Google.org, Google’s philanthropic branch, awards $1 million to Injaz for the second time. It had previously invested the same sum in 2018.

Injaz is a nonprofit organization, headquartered in Jordan that operates in 13 countries. It was founded in 1999 and has gradually become the largest non-profit organization dedicated to combatting unemployment in the region.

Google’s first investment in Injaz helped 100,000 students in the MENA region expand their digital skills through hands-on training. In 2018, Google launched Maharat min Google, a digital skills training program for Arabic speakers. The main beneficiaries were women and those belonging to underserved communities.

Google.org has been committed to empowering people by helping them gain the skills that they will need in an increasingly digital economy. According to a presentation by Google, by 2021, at least one in five jobs in the Arab world will require digital skills that aren’t widely available today, leading to a skills gap. Over the next 30 years, governments and companies across the region will be required to create over 300 million jobs and many of these jobs will be created through the digital economy. Despite this, only 38% feel their education is preparing them to succeed in the workforce.

“Every day, people in the Middle East and North Africa turn to Google for help, to get things done and to learn new things. Over the years, we’ve improved how our products work for in Arabic, whether that was on Search, Assistant, Maps or YouTube. We are committed to making our products more helpful to people in the Middle East and North Africa,” Lino Cattaruzzi, Managing Director for Google in the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement.