Innovating for Displaced Talent at the World’s Greatest Show
Pictured from left: Cherin El Haj (UNHCR), Bruce Scofield (IRCC), Noura Ismail (TBB), and Erin Brouse (IRCC) following their panel on refugee labour migration at the UN Pavillion at Expo Dubai, March 2022.
Last week marked the end of the Expo 2020 Dubai - also known as the World’s Greatest Show. Talent Beyond Boundaries is honored to have been part of it.
In 2020, we were announced as recipients of the Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme (see highlight here), an official initiative of the Expo to provide support to disruptive global solutions addressing critical challenges in education, health, employment, and other areas. TBB’s program model was evaluated by more than 40 expert judges and we were recognised alongside 140 other global innovations from 76 countries.
The financial support from Expo Live enabled TBB to refine our skills-matching technology, secure durable solutions via international employment for hundreds of refugees, and begin our global replication strategy to scale labour mobility to more countries in the Middle East, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa - all in the midst of the global pandemic.
Expo Live also showcased our program over a six month period at its pavilion, the Good Place in Dubai, and invited us to participate in a series of workshops, presentations, and events - particularly during its Tolerance and Inclusivity week last November. We’re grateful for the opportunity to promote labour mobility for refugees on a truly global stage.
Another highlight of the Expo Dubai was our inclusion on a panel hosted by the Embassy of Canada to the United Arab Emirates at the UN Pavilion. The event was titled ‘Refugees and the Future – Protection through mobility, opportunities for growth’ and explored how refugees might access durable solutions through labour mobility pathways at scale.
Speakers included high-level members of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Accenture, TBB, and our refugee beneficiaries.
During the event, TBB’s Middle East Director Noura Ismail, noted “We ultimately aim to build a global labour mobility ecosystem to enable refugees and employers around the world to join forces and create a win-win solution to displacement and skills shortages. We have been rewriting the narrative of refugees by thinking about them as assets, not burdens, and we have proven that refugees living in displacement have skills that are in demand globally - and that employers are willing and able to recruit them to fill their skill gaps.”
Our entire team is grateful to have been included in this historic global event, and we look forward to carrying on Expo Dubai’s mission of connecting minds and creating opportunities for all.