From the San Francisco Chronicle
Samasource finds work for the impoverished
By Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera
Samasource, a young San Francisco nonprofit group, is interested in tackling extreme poverty head on - but it's not giving any handouts.
The organization uses the Internet to connect an untapped workforce - women, youth and refugees in countries with high unemployment rates - with organizations around the globe with a backlog of digital work they need done. With a two-birds-with-one-stone mentality, Samasource helps workers gain a desperately needed source of income while providing its clients with inexpensive labor....
"This is amazing stuff," said Vivek Wadhwa, a UC Berkeley [School of Information] visiting scholar and director of research for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. "Giving people abroad small jobs they can do quite easily from their homes is empowering and allows them to take control of their lives."...