Local economies in the region are not capable of providing sufficient job opportunities for youth including for the university graduates. Online Freelancing, which is one of the growing forms of the GiG Economy, constitutes a very achievable solution for youth to generate income without being tied to the constraints of local economies or geographies. And with a close to USD 30B OFL market (World Bank), youth in the region need assistance and targeted capacity building interventions in order to help them access such markets successfully.

Business Alliance has been developing the OFL ecosystem since 2013, and over the past years it has been trusted by international and regional donors and sponsors to help over 3,000 youth acquiring needed hands-on tools and experience to become successful self-employed as online freelancers. Business Alliance has implemented end-to-end OFL programs and partial modules as well. In the field of OFL, BA has been involved in a wide array of activities including: commercial online freelancing activities, research and analysis or economic development programs on online freelancing.

The overall delivery approach of our Online Freelancing Training and Bootcamp Programs is a combination of knowledge transfer, practical hands-on training and one-on-one mentorship. Through developing the youth’s technical knowledge and skills, we have been helping them acquire freelancing opportunities as well as full-time jobs. Our typical key activities when designing, planning and implementing a results-based online freelancing training and mentorship intervention consists of:

1. Project Design based on an update on global skills’ need, if needed.
2. Project Preparation, Kick off, Promotion, Assessment and Selection of candidates.
3. Online Freelancing Training Implementation
4. Technical Training Implementation, if needed.
5. Coaching and Mentorship (one-on-one and/or group-based).
6. Success stories documentation.