Silatech Launches Campaign to Provide Jobs, Training for 30,000 Syrian Refugees

Doha, October 01 (QNA) - Silatech Foundation (Silatech) on Monday launched a humanitarian charity campaign to provide job opportunities, training and rehabilitation for 30,000 Syrian young refugees and displaced people. Silatech's campaign, entitled "charitable competition to support young refugees and displaced people" and led by 30 young men and women from Qatar for 30 days, aims to raise funds to cover the cost of training and job opportunities for 30,000 needy refugees who suffer from difficult economic and social conditions inside Syria and in neighboring countries, in an effort to help these young people to secure a decent life for them and their families. The campaign involves young people and the Qatari community to provide humanitarian assistance and possible solutions to the crisis of the Syrian refugees and displaced persons, contribute to enhancing the role of Qatari youth as international citizens to meet the major global challenges, spread the culture of giving and foster a sense of compassion and responsibility towards their needy peers around the world. At a press conference, Executive Director of Programs at Silatech Faisal Al Emadi said this campaign stems from the Foundation's belief that peace and stability everywhere in the world begin by combating poverty, unemployment, extremism and the marginalization of young people and women through empowerment and job provision, pointing out that Silatech is working to link disadvantaged youth with opportunities for vocational training and developing skills required for the labor market, and to provide them with the necessary funding to establish income-generating projects. Over the past 10 years, Silatech has managed to provide 1 million jobs for young people who helped them to overcome poverty and not falling into the trap of extremist groups, transforming the lives of families and entire communities to the best in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. He hailed the Qatari youth campaign and other constructive ideas that contribute to changing the lives of their Syrian brethren, and the great response from all sectors of the Qatari society towards this campaign as well as the donation and volunteering for its success. Al Emadi said that the campaign was launched under the patronage and support of various partners from all sectors, in recognition of Qatar's pioneering humanitarian and developmental role in helping the affected peoples in general and Syrian refugees in particular and placing them at the top of the list of donor countries providing humanitarian and development assistance worldwide. The Executive Director of Programs at Silatech said that October 12 will be allocated to donate via live television broadcasting, calling on all people to support Qatari youth in their efforts to mobilize funding for the employment of Syrian refugees through the channels of communication available throughout October, adding that this campaign will continue until the end of this year and the donations collected after October will be allocated for the Foundation's other projects. Executive Director of Programs at Silatech Faisal Al Emadi stressed that Silatech has responded to refugee crises wherever they are and has created programs to create jobs for them in their host countries, provide training and equip them with the skills needed to get a job in their new lives. He pointed out that Silatech provided various programs to support thousands of refugees and displaced persons in different countries, including dedicated programs that trained and employed thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey, a program of supporting young entrepreneurs in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, a program to train internally displaced youth in Syria and providing them with workshops and tools to help them work in future projects, and economic empowerment program for abused, disabled, refugee and displaced women in Sudan, as well as many other programs to train and employ young people displaced by conflicts and natural disasters in Somalia. He stressed that the youths are the focus of Silatech and the foundation of the renaissance of nations if they are enabled and offered work opportunities. He pointed out that this campaign comes as a complement to the hard work of Silatech in combating poverty and youth unemployment, which are the most urgent problems in the Arab world. Islamic preacher Sheikh Ahmed Al Buainain stressed that the worsening of the tragic situation of refugees and young displaced persons calls for action to provide them with decent work and thus to save entire families from loss and poverty. He expressed pride in Qatari youth who are doing charity work, based on their awareness of the issues of the nation and its recent events due to their sense of responsibility towards their fellow refugees and displaced persons. Spokespersons for young people who launched this campaign, namely Habes Huwail, Eman Al Kaabi, and Sawar Al Zahab Ali, said that this initiative came as the Syrian crisis entered its eighth year without a close the solution, which calls for urgent action to save what, could be saved. They pointed out that the tragedy of the refugees is not only to flee from their countries in search of safety after the loss of parents and loved ones, but they face the complicated problems of the hardships of life and lack of access to suitable work. They added that the lack of proficiency in the language of the host country, the inadequacy of their experience with the requirements of the labor market, the lack of required educational qualifications in the host country's labor market, the cut off their studies and depriving them of a university degree.. all this has prompted to create this initiative and to organize this campaign, which reflects the keenness of the people of Qatar and their children to alleviate the suffering of those in need everywhere. The speakers stressed that such humanitarian initiatives are nothing new to the Qatari community, which feels the responsibility toward young people who have been deprived of education and employment opportunities because of the political and economic crises. Silatech is a social, international, non-profit, non-governmental, and development organization based in the State of Qatar. It works to connect young people with the jobs and resources needed to establish and develop their projects through a network of 300 international, regional and local partners from donors, governments, the private sector, academic sector, and civil society organizations in addition to innovative initiatives in entrepreneurship and employment. (QNA)