The Daily Tell

The spread of information technology from laptops and computers to the world wide web and cellphones is helping people in impoverished nations earn money. The nonprofit group Samasource sees IT jobs for poor countries as a great source of economic growth in places like Kenya, where the organization is bringing IT jobs to refugees.

Technology for cellphones like the iPhone can even help to train and monitor workers in Kenya from the U.S. Samasource is working with partner CrowdFlower on the GiveWork iPhone app that makes it "possible for Americans with time on their hands to assist in making sure that the work being done by the refugees is accurate," CNET News reported.

Lukas Biewald, CEO of CrowdFlower, said language barriers may get in the way of communications, but the connections provided by websites and applications can help a new workforce of IT workers.

Samasource is one of a new kind of nonprofit that encourages entrepreneurship and acquisition of language and technology skills to help people pull themselves out of poverty and create jobs for others.

One expert told CNET that organizations like Samasource are challenging the idea that poor countries are to be seen as recipients of aid.

Successful examples of the Kenyan workers include Dorothy Chebet Kiprono, who has made $79 to date working as a transcriber, virtual assistant and app tester for Adept Technologies, a company that is pledging to create 300 jobs for Kenyan youth by 2014.

It takes a bit of global thinking to see the positive in jobs disappearing in the U.S. but popping up in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Samasource founder Leila Chirayath Janah said the company is "not displacing opportunities for Americans, but expanding what entrepreneurs can do with a limited budget," according to CNET News.