 Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Fardosa and I am from Somalia. In 2009, our family fled to Kenya from the conflict in our country. There’s eight of us: our parents, five girls and one boy. How did you join the digital freelancing program? After I completed my secondary education, I heard about the opportunity to learn digital skills and I decided to apply. I became a beneficiary [of RefuSHE] in June 2021. [Fardosa continued to the digital freelancing course in spring of 2022].
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 Konexio’s executive director and co-founder, Jean Guo, was honored for her work economically empowering women through Konexio! Each year, The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) awards the World of Difference prize to recognize the power every individual has to make a change for women’s empowerment in the world. TIAW chose Jean, and Konexio, for our programs’ success in enabling women to earn a livelihood for themselves and develop financial security, and for Jean’s resilience as a female founder.
 Mike is a Konexio-certified trainer working with our partner Jesuit Refugee Service in Malawi. We asked him to tell us about his experience as a trainer for Konexio’s Digital Inclusion Program (DIP) in Dzaleka Refugee Camp. Dzaleka is home to over 50,000 refugees who are barred from formal employment locally. Through the DIP, our beneficiaries overcome this barrier by gaining access to the global digital job market. Mike is one of 11 individuals in Malawi who benefited from Konexio’s train-the-trainers model since 2016. Thanks to his training, he can now effectively share his knowledge of the most in-demand digital skills with refugees seeking digital employment.
 Great news! Konexio’s training of trainers in Jordan has reached its end and student training is underway! Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS) trainers, Noor and Saba’a, began their digital training course at the end of July and are now Konexio-certified DIP trainers. The two trainers will now equip undeserved talent in Amman, Jordan, with the digital skills to earn an income and thrive in society. Starting October 2rd, a cohort of 30 students with JRS Jordan began Konexio’s Digital Inclusion Program (DIP), which will last until March 2023.
 Please introduce yourself.
My name is Elizabeth. I’m 24 years old and from South Sudan. My family and I fled to Kenya from South Sudan in 2015, due to the ongoing violent conflict which disrupted my ability to safely attend school. We were constantly instructed to remain at home because of recurring violence. What's that you are working on? This is crocheting. I earn a living by crocheting and selling different products such as clothing and table mats. I’m also a social media influencer on TikTok and Instagram where I have a large following and post livestreams daily. I livestream my training sessions on both Instagram and TikTok, which helps me increase my following, market my products, and sell them online. Due to my large following on Instagram, the platform has verified my business and given me an official badge to sell my products. Now whenever my followers join my live streams they have the option to buy access to the livestream.  This past year, Konexio grew regionally, nationally and internationally. Thanks to our new premises in Paris, we hosted more programs than ever and began providing in-person teaching for most of our certified career track courses. Expanding beyond Paris, we now provide our DigitAll and DigiStart programs throughout the larger Paris region.
As part of our commitment to stay close to our target audience, Konexio opened regional offices in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in the spring of 2021, and then in the Hauts-de-France region in the fall of 2021. Our certified career track courses also reached a milestone. In 2021 we launched 6 Web Development cohorts, doubling from 3 in 2020. But it doesn't stop there. Staying true to our idea of training for jobs in short supply in the tech sector, we created a brand new certified career track course: TSSR (Technicien.ne Réseaux et Systèmes - Network and Systems Technician Training), which saw the launch of 2 cohorts in 2021. Our impact: 1,300 students trained in just one year. A huge thank you to our corporate, non-profit and institutional partners, as well as all the volunteers who have been supporting us since our creation in 2016. Thanks to the generosity and energy of our supporters, Konexio has now launched more than 400 classes, trained nearly 3,000 students, and offered more than 200,000 hours of learning to date. Our team has also grown, and we have recruited extensively to support this growth. At the end of 2020 the team numbered 15 employees; at the end of 2021 the team had doubled to 30 employees, including 11 Conseillers Numériques (Digital Advisors). The past year, Konexio received several awards and invitations to important events, in recognition of our commitment to diversity, social integration, and women’s empowerment in tech. On a French and international scale, this year was also marked by meetings and discussions with leading organisations and individuals. Our actions to catalyse digital inclusion now include advocacy. We regularly dialogue with policymakers responsible for employment and digital issues, and with private-sector actors seeking to diversify their companies’ talent pool. Each new year brings its own challenges. This year, Konexio focused on 5 pillars:
Beyond our own programs, we developed 7 key ecosystem-wide propositions to promote equitable access to digital opportunities. These range from propositions focused on the creation of the Droit Universel (“Universal Right” to digital training), to driving an ecosystem approach to sustainable technology, to making tech more inclusive. Read our Annual Report Here !
 Three months have passed since the launch of our Digital Inclusion Program (DIP) in Nairobi, in partnership with RefuSHE! This enthusiastic first cohort is now halfway through the 6-month program. After successfully completing training indigital basics and soft skills, the students are excited to begin freelancing online. During the Online Freelancing module, students will apply the soft and hard skills they acquired during the first part of the course.
 We congratulate the third graduating cohort of the Malawi Digital Inclusion Program! The graduation ceremony for this class of 60 students, made up of refugees from the DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Malawian youth, took place on August 16th, 2022 at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Center in Malawi’s Dzaleka camp. This cohort has completed over 100 hours of digital freelance training and practice since January 2022. Now, graduates are equipped not only with in-demand digital skills, but also the soft skills required for long-term employment success.
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