Mercy Corps\Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem 2019-2022
Activity-ID : SE-0-SE-6-12289A0102-PSE-32130Mercy Corps Europe has applied to Sida for 45 million SEK to carry out the "Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem Programme" in Palestine during the period 2019-2022. The intervention aims at building an internationally competitive technology ecosystem in Palestine that creates sustainable and well-paying jobs, particularly for youth and women, by supporting online freelancing, outsourcing, entrepreneurship and tech start-ups...
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Full description
Mercy Corps Europe has applied to Sida for 45 million SEK to carry out the "Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem Programme" in Palestine during the period 2019-2022. The intervention aims at building an internationally competitive technology ecosystem in Palestine that creates sustainable and well-paying jobs, particularly for youth and women, by supporting online freelancing, outsourcing, entrepreneurship and tech start-ups. The programme’s activities, objectives, outcomes, and outputs are all designed to contribute to this vision. The intervention’s total budget is 111 330 206 SEK, to which Sida contributes with 40,4%, and the rest is contributed by Canada and the Netherlands. With the proposed support of 45 million SEK over three years from Sida, complemented by other secured funding, Mercy Corps Europe aims to extend life-changing opportunities to thousands of young Palestinian women and men and help transform the broader Palestinian tech sector to become a much more powerful engine for economic growth and jobs for years to come. With these combined funding streams, the programme aims to reach a total of 12,090 participants in the next three years across Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2011, Mercy Corps Europe established Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG) in partnership with Google to help develop the tech ecosystem, supporting online freelancers and entrepreneurs to launch online businesses and to access online global marketplace as one of the few ways to create jobs that provide a reliable income to Palestinians given the challenges of a closed economy in Gaza. Today, GSG is home to a vibrant, inclusive co-working space in downtown Gaza City, in which 42% of regular users are women; it is home to Palestine’s first coding academy; a source of professional support for aspiring online freelancers and entrepreneurs; and it has a strong local and international networking base for anyone interested in earning an income online. Witnessing the exponential growth of GSG programme in just a few years has convinced Mercy Corps Europe that bringing the GSG tested training model, experience and approaches to underserved communities beyond Gaza City could provide similar positive results. However, as support for technology education and entrepreneurship is generally more saturated in the West Bank than in Gaza, Mercy Corps Europe is aiming towards a more unique model and branding to avoid duplication with other stakeholders' efforts (local and international). Initial mapping indicated that places like Hebron, Jenin and Nablus in the West Bank as well as East Jerusalem have been comparatively neglected by IT training programmes and entrepreneurship promotion. Mercy Corps Europe looks into expanding to these potential areas to complement rather then compete with other initiatives. Given the difficult contexts in both Gaza and the West Bank, income-generating programmes that can flourish in spite of the physical, political and social restrictions such as this programme targeting online opportunities, are all the more important. Freelancing and online jobs are considered to be among the best temporary solutions to unemployment problems in Palestine providing access especially for youth to innovative forms of work at the regional and international levels. The technical level of Palestinian graduates is acceptable, and can be enhanced with further specialised training courses and mentorship provided by such a programme. Palestine, especially Gaza, can be a future hub for service outsourcing.
Transactions
Type (Click to sort Ascending) | Date (Click to sort Ascending) | Value (Click to sort Ascending) |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment |
7/1/2019
| USD 4,082,107 |
| Disbursement |
11/28/2020
| USD 1,058,385 |
| Disbursement |
10/28/2021
| USD 1,774,278 |
Policy markers
Marker (Click to sort Ascending) | Principal objective (Click to sort Ascending) | Significant objective (Click to sort Ascending) | Not targeted (Click to sort Ascending) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender Equality | |||
| Aid to Environment | |||
| Participatory Development/Good Governance | |||
| Trade Development | |||
| Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity | |||
| Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change - Mitigation | |||
| Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Framework Convention on Climate Change - Adaptation | |||
| Aid Targeting the Objectives of the Convention to Combat Desertification | |||
| Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) | |||
| Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) | |||
| Disability |
Documents
- Decision on contribution regarding Mercy Corps / Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem 2019-2022 - pdf
- Grant Agreement regarding "Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem" 2019-2022 - pdf
Results
Expected results
"Growing the Palestinian Technology Ecosystem" programme aims to build an internationally competitive technology ecosystem in Palestine that creates well-paying, sustainable, decent and competitive (online) job opportunities for Palestinian youth, by supporting online freelancing, outsourcing, and tech start-ups. The programme's three main objectives are: Objective 1: Palestine's tech ecosystem becomes more supportive to aspiring online workers and entrepreneurs. Objective 2: Palestine's profile as a hub for online work grows. Objective 3: Palestinian youth increase their income through online work.
Results
During this reporting period (year 2), the programme made further progress towards its three programmatic pillars: the Code Academy, the Freelance Academy (Skylancer), and the Start-up Incubation and Acceleration Programme (GeeXelerator). These pillars are underpinned by community-building events and activities, as well as through the provision of co-working spaces. Significant results have emerged in all locations of the programme as revealed in surveys with graduates and ecosystem actors. Planned targets were achieved and some indicators have overachieved the planned. The programme engaged 4,850 unique individuals in community activities, trainings, and events (59% females) during the reporting period. Through Sweden's funding alone, the following results were achieved during the reporting period: Under the Code Academy, focusing on intensive training in computer programming, modern technologies and tech-stacks, the programme graduated 145 participants (59% females) who generated approximately $42k in income. Under the Freelance Academy, across a variety of fields, the programme graduated 436 freelancers (64% female), who generated approximately $1.08M in income. Under the Start-up Incubation and Acceleration, the programme ran the third Cohort of the GeeXelerator and graduated 8 start-ups (22 individuals) of which 3 were female-led out of 36 participating start-ups representing 85 individuals. The 8 start-ups generated $174k total revenues and created 110 jobs (21% female). Under the community-building and co-working spaces, the programme reached 10,406 non-unique participants (61% females) across Gaza (9,113) and West Bank (1,290) during the reporting period. 78 events were organised of which 48 events were led by women entrepreneurs targeting all Palestine. Follow up surveys with graduates and ecosystem actors have shown that: - Most graduates improved their technical and professional skills needed for online employment and 85% of participants reported reduced barriers to employment. - More than half of graduates continue to generate income post graduation and a third of graduates continue to earn higher than the minimum monthly wage in Palestine (450$). - 78% of the ecosystem actors reported that Gaza Sky Geeks has helped to improve the state of the overall technology ecosystem in Palestine.