The Freelance Academy
“Freelance Academy” connecting Station J and Gaza Sky Geeks
Within its strategic plan to create an enabling environment for the entrepreneurial community, and stemming from its social commitment to its community of talented individuals and entrepreneurs; Station J is excited to announce its new partnership with Gaza Sky Geeks in the framework of the “Freelance Academy” program.
The “Freelance Academy” started as an entrepreneurial initiative in Gaza over a decade ago, ever-since it’s become a Palestine-wide movement with success stories trailing across the entire Gaza Strip, Hebron and Nablus in the West Bank. Now, within this new partnership between Station J and Gaza Sky Geeks, Station J is providing an implementing and incubating body for the “Freelance Academy” in Jerusalem, connecting Palestinians through digital work. With the mantra of embracing digital remote work, the program is aiming to provide talented and skilled youth with all the tools they need to start freelancing and effectively making the entire world their workplace.
Recently, and with the restrictions that COVID-19 imposed on people all over the world, working from home or remote working has become a more prevalent approach, especially by people working in the digital sector, Jerusalem is no different. The Freelance Academy, aims to help talented individuals in Jerusalem establish a reliable base for their remote digital work and launch their career, whether it’s COVID-19 or COVID-25, lockdown and other restrictions will not have a huge negative impact on their work.
“The Freelance Academy” is a 15-week (90 hours) program designed to guide a broad spectrum of talents to successfully establish careers as online freelancers. The program welcomes talents in a wide range of skills: web development, graphic design, translation, social media, mobile development and front-end development. Through sessions focusing on building a competitive online freelancing profile, social media marketing and networking, the course accelerates career readiness and employability. The course also promotes paying forward to the community by hiring outstanding participants to become co-mentors and mentors in the next cohort.
Station J, which is an entrepreneurial hub and innovative business incubator in Jerusalem, “is enthusiastic to launch this partnership with Gaza Sky Geeks to give Jerusalemite youth an access to digital work and raise their chances of independent employability” according to Hazem, the Executive Director at Station J. He adds: “We consider this step a direct manifestation of our vision as an innovation hub, as our main goal is to build a supportive innovative ecosystem that seeks to offer Palestinian youth, wherever they are, a dynamic, diverse and vibrant entrepreneurial community”. Station J offers different services to the entrepreneurial community in Jerusalem through diversified co-working spaces, skills-building trainings, and youth empowering programs. As well as creating a network of entrepreneurs from all over Palestine and abroad to exchange their knowledge, expertise, and skills.
Gaza Sky Geeks is a Mercy Corps programme co-funded by Google for Startups. Since its launch in 2011 Gaza Sky Geeks has become a key pillar in the Palestinian tech ecosystem. Through the delivery of three core programmes – startup, freelancing and coding – Gaza Sky Geeks aims to empower tech and entrepreneurial talent to kickstart the digital economy in Palestine.
The Freelance Academy program will be implemented by Gaza Sky Geeks in partnership with Station J funded by the Government of Canada.