Thaki advances inclusion by enhancing women and girls’ digital literacy and skills among displaced refugees and vulnerable communities.
Team Leader
Rudayna Abdo
Thaki advances inclusion by enhancing women and girls' digital literacy and skills among displaced refugees and vulnerable communities.
Solution Pitch
The Problem
Lebanon is host to the most refugees per capita in the world including 630,000 school-aged children, fewer than half of whom are receiving a formal education. Children out of school are more likely to enter the workforce at a young age and face exploitation, with a disproportionate burden on girls who are forced to work in harsher conditions for less money. Access to schooling has been limited even further by Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Solution
Thaki fills an essential learning gap for those with limited or no access to education. Thaki collects donations of used laptops and turns them into valuable learning tools using a bespoke content platform in Arabic and English. Thaki distributes the laptops to schools and informal education providers and provides an off-line solution to address poor internet connectivity in recipient communities.
Thaki’s educational content and teaching resource guide focus on numeracy, literacy, sustainability, civic values, ICT, entrepreneurship, and life skills. Thaki also teaches gender equality and the principles of human rights across its curriculum.
Stats
Since 2015, Thaki has reached an estimated 9,000 children from over 40 organizations in Lebanon and Jordan.
Market Opportunity
A 2017 report by Blominvest Bank estimates a $500 million annual shortfall in school funding for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. According to UNICEF, there are nearly 15 million children between 5-14 years old who are out of school in the MENA region, with another 10 million at risk of dropping out. A 2017 McKinsey report also predicts that 14 percent of the global workforce by 2030 will need to retrain and adapt to new jobs as work becomes increasingly digital.
Organization Highlights
Winner of Kiron’s Amplify Now! Impact Award in 2020
Winner the TEDxAmsterdamED Award in 2017
Featured Speaker at conferences like The Present Movement, Greenlight 4 Girls, Labdoo, and more
Partnership Goals
Thaki currently seeks:
Technical support to further improve the front-end and back-end of the platform to create a better offline learning experience for students
Marketing plan to reach more for-profit companies and expand hardware donations
Expert recommendations for supply chain management tools and systems to ensure sustainability and efficiency while scaling
What is the name of your organization?
Thaki
What is the name of your solution?
Thaki
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Thaki advances inclusion by enhancing women and girls' digital literacy and skills among displaced refugees and vulnerable communities.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Amsterdam
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
—
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
—
What specific problem are you solving?
There are 181 million vulnerable people in MENA with 36.4 million needing education support (UNICEF 2025). Refugee and vulnerable children confront critical educational barriers: lack of quality education, digital literacy, technology; overcrowded classrooms; limited internet connectivity; language barriers; and psycho-social support needs due to trauma and displacement, threatening their futures.
What is your solution?
Thaki fills an essential learning gap for those with limited or no access to education. Thaki collects donations of used laptops and turns them into valuable learning tools using a bespoke content platform in Arabic and English. Thaki distributes the laptops to schools and informal education providers and provides an off-line solution to address poor internet connectivity in recipient communities. Thaki's educational content and teaching resource guide focus on numeracy, literacy, sustainability, civic values, ICT, entrepreneurship, and life skills. Thaki also places a strong focus on wellbeing and social-emotional learning.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Thaki was founded to serve children in extreme vulnerability. It helps disadvantaged host community and refugee children of all ages by providing them with their right to equity in quality education through e-learning.
Thaki also promotes the competencies of teachers in formal and non-formal educational settings through training in digital literacy and effective methodologies in teaching.
Thaki acts as a bridge between education technology solutions and some of the most vulnerable communities, and fosters an enabling environment for both teachers and children, equipping them with skills for acquire employability, and gain 21st-century skills.
Thaki remains connected to its beneficiary directly and through partner organizations who are in the field and in direct contact with children and teachers. To better tailor to the needs of our beneficiaries we gather user feedback through user evaluation surveys, field observations and impact stories from recipient partners. We adapt trainings, resources, software and programs, accordingly.
