Erin Wilson 
“We define success by our employment rate.” Anna Wozniak, manager of our tech hubs in Iraq, always keeps a close eye on the prize.
“We succeed when our workers succeed in the local and international labor markets.”
It might sound obvious, but equipping young Iraqis and Syrians with skills like IT, freelancing, cloud-based accounting, design, microwork, data analysis skills, and English isn’t the purpose of our tech hubs.
The purpose is jobs.
Training only helps vulnerable young people if it leads to jobs that help support families. We meet so many young people who have stacks of certificates proving completion of training programs—but they’ve never secured a job.
This past fall, seven workers gained employment in a single week. It’s the kind of success we live to celebrate. “We are encouraged by the number of folks who find a job during their time with us. One job per day is a win for us worth noting,” Anna remarked.
“This is because we believe in the power of technology and one-on-one coaching. We work to equip motivated individuals with the technical and interpersonal skills enabling them to flourish in today’s job market in Iraq,” Anna notes. In many cases, it is the soft skills learned at our tech hubs, like writing a great CV and performing well in an interview, that makes all the difference in securing work.
Here are the seven wins that week, as shared by our tech hub staff:
Wednesday
“Another win! Our Basic IT worker Sima got a full-time job as a sales representative at a store. We are really happy because this is the 28th worker from the tech hub who has found a job since April.”
Sunday
“We are proud of our Freelance worker Bahra. She has been hired as a salesperson.”
Monday
“We are happy to announce that our QuickBooks alumni worker, Aqdas, got a job as an Accountant assistant/Logistics officer. She acknowledged the part that our tech hub had in her employment. She’s using what she learned on a daily base in her job. We are happy for her because she truly deserves the best.”
Tuesday
“Good morning. We are pleased to announce this week our Freelance worker, Saif, has received a job as a Lab Assistant. Until the next achievement… see you then.”
Tuesday
“We are proud of Amani. She was our worker from Basic IT and she got a job as a teacher assistant based on the skills she learned in our tech hub. We are so happy to announce this win, and we are looking forward to more success with workers. May they always make us proud.”
Tuesday
“We are so proud of our microworker, Israa. She has been hired as data entry at a housing society as a part-time worker. We wish her all the best.”
Wednesday
“We are very happy to hear that our microworker Riad got a job at Nineveh Hospital as data entry. Well done and congratulations.”
The staff at each of our tech hubs work hard to make sure that war, and its lingering impacts, doesn’t keep vulnerable young people out of the workforce. Anna said, “We tackle the root causes of unemployment, serving individuals who lost years of their education due to war, resulting in mending skills gaps that further disadvantage them within the changing nature of work.”
But it is the young people who are the heroes of their own stories. They work hard to learn, they tweak their skills, and pound the pavement to apply for jobs… or create their own!
