April 22nd, 2020: Ireland-based Alison, the global upskilling website and Berlin-based Syrian Youth Assembly (SYA) have come together to enhance essential infrastructures for digital learning in Syria and wherever Syrian Youth reside today.

Announcing the partnership, Alison confirmed it will provide up to 20,000 free PDF Certificate and Diploma vouchers to youth members of the Syrian Youth Assembly. Previous initiatives by SYA have engaged more than 40,000 active students.

Speaking of the new partnership, Tarek Sarhan, Partnership and Development Manager of SYA, stated that increasing numbers of Syrian students are eager to pursue online education opportunities, and many are now living abroad with refugee status. “This exciting partnership with Alison will enable SYA to offer learning and certification opportunity to as many as 20,000 SYA members. Studying online with Alison opens up a whole new world of learning to Syrian Youth, most particularly to workplace skills which will be so essential to each young Syrian as they seek to gain jobs and employment and also a path to entrepreneurship”

Alison CEO Mike Feerick said that supporting Syrian Youth and the Syrian people through these times of hardship is something that all the Alison community are delighted to do. “Many years ago, in 2013, I journeyed to the Al Zataari refugee camp in Northern Jordan to see how Alison could help empower young Syrians through free online learning. This partnership with SYA is a continuance of that commitment to help where we can. Empowering yourself through free online learning and upskilling is one of the best ways to change your economic and social circumstances”

The work of the SYA is not limited to only offering scholarships/opportunities to Syrian students. The assembly has a great access to more than 300,000 Syrian youth, inside and outside Syria. Most of these youth are classified under the term refugees according to the UN, including IDPs.

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About Alison.
Alison, one of the world’s largest free human capital management platforms. With 15 million members, the Alison platform provides free learning for basic education and workplace skills with 2.5m graduates of its 1,500+ free courses. Alison also enables subject-matter-experts to freely publish on its platform enabling a new era of free knowledge and skills transfer within businesses.

About The Syrian Youth Assembly (SYA)
The Syrian Youth Assembly (SYA) is a platform of young Syrians working together on peace-building and development for Syria. The Assembly was set up by a number of Syrian youth who were present at the World Humanitarian Summit 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. As such, the initiative is fully youth-led (18-35 years old) as we work on involving the youth in the Syrian Peace Talks under the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Syrian Youth Assembly is registered as a nonprofit in Germany, Berlin / Amtsgericht Charlottenburg Berlin HRB VR 37194B. SYA is certified by the United Nations Major Group on Children and Youth, United Network of Young Peacebuilders, and the International Youth Federation |IYF.