Introduction:
Robo Co-op and Automation Anywhere are initiating a Global Gateway program for the digital inclusion of refugees, leveraging the strengths of both organizations to empower refugees with cutting-edge digital skills. This partnership aims to redefine the landscape of refugee inclusion, accelerating impact sourcing for expanding job inclusion opportunities for digital career development.
To see the release issued by Automation Anywhere, click here.

About Robo Co-op:
Robo Co-op is a visionary refugee-led cooperative for the digital inclusion of refugees with its aspiration to co-create 100,000 job opportunities. This is an online community where anyone can join from anywhere in the world to develop a digital career.

Group learning fosters social capital and increases members’ resilience towards digital reskilling and upskilling. Digital projects via remote work enable members to work flexibly from anywhere they want or need to be.

Robo Co-op is committed to equality and democratic decision-making, helping refugees regain hope worldwide.

Robo Co-op is also a game-changer in the realm of job inclusion for refugees through its digital impact sourcing. It creates a new type of corporate engagement by successfully outsourcing their IT projects to impact sourcing vendors like Robo Co-op, creating job opportunities for refugees. This approach addresses challenges not solved by traditional impact hiring where corporates directly hire refugees, creating more open, efficient, and flexible options for job inclusion of refugees. Robo Co-op aims to bridge the gap between 100 million refugees globally and the growing demand for 100 million digital workers.

Partnership: The Global Gateway Program

Our initiative is named “Global Gateway Program”. In the age of intelligent automation with generative AI, the global job market is undergoing a significant transformation with improved productivity and large job cuts as tradeoff. Robo Co-op and Automation Anywhere are in partnership at the forefront of this challenge, offering refugees reskilling and upskilling opportunities.
Robo Co-op co-creates a curriculum to teach automation skills with Automation Anywhere’s social impact scholarship program that offers courses and certificates. Automation Anywhere will also provide on the job training (OJT) opportunities through test automation of new Automation Anywhere features, providing occasions for refugees to showcase their professional capability in delivering high quality software assurance. Automation Anywhere and Robo Co-Op’s shared goal for the Global Gateway Program is to upskill 100 refugees over the next three years.

The pilot is already going beyond borders. A Syrian member in Türkiye and a Burmese member in Myanmar are already training Ukrainian and Afghan female members who fled to Tokyo, opening a digital gateway for global pioneers. The partnership accelerates both social mobility and global mobility. Refugees would climb up the base of social pyramidal with digital skills, while enjoying the freedom of mobility to live anywhere they want with remote work opportunities.

Global Gateway Program

About Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere is the leader in intelligent automation solutions that put AI to work across every aspect of an organization. Automation Anywhere empowers organizations worldwide to make productivity gains, drive innovation, improve customer service and accelerate business growth. The company is guided by its vision to fuel the future of work by unleashing human potential through intelligent automation.

The company also guides customers, nonprofits, and individuals they serve into the leading edge of the upskilling transition wave. It believes reskilling for the future of work can help resolve many of the world’s pressing challenges – the widening wealth gap, the plight of 100K+ refugees seeking employment, and help improve productivity levels due to the ongoing decline in workforce numbers. Automation Anywhere’s goal is to foster inclusivity and improve accessibility to tech education and job opportunities. Its partners’ inspiring stories underscore the results of these reskilling efforts, like Mohamad, who fled Syria to Türkiye and embarked on an AI-automation reskilling journey through Robo Co-op. He now pays it forward by training other refugees from various parts of the world, including Ukraine.

The company’s focus on upskilling marginalized communities, whether economically disadvantaged, displaced refugees, or women in regions where tech jobs are traditionally male dominated, inspire so many people with their resilience and determination to acquire “future of work” skills despite daunting circumstances.

Report: The Reality of Refugees in 2023

• Uprooted Life In 2022, the number of refugees surpassed 100 million. It means every single second, there is another human being displaced by conflict. And projections suggest that by 2050, there could be over 1 billion “climate refugees”. Only 6% of refugees have access to tertiary and higher education, according to UNHCR. Even if refugees manage to flee from life-threatening situation, many spend years or even decades under unstable environment (10 – 25 years on average in camps). They are limited only to access labor-intensive jobs. While the images of refugees often highlighted in the news give the impression that they fled their homeland without anything (and the host countries and society need to help them all), they were once mothers, fathers, doctors, professors, farmers, students, or even skilled professionals.
• Robo Co-op Believes in Diverse Talents with Full of Potential Robo Co-op believes that providing meaningful reskilling and descent work opportunities would rebuild the life of those undermined talents for a better future to shine as they are. Refugees are a largely untapped resource brimming with potential. Like each one of us, they come with a huge variety of skills and experiences. More than half are of working age population between 18-59, and their life-altering experiences of fleeing their home have made them incredibly resilient. While they had to flee, most of them are highly motivated to contribute to the host country, with the hope that they bring back their experiences for their country’s reconstruction in the future. In fact, members of Robo Co-op never give up. Even if situations in their home country became more severe, members keep studying and working even harder for their family and surroundings. Even if infrastructure is weak with unstable generator and Wi-Fi, it does not stop them from keeping connected to the online community for their new career development. They commit to the second chance they deserve and build their brighter future by supporting each other with digital skill.
  
  
  "I could be a giver here.” a Syrian member said.

