Content moderation and data annotation work has shifted to the Global South, particularly Africa, where workers at business process outsourcing (BPO) companies operate under precarity to serve Global North needs. We address the invisibility of this data labour supply chain and the underdocumented working conditions of its workforce. Drawing on a participatory collaboration between academics, an NGO, and a union, we conducted desk research and deployed a questionnaire (n=81) attuned to unions' organising goals. Our findings show that data labour spans 43 out of 55 African countries, involving 17 major firms serving predominantly North-American and European clients, with workers employed on short-term contracts, under psychological stress and economic instability - conditions that obscure the competences, i.e. adaptability and resilience, that their work demands. We contribute the first comprehensive map of Africa's data labour industry and demonstrate a methodology that centers workers' collective actions in documenting their conditions, drawing on Honneth's "struggle for recognition" to capture workers' demands for professional and social acknowledgement.

翻译：内容审核与数据标注工作已转移至全球南方国家，尤其是非洲大陆。在业务流程外包企业中，这些为满足全球北方需求而服务的工人，始终处于不稳定的工作状态。本研究聚焦数据劳动供应链的不可见性及其从业者工作条件未被充分记录的现状。通过学术界、非政府组织与工会的参与式协作，我们开展了案头研究并部署了契合工会组织目标的问卷调研（样本量n=81）。研究结果显示，数据劳动已覆盖55个非洲国家中的43个，涉及17家主要服务北美与欧洲客户的企业，工人普遍面临短期合同、心理压力与经济不稳定性——这些环境因素掩盖了其工作所需的核心能力（即适应力与韧性）。我们首次绘制了非洲数据劳动产业的完整图谱，并构建了以工人集体行动为中心的文献记录方法论，借助霍耐特的"为承认而斗争"理论框架，捕捉工人对职业与社会认可的核心诉求。