By Huthifa Bakeer | Empowering Conflict-Affected Futures
Over the past few months at Humans in the Loop Foundation, we have continued to grow our mission of equipping conflict-affected individuals with digital skills, language proficiency, and opportunities for dignified work. Our programs this quarter aimed to improve innovation, collaboration, and impact.
Our HITL Stars program - an instructor-led course that launched in January 2025 and finished in mid-April 2025 with a total of 25 successful graduates. The program consisted of two separate levels of the English language Beginner level (A1) and Pre-Intermediate (A2). The next HITL Stars edition started end of April with 45 participants and is set to finish in mid-July. We have additionally launched our very first HITL Intro to Video Editing course with 10 participants and 7 successful graduates of the training. The 4-week online course in English is designed to empower students to create high-quality, eye-catching short-form video content using CapCut, giving them the tools to thrive in the world of social media video editing.
Complementing this effort, we also launched our English Language Partnership program, led by our Volunteer and Training Specialist. Through this program, 22 pairs of HITL Stars trainees and native English-speaking volunteers met once a week for a total of 10 weeks. Each pair practiced English speaking skills, and the volunteers offered personalized support, fostering deeper engagement with the language.
We also recently marked the graduation of the HP Mentoring Program, 40 Days of Doing Good - a unique initiative designed to support young professionals through focused, skills-based mentorship. Over the course of the program, 14 mentees worked closely with mentors from HP, gaining professional insights, assessing their soft and digital skills, and crafting personal growth plans to guide their next career steps.
As part of Refugee Week, we held a special session on June 19, 2025, where participants took a deeper dive into “The Art of Video Editing: How to Create Quality Content for Social Media”. Led by two members of our Beneficiary Advisory Board, the session featured real-time demonstrations of popular editing tools and practical tips for creating engaging content for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
One of the most significant moments of the quarter was the virtual launch of our annual Social Impact Report, titled “Beyond The Numbers”, held on May 28, 2025. The event drew 91 attendees, including donors, partners, and members of the communities we serve. The report celebrated our collective progress, highlighted human-centered impact stories, and opened up thoughtful conversations about the deeper meaning of our work.
We are also proud to announce a major new initiative: The AI Innovator Pathway Program, developed in partnership with Subul, our partner in Turkey and Syria. The program will launch soon and aims to equip participants from conflict-affected communities with applied knowledge in AI engineering, Design Thinking, Business Architecture, and Web Development. What sets this program apart is its holistic support model, including:
Finally, we are honored to share that Humans in the Loop has been selected as a semi-finalist in MIT Solve’s 2025 Global Economic Prosperity Challenge. Our solution stood out among hundreds of entries and is now advancing to the next stage of the competition—a strong validation of our approach to building economic resilience for conflict-affected communities.
As we move forward, we remain grounded in our commitment to inclusive learning, collaborative growth, and creating pathways toward prosperity for all.
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