SSIDigital

SSIDigital will use the unique qualities of cloud based digital structured learning and business platforms, providing location agnostic vocational digital skills and trading opportunities for young refugees and asylum seekers.

Using deep resettlement skills, we develop digital competencies and entrepreneurial skills for young refugees aligned with the future of work

There are over 10 million forcibly displaced young people worldwide, who will enter a rapidly changing digital future work environment with the challenges of being relevant to that digital world, navigating displacement and settling in a different cultural and business environment.

There is no dedicated digital platform helping these young people develop their digital competencies and skills, and through which they can access a digital trading market.  Such a platform will help ensure that they arrive, in their new countries “work ready” and either engaged in or ready to engage in sustainable and skilled roles. 

SSI are leading experts in settling and integrating refugees and asylum seekers, having settled over 20,000 in Australia.  What differentiates SSI is a real focus on securing work.  SSI sees, first hand, the difficulties that refugees and asylum seekers experience in securing work.

Skills for Australia (SfA) a subsidiary of PwC and a Skills Service Organization for the Australian Government, leading the development of qualifications and training agendas on future skills needs, with a strong focus on digital and business skills. 

 SSI is applying to the SOLVE program to secure support for a research project to design and implement SSIDigital.    

SSIDigital will use the unique qualities of a cloud based digital platform to provide location agnostic digital learning opportunities for young refugees and asylum seekers throughout the settlement process to develop their digital competence, build accredited skills aligned with the future of work and generate revenue streams from digital micro projects. 

Being cloud based, SSIDigital is infinitely scalable.  

All the constituent parts of the solution exist and are used in other scenarios. The unique relationship between SSI, PwC and the SOLVE program can shape these to address an issue of international importance for a youth cohort at risk of being overlooked. 

There are over 10 million forcibly displaced young refugees and asylum seekers worldwide, who will enter a rapidly changing future work environment with the compound challenges of making themselves relevant to that world, having to navigate displacement and settling in an unfamiliar cultural and business environment (see video). 

There is no dedicated digital skills training and business platform for these young people, to help develop their digital competencies, skills and entrepreneurialism, alongside the resettlement process, to ensure that they arrive in their new countries “work ready” with relevant experience of working in skilled roles aligned with the future of work 

Building digital skills, core to the future of work, requires a structured program of knowledge acquisition, reinforced by problem solving in real world environments.    

Young refugees and asylum seekers struggle to access learning opportunities due to disruption in their home territories and the resettlement process.

The core infrastructure components - on-line knowledge development (MIT Office of Digital Learning) – Modern digital qualifications (PwC's Skills for Australia) – Digital Business Exchanges (Freelancer.com) - exist but have yet to be brought together.

SSIDigital will provide structured learning, work experience and real work to address the disadvantage experienced by young refugees.

The target outcome is simple. SSI Digital wants to eradicate the disadvantage that those young refugees and asylum seekers who wish to build digital skills based careers face as a result of the distress and disruption in their former homelands and the resettlement process.

SSIDigital will be a living solution, available to them before, during and after resettlement as a learning and business community focused on building and accrediting the 21st century digital skills and raising employment opportunities through an innovative skills and business model.

Measured by platform registrations - 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers engage with the platform by 1/7/19

Measured by issued accreditations - Pilot cohort of 500 “graduates” through the platform with a globally recognised accreditation in digital skills by 1/1/20

Measured by platform activity - Tangible employment and/of business outcomes achieved for 1,000 refugees and asylum seekers globally through the digital trading platform

The solution is still at the research stage offering everyone a unique opportunity to do something amazing.

Bringing together digital learning and digital trading though a digital platform for refugees is completely unique.

Bringing together the combination of expertise from SSI on settlement and employment with PwC’s leading expertise on skill development and research into the future of work and the partnerships within SOLVE creates a unique model of working.

We need new partners to bring digital learning content, a modern structured curriculum, a delivery platform, an accreditation capability and a digital trading platform.

At the heart of the opportunity is the individual refugee or asylum seeker with a talent for digital delivery or digital entrepreneurialism frustrated by a lack of local access to opportunity or support.

The development of SSIDigital will draw heavily on the experiences of those who have experienced resettlement to put real life stories at the heart of both design of the minimum viable product and plans for its roll out to priority territories ad then globally.

SSI’s ability to tap into the stories and histories of over 20,000 already settled refugees and asylum seekers is unique. 

The solution will be cloud based, accessible via Apps or laptop log in wherever a network can be located.

Partnerships will be essential to scale connectivity interventions and to make available core technology, with refugees currently spending up to a third of their disposable income of mobile devices and connectivity.

However, given the lack of availability of in-territory tutoring and skill development, many refugees and asylum seekers with digital skills ambitions are used to accessing leading knowledge banks (such as MIT) already. 

At this stage, financial support for further research is requested.  Commitments have been made by both SSI and PwC to invest further in their areas of expertise.  Current plans indicate that approximately US$174k is needed to conclude conceptual design.  Additional funding will then be needed to prototype the solution and prepare for launch.

In its mature state SSIDigital will be financed from a commission stream from digital delivery work placed through the platform and completed for a fee by refugees and asylum seekers. 

SSI plan to approach other funders, UNHRC, Territory Governments and Corporate sponsors should further investment be required to move the solution from prototype to operation at scale.

All component elements of the solution are in use for other purposes.  The only limitation on the reuse of these components will be the willingness of the component owners to participate and support this initiative.  This is helped by the strong brands of SSI, PwC and the Solve partners.

SSI are at the heart of the design of innovative solutions to support refugees and asylum seekers settle and thrive in new countries.

SSI does not have the breadth of expertise necessary to develop SSIDigital and, as a not for profit, is looking for commercial and philanthropic partners to join with it to bring this great idea to fruition.

These is such significant societal potential behind this idea that SSI did not want to let it go without considering all support options.  The Solve opportunity and the access it brings to leading partners, looks to provide exactly what is needed. 

PwC's Skills for Australia have supported the development of the SSIDigital concept to date and their work on the future of work and redesign of digital qualifications will be critical to the programme. 

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