Labor Discussion Paper No. 2628. https://documents.worldbank.org/pt/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099726005282610376
Charles, L., Godin, M., Ruiz, I. & Xia, S. (forthcoming). Beyond Access: Gender, Social Networks, and the Uneven Promise of Digital Livelihoods for Refugees in Kenya. Na’amal.
LSE Inequalities (2025). “It’s not digital platforms that hire refugees, it’s people.” https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/inequalities/2025/11/04/its-not-digital-platforms-that-hire-refugees-its-people/
Jobtech for Refugees Community of Practice (2026). Where the Refugee Employment Pipeline Breaks: Jobtech for Refugees Summit Report. Convened by Na’amal and the Jobtech Alliance.
https://jobtechalliance.com/refugee-employment-summit-report/