Technology for Good – Addressing the Challenges of the Migrant Worker Industry
Technology has revolutionized the world we live in. Some might add: for better, or for worse.
While it’s created its fair share of problems, digital technology has also changed peoples’ lives. It’s brought access to knowledge and opportunities not all could always reach. It’s transformed business and given identity and visibility to those who’ve long been overlooked and underserved.
No other tool has made more social change and improved equity more successfully than digital technology. It’s done far more good than harm in its short amount of time here, and it’s the next hope of a more connected, equitable future for the disadvantaged, such as in the migrant worker industry.
Technology for good: Bringing urban and rural together
The urban and rural divide has long created a barrier to opportunities, drawing an invisible line between class, race, and socioeconomic status. Thankfully, modern technology has blurred this line and made this barrier more passable.
Rural centers have shrunken as agriculture quickly conglomerated over the years, shutting off thriving economies and opportunities for small farms and migrant workers. However, thanks to technology, more enterprises can now thrive rurally by tapping into far away markets— thanks to technology, online marketing, and remote jobs in rural and typically less wealthier areas.
Providing skills for the economically disadvantaged
With the technology boom, industry has greatly changed— including loss of jobs, advantages, and livelihoods. Especially in rural areas where industries like coal and steel no longer thrive, jobs that were once plentiful are now scarce. In inner city neighborhoods and developing countries also, the existence of meaningful, well-paying work is getting harder to find and support a living with.
Technology and education, however, have created new opportunities for careers and occupations that require technological and computer skills that can easily be learned and specialized in. Technology is not just easing the way: it’s becoming a job-creating industry itself.
Integrating local and global with language
Think globally and support locally. This couldn’t be possible without today’s technology, unprecedentedly connecting all parts of the globe together.
One of the ways this has been accomplished (with the help of technology) is through language. Now more than ever, language barriers are being surpassed with better programs, classes, translation software, and tools that can be made available online to just about anyone who wants to learn, travel, and experience what other places have to offer: whether it’s English, Spanish, Mandarin, and more.
Learning a new language to advance position and livelihood is more accessible and easier than ever before. It’s all thanks to what technology does and makes easier for us.
At Karibu, we believe technology for good can be wielded to help some of the most underserved and disadvantaged among us: immigrant and migrant workers. Using the leading edge that technology provides, we aim to establish platforms, online contracts, digital tools, and easier ways for workers to get paid and receive health care— all through intuitive and easy-to-use technology.