By Huthifa Bakeer | Project Development Specialist
When Rima first started thinking about gig work, she had no idea where to begin. "I had zero experience in how to work on LinkedIn, and I only had my name on Upwork — so it was really strange. I was really looking for that exact opportunity." Originally from Syria, Rima joined our Profile to Gig in 30 Days program and her story captures exactly what this project exists to do: turn isolation and uncertainty into a clear, practical path toward income.
Building on that program's success, Q2 2026 saw the launch of a new, more intensive offering: Profile to Gig in 15 Days. The first cohort welcomed 12 participants (55% male, 45% female), and 3 graduates have already completed the program. Each graduate moves directly into a personalized career pathway, including individual sessions with our social mediator, as they actively prepare their Upwork profiles and take their first steps toward paid work.
That personalized support is part of a bigger picture: our ongoing Career Counselling program. Since the start of 2026, we've conducted 121 one-on-one sessions supporting 43 participants (51% women), helping people translate their skills into clear, confident next steps in the digital economy.
This quarter, we launched our 2025 Social Impact Report through a campaign on our social media platforms, sharing the milestones, outcomes, and — most importantly — the human stories behind our work with our community and supporters. We were also deeply honored to receive the Andan Alumni Award for Excellence in Refugee Inclusion, recognizing organizations making a measurable difference in refugees' lives through dignified economic opportunity. This award belongs as much to our participants as to our team.
We also opened doors to a brand-new opportunity: the Beginners Medical Annotation Training, a 12-week, fully online program launching June 29, 2026, that gives participants a pathway into one of the fastest-growing areas of AI work. Combining self-paced modules with live sessions, and backed by a completion stipend, the program connects graduates directly to paid annotation projects through Humans in the Loop — an organization that has already supported over 1,700 people and distributed more than $1.5 million to workers worldwide.
Finally, we're inviting you to join us on July 1st for Ethical Vendor Partnerships: Co-Creating Fair Digital Work That Scales, an online conversation featuring voices from FairWork, Intel's Responsible AI program, and our own Humans in the Loop leadership team — exploring what accountability really looks like across the AI value chain.
[Registration link: https://lnkd.in/dtTtKXME ]
Thank you for making stories like Rima's possible.
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By Huthifa Bakeer | Project Development Specialist
By Magdalena Tsaneva | Project Development Coordinator
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