In the year that SPARK awarded its 10,000th higher education scholarship in the Middle East, our focus has continued to shift towards employment opportunities for youth.

This year, through coaching, entrepreneurship and business skills training and access to finance, over 2,400 new jobs were directly created by the MSMEs supported by SPARK’s programmes. The main challenge facing MSMEs everywhere, but especially those in fragile states, remains to be access to finance.

By collaborating with microfinance institutions and banks, SPARK was able to facilitate 1,151 startups and existing companies with loans and grants. As remote working became a norm for many employers, such opportunities for refugees, IDPs and youth living in conflict-affected regions have been created. In 2021, we matched over 1,500 young job-seekers and graduates to internships and over 2,500 found employment. The vital role played by our partners helps SPARK to create stronger pathways to jobs for vulnerable youth. 

In 2021, together with our partners, our scholarships enabled more than 1,980 refugee, IDP or vulnerable host community students to study BA and TVET degrees in fields relevant to jobs.

As global education trends shifted towards online and blended modalities of learning, SPARK worked with the University of Gaziantep to design the first BA and TVET level education at a public university in Turkey.

To improve curricula, SPARK supported the development of six curricula offered by the Erbil Technical University and University of Mosul in Iraq. The new and improved TVET courses were approved by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research of Iraq and reached 1,663 students. 

Internships are uncommon in many of the fragile and conflict-affected countries that SPARK works in. As a method of boosting youths’ work experience, in 2021 SPARK facilitated over 1,600 internships for young job seekers.

Remote-based, 3-6 month internships for Iraqi and Syrian students based in Iraq also facilitated on-the-job work experience within multinational companies. By linking youth to work experience opportunities, interns became more competitive candidates for the future digital jobs market and 47 businesses boosted their workforces.

In Turkey, a programme financed by the Qatar Fund for Development and implemented by United Work, matched over 400 Syrian job-seekers to sustainable employment opportunities in manufacturing, food processing, textile and logistics sectors.

In Tunisia, SPARK worked with local incubator, Wiki Start-up, to launch a startup competition for fintech and agritech companies. Hackathons and one-to-one tailored coaching sessions in branding, pitching and business planning saw 49 young entrepreneurs (39 women) participate in the entrepreneurship programme, with 12 new MSMEs founded (5 by women). 

In Jordan, where there are extremely low rates of women’s participation in the labour force, SPARK developed a gender-sensitive entrepreneurship curriculum in 2021. 400 women entrepreneurs received training in business planning, financial management, sustainability and entrepreneurship tools. In total, 180 new jobs were created by these SMEs.

With many fragile and conflict-affected countries that SPARK works within, food security is a huge issue. In Rwanda, 48 youth (18 women) were enrolled in a tailored incubation programme with training and coaching in cassava seed agribusiness and entrepreneurship. A business plan competition saw 14 of the youth pitch their business plans, with five bankable winners.