Online Freelancer Training Toolkit
for Gig Workers

The OFT Toolkit is a practical guide developed from the Gig Economy Project’s experience implementing Online Freelancer Training programmes across Africa and Asia. Developed in collaboration with 21CC Education, it is designed for implementing agencies, education providers, training institutions, NGOs, and innovation hubs that want to strengthen participation in the gig economy by making online freelancing training accessible and impactful.

The toolkit brings together key lessons, practical tools, and adaptable templates in one place, making it easier for organisations and training institutions to design and run their own programmes. It is built to be flexible, locally relevant, and reflective, while also encouraging knowledge sharing across geographies.

The toolkit includes voices from the field, stories and insights that provide real-life examples of its application and highlight the relevance of inclusion and upskilling in digital work.

We have designed the OFT Toolkit for a wide range of institutions that want to strengthen participation in the gig economy, particularly in the online freelancing world, with a special focus on women and youth in the Global South.

It is especially relevant for:

• NGOs and community-based organisations supporting economic empowerment
• Vocational training centres and skilling agencies
• Digital inclusion programmes
• Entrepreneurship hubs and innovation centres
• Public-private partnership programmes

In addition to these institutions, it benefits both trainers and learners: trainers gain structured tools to deliver practical, high-quality content and guide participants through the training process. Learners develop digital skills, confidence, and peer connections that help them navigate online platforms. The OFT aims to train anyone who wants to participate in the digital freelance world, regardless of whether they have previous experience or not.

The OFT Toolkit empowers organisation to prepare individuals for the digital economy. The tried and tested framework is simple and practical for agencies and institutions. Instead of spending time and resources designing a programme from scratch, the toolkit does the heavy lifting by giving you ready-to-use tools, adaptable content and tested approaches that shorten the learning curve. It saves you time, reduces costs, and increases the chances of success.

The OFT Toolkit is modular, flexible, and designed to be adapted to your local context. You can read it cover to cover or simply use the sections that are most helpful for your needs. Take what fits, change what doesn’t, and add your own voice. Use the stories and templates inside as starting points, not rules. The more local and contextual your OFT programme becomes, the more powerful its impact will be.

The four main sections are:

1. Outreach and selection:
   Guidance on how to identify and engage with online freelancer communities, with attention to inclusion and accessibility. This includes stakeholders’ mapping and promotional material.
2. Preparation:
   Provides the needed tools to get equipped before moving to the implementation phase. This section contains tools such as timelines. format suggestions, tips for localisation, and selection criteria for trainers.
3. Implementation:
   A sample train-the-trainer workshop and curriculum to use with participants
4. Evaluation and Anchoring:
   Guidance on key indicators to measure impact, potential communication strategies and how to ensure the OFT sustainability in the long term.

These sections outline a suggested pathway from outreach to sustainability, but the OFT Toolkit is designed to be flexible. You are invited to choose, adapt, or combine sections in the way that best fits your context. 

The digital economy is here to stay. For many people, especially in lower-income regions, where formal employment opportunity is limited, online platforms are becoming a first or main source of income. These opportunities, however, must be made safer, fairer, and more accessible, particularly for women and other marginalised groups.

Online freelancing allows people to work flexibly, often from home, using only a mobile phone and an internet connection. For women, especially those with care responsibilities or limited mobility, this can be a vital opportunity for income and independence. To promote a more formal and stable gig work, the toolkit looks beyond task-based income to longer-term pathways:

• Formal work transition:
  By gaining skills and completing work on platforms, freelancers build digital work histories. With the right support, they can transition to formal freelance careers or employment in digital firms.
• Entrepreneurship:
  Freelancing can lead to small business development. Some individuals may start offering services independently, build teams, or create digital service micro-enterprises.
• Skill stacking:
  The digital economy changes fast. Freelancers need to keep learning to stay competitive. The toolkit encourages continuous learning and adds foundational skills in financial literacy, communication, and self-marketing.

The OFT is often the first key that opens the door to the world of digital work. It sets the skill foundations, provides a first sense of direction and establishes communities needed to thrive in the digital economy.

We believe OFT should have a holistic impact on the ecosystem.

• For online freelancers, it provides an introduction to digital freelance work, builds confidence, and sets them on the path to more and better opportunities. The goal is not just to teach people how to earn money online, but to help them do so sustainably, fairly, and with future aspirations in mind.
• For institutions, it provides ready-to-use tools to design, implement, and evaluate programmes that go beyond pilots and become lasting offers.
• For the ecosystem, the toolkit encourages collaboration and community building. Anchoring the trainings and learnings in a system of change that responds to the new challenges and opportunities presented by the digital economy.

From the individual to the macro level, the OFT Toolkit is designed to make lasting change so that the impact lives on beyond the project lifecycle.