In Support of Palestinian Tech Entrepreneurs, Google Launches Million-Dollar Initiative

The Palestine Launchpad program, a capacity-building initiative by Google, has just been launched. Its goal is to support Palestinian graduates, app developers, and internet entrepreneurs in advancing their digital skills and securing employment. This is part of the $10 million program that Google initiated in March 2022 to aid the development of digital skills and the job market within the Palestinian tech ecosystem.

Palestine Launchpad was developed in collaboration with SPARK, a global NGO that offers higher vocational education, and Udacity, a market leader in talent transformation. With the aim to graduate 3500 Palestinians from the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the initiative will run from 2023 through 2026. Developed based on studies with regional institutions and associations, the program is designed to address talent and job needs. The program encompasses three pillars: capacity building, mentorship, and employment matching.

Capacity Building: A 16-week hybrid program run by instructors and educators from Udacity that will offer beginning and advanced technical skills and soft skills. 

Advanced Nanodegree: Tracks will cover (1) Web development (2) AI engineering and (3) Data analysis. Examples of courses include Intro to Programming, Programming for Data Science, and AI Programming with Python. The courses will cover Google technologies like the machine learning platform, TensorFlow, as well as other technologies. These courses are designed to equip people for future jobs such as Machine Learning Engineering, Data Science and Mobile App Development.

Soft skills: Courses will cover topics that are essential for any type of employment or entrepreneurship such as building a resume, preparing for a job interview and how to give an elevator pitch.

Group and Individual Mentorship: Throughout the course, students will have access to up to 100 hours of both group and one-on-one mentoring from local and regional Udacity instructors, available both in-person and online. Students can also seek additional mentoring and career guidance post-graduation. Every two months, in-person community events with local universities will be organized, providing opportunities for students to interact and share ideas.

Employment matching and internship placement: Outstanding students will be offered job and internship placement opportunities within local and regional businesses. Over three years, SPARK and local outreach partners will organize four job fairs, bringing together recruiters and candidates for networking and potential employment prospects.

Najeeb Jarrar, Regional Marketing Director for Google in MENA, said: "We are committed to helping Palestinian graduates, app developers and tech entrepreneurs with the digital skills they need to succeed and to facilitate access to jobs and employment. Google has long been supporting Palestinians through digital skills initiatives like Maharat min Google, Coursera licenses / Google Career Certificates. We've also worked in collaboration with global and local partners like Udacity, SPARK, Kiva, Amideast, Gaza Sky Geeks and others."

Kai Roemmelt, CEO of Udacity, said: "We are dedicated to enhancing the lives of Palestinian Youth through this scholarship program designed to upskill 3,500 graduates upon the conclusion of the scholarship. With this tech endeavor, we hold the belief that Palestinian youth will gain priceless knowledge and skills, equipping them for success in the job market."

Dina Almasaeid, Country Manager for Spark in Palestine, said: "The Palestine Launchpad program directly addresses the pressing skills gap among our youth. Guided by our needs assessment, program topics align with the real demands of our community. By focusing on these essential skills, we are dedicated to narrowing the gap and alleviating unemployment. Through initiatives like these, we are not just preparing our youth for jobs—we are preparing them to be catalysts of change, drivers of economies, and leaders of communities."

The first cohort of the Palestine Launchpad program started in March 2023. Six hundred fifty students enrolled and half of them are women.

As per the World Bank, there is high education literacy within the Palestinian ecosystem (85% of founders in the tech ecosystem have a university degree and 27% have a graduate degree). There are 1,500 ICT graduates in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza every year. According to Portland Trust, the tech sector’s contribution to the Palestinian economy in the last decade was 5-7% of GDP, with an average of $543.5 million of value-add. According to USAID, 50% of ICT graduates are unemployed.

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