Goals:
To create new, flexible, and advanced employment opportunities for populations outside the workforce.
To overcome barriers to employment like distance, time, and accessibility.
To expose program participants to the field of e-commerce and imparting professional knowledge, tools, and business support to increase their economic mobility.
The Need:
Link was developed in response to the challenges of the future world of work, which is characterized by rapid change and increasingly flexible patterns of employment. Technological development and innovation are creating new job opportunities that do not require geographical proximity, regular office hours, and traditional employee-employer relations. In this context, online commerce, or e-commerce, is gaining momentum. But there is a wide digital gap in Israeli society. About half of those who do not use the Internet are either ultra-Orthodox or Arab – two populations with high rates of poverty.
Target Audience:
Geographically, socially, or culturally isolated populations that are largely excluded from the workforce, such as Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, people with disabilities, those aged 45 and older, and those on welfare.
Activities:
The program is spread over a seven-month period. The first three months are devoted to acquiring knowledge and developing skills in the field of e-commerce. The next four months are dedicated to individual and joint business activities, with an emphasis on groups working together to promote common business interests and relationships within their communities.
Link imparts professional knowledge and skills such as self-management, communication and teamwork, data analysis and processing, business English, and more. It develops work relationships and a supportive business community through which individuals can offer and receive advice around marketing, building professional networks, understanding commerce, dealing with tax authorities, and developing financial capabilities. The program creates business opportunities by increasing access to vendors and providing a professional mentor who accompanies the participants and provides assistance in both a personal and group context
