In Jordan, more than 36% of the youth is unemployed. The unemployment situation is especially critical for Syrian refugees who live in Jordan. Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Jordan has welcomed a large number of refugees who can’t easily access the job market. Digital work is perfectly suited to address the challenge of employment both for Syrians refugees and Jordanians. The demand for coding experts is growing in the Jordanian economy, and it enables flexible work conditions (as digital work can be done remotely only by using a computer and a good internet connection).

The immediate goal of the project is the training of refugee coders in Middle Eastern camps to promote their employability in both local and international markets. This will be achieved through innovative methodologies that do not require students to have any prior digital skills or programming experience but instead select participants purely based on ability and motivation. The first pilot program will take place in Jordan. Chams’ broader ambition is to extend this training to more refugee camps around the globe, promoting refugee employability by offering certified professional training and job placements for young people from 17 to 25 years old.

Project Description

The project has been developed and implemented by the Chams Foundation in partnership with Al al-Bayt University and UNHCR in Amman, Jordan. The pilot project will address three target groups: refugees living in Zaatari Camp (25%), refugees living in the Mafraq region (25%), and Jordanians (50%).

The training will be designed in two parts:

Web Development Skills

The core of the training program will be to allow participants to develop software & technology expertise.

Soft Skills

20% of the training program will be implemented by partners or ourselves through modules, interventions, pitches, etc. on useful or necessary basic knowledge and matters.

The pilot project aims at training 30 young coders (Syrians and Jordanians) as well as accompany them in their professional integration in the ICT sector. The end of this project is to provide a free and certified 7 months intense “coding” training program to members of the most vulnerable populations. Once this pilot project will be implemented, the plan is to expand in Jordan and other countries in the Middle East.

This pilot project will be the first step to developing more partnerships and replicating activities in order to train 10’000 young coders.