Specto Final Conference
Specto held the final conference of the Digital Empowerment and Entrepreneurship for Refugees (DEER) that brought together over 100 representatives of key partners, universities, NGOs, and beneficiaries on Monday 20th of February 2023.
The DEER project is one of the “Bottlenecks Alleviation Program (BAP)” selected projects. BAP is implemented by Nuffic and funded by EDU-SYRIA through the European Union Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis “Madad”.
The overall objective of the DEER project is to equip Syrian refugees and underprivileged Jordanians with digital skills to become independent entrepreneurs, work as freelancers, and be qualified to enter the job market.
The opening speech of Prof. Ahmad Abu El Haija focused on the impact of trending technology on the future and the importance of obtaining the necessary skills to cope with this change. Dr. Sameer Al-Dahidi, EDU-SYRIA representative, gave welcome remarks and shed light on the role of the German Jordanian University in implementing EDU-SYRIA. Mrs. Lara Nassar, the Regional Nuffic Office Representative talked about the great impact of the DEER project on the refugees and underprivileged citizens.
The conference featured presentations by project partners who shared their insights on the project’s outcomes and impact.
The project included ICDL modules, such as digital marketing, image editing, web editing, computer and online essentials, online collaboration, standard and advanced office applications, which were carefully categorized into groups representing highly demanded jobs in the market.
The conference was an opportunity to showcase the achievements and celebrate the success stories of the beneficiaries. Fadwa, one of the students that completed the Document Specialist course said, “The skills I gained helped me format my book without asking for help and this made me feel like a successful author”. Mahmoud also expressed his gratitude for gaining valuable skills from the ICDL modules that enabled him to generate income through creating brochures, logos, tests, CVs, and others. Another successful candidate is Ala’a, she managed to create a website that represents her artwork with a variety of greeting cards and calendars.
At the end of the conference, Specto, EDU-SYRIA, and Nuffic handed out honoring plaques for the partners who contributed to the implementation of the DEER project and the centers that successfully delivered the ICDL programs over the years.