Mohamad in Türkiye completed the digital training, and now is already joining the automation projects while teaching other members with refugee background. The recent Türkiye - Syria earthquake in 2023, one of the strongest with mw 7.8, caused a high inflation above 40%. "It’s just great that my family was all safe. But we have the toughest situation here. It is not easy to get a decent job for anyone”, Mohamad said. “But I could be a giver in Robo Co-op. I am now the teacher for other refugee members with Automation Anywhere. Also, I am the deliverer of digital transformation for Silicon Valley, even from Istanbul.” In Robo Co-op, the refugee–led cooperative, Mohamad envisions to expand this digital inclusion with the hands of other refugee members by themselves, through this ecosystem co-creating with Automation Anywhere.

Mission to Türkiye-Syria Border Affected by Earthquake

In the last October, Kim, the founder of Robo Co-op, visited Türkiye to finally meet Mohamad for the first time over two years. He is one of the early members who has been learning and working with Robo Co-op since its inception through online. This long-awaited onsite meeting allowed Kim to witness Mohamad's stable economic situation, as well as the severity of the disaster area in contrast. They visited the border together to see what Robo Co-op can do together to bring hope.

Kim directly interviewed Mohamad about his perception on this world:
Q: Please tell us about your life before you met Robo Co-op. (Kim)

A: In Syria, I was studying at a law school to become a lawyer. However, after fleeing to Türkiye, it became difficult to continue my study, and I worked as a real estate agent. Life was tough due to discrimination against Syrians as well. (Mohamad)

Q: What fascinates you most about Robo Co-op? (Kim)

A: At Robo Co-op, anyone can get the second chance regardless of their nationality or circumstances. And everyone can become a 'Giver' as a teacher of other refugees or developer for the global economy and society. (Mohamad)

Q: Please tell us about your dreams and goals for the future. (Kim)

A: I want to extend this circle of mutual support through digital skills to those who need it. After the Türkiye-Syria earthquake, everyone's life became more difficult. I want to connect hope for everyone, without distinction between Syrians and Turks. (Mohamad)

Greetings from both companies:

• Jintae Kim, the founder of Robo co-op "As the founder of Robo Co-op, I am very honored and excited to announce our collaboration with Automation Anywhere through this Global Gateway. Through our ecosystem for digital impact sourcing, we can create a win-win situation for both refugees and corporates. We believe that everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to contribute to the digital economy. We all can be a giver. Our members can be teachers for more refugees and delivers of digital transformation for global economy, while corporates can also be a giver of job inclusion opportunity. I really appreciate Automation Anywhere’s commitment and support for the digital inclusion of refugees."
• Neeti Mehta Shukla, Co-founder, Social Impact Officer at Automation Anywhere “At Automation Anywhere, we are deeply committed to creating a lasting impact. We envision a future where technology empowers nonprofits to uplift and transform lives worldwide. In an era where groundbreaking technologies like AI and process automation are helping to reshape industries and help improve productivity, we consider it our duty to infuse a human touch into the future of work, making it more diverse and inclusive. Our ambitious goal in partnering with Robo Co-op to create hundreds of job opportunities for refugees and simultaneously upskill refugees is a testament to our commitment to not only addressing the immediate challenges of displacement, but also empowering individuals with the skills and opportunities crucial for long-term success.”

You Can Also Be a Giver Too.

Our journey has just begun and any assistance from you is more than welcome! The digital impact sourcing not only provides refugees with both education and job inclusion opportunity, but also provides corporates with efficient talent sourcing opportunity. Through the trial of refugee talents with impact sourcing, corporates can even potentially move to impact hiring to directly employ refugees with expertise.

1. Outsource to Robo Co-op: By outsourcing your companies’ RPA projects to Robo Co-op, you are contributing to meaningful job inclusion opportunities for refugees. This not only enhances your company's social responsibility, but also taps into a pool of motivated and skilled digital talents.
2. Train your refugees with Robo Co-op: If you already employ people with a refugee background, ask Robo Co-op's members to reskill your refugee employees. Employed refugees may remain isolated at your workplace, or not involved as digital talents. Our members can train your refugees as the next digital talents to lead your company’s digital transformation.
3. Empower refugees by sharing our stories: Robo Co-op's members are striving to expand the digital inclusion for refugees by themselves. Spreading their stories and initiatives is nothing but empowerment. You can also invite them to events anywhere around the globe, like international conferences, roundtable dialogues, or even internal lectures and workshops for SDGs. Please connect us to go beyond borders.

We invite you to act and be a part of this transformative journey towards a more inclusive and sustainable digital future.

Contact:

For potential givers and more information, please contact Robo Co-op at info@roboco-op.org

Jintae KIM: The founder of Robo Co-op. Born in 1990 in Japan as the third generation of North Korean. Graduated from a local Korean school in Japan from elementary to high school. Changed his nationality to South Korean to participate in a Dual Under Degree Program, graduating from universities in both Japan and the U.S. within four years. Majored in international business in Japan and accounting in the U.S., earning scholarships, and passed the USCPA exams. Joined Deloitte Consulting in Japan, receiving the highest evaluation of "Exceptional" for five consecutive years. Led Deloitte’s Social Impact Office, and later resigned to establish Robo Co-op. Focuses on utilizing digital skills for the economic independence of diverse and underrepresented refugees through education and job inclusion, expanding the global social business and building ecosystems.