The year 2016 marked a year of significant milestones for Silatech, a regional social organization that works to create jobs and expand economic opportunities for Arab youth. Since its inception, the organization has worked tirelessly to position itself as a leader in social and economic empowerment to tackle the alarming rise of youth unemployment in the Arab region.

By the end of 2016, Silatech succeeded in creating and sustaining more than 300,000 jobs for Arab youth through a network of more than 150 partners. Silatech’s key achievements included signing strategic partnerships to create and sustain more than one million job opportunities by 2020 across the Arab region through its core programmatic pillars: Enterprise Development, Employment, and Policy & Research.

The Highlights of 2016 included collaborations to create and sustain job opportunities across the region. In Sudan, Silatech signed an agreement with the Agricultural Bank of Sudan to promote Islamic microfinance to support youth entrepreneurs and create 23,000 jobs, in addition to partnering with Social Development Bank to create 20,000 jobs for graduates to start their own enterprises. In Tunisia, Silatech signed an agreement with Enda Tamweel to create more than 580,000 jobs across Tunisia via providing support to entrepreneurs to start and grow their own businesses, and supports the innovative Smart Tunisia program in enabling 50,000 jobs by 2020. Building on the success of the pilot partnership program, Silatech renewed its partnership with Attawfiq Microfinance in Moroccoadding up to 140,000 jobs for Moroccan youth.

Silatech extended its innovative partnerships to Syria, where it collaborated with Qatar Red Crescent to provide on-the-ground training for displaced youth develop their skills and provide 1700 jobs. In Palestine, Silatech partnered with Talal Abu Ghazaleh Group to launch “Khadamati” portal to allow craftsmen in Palestine to advertise their products and services and connect them with customers and markets, and an MoU with UNRWA to promote employment opportunities for youth working in the construction sector. The organization, along with its founding partner of Ta3mal portal- Microsoft, announced their collaboration with Rwanga foundation to launch the second edition of Ta3mal.com in Iraq, a regional online employment portal that helps Arab youth and job seekers find support to transition into the world of work.