Project team: Serena Chang, Michael Chen, Nikhil Patel, Audrey Tsai
Course: Designing Technology to Counter Violent Extremism, spring 2017
When refugees come to a new country, they are faced with the daunting task of finding secure employment, on top of learning a new language and creating a new home for themselves. Being unable to find employment may lead to social and cultural isolation, as well as long-term feelings of hopelessness and rejection.
As part of Designing Technology to Counter Violent Extremism, a course taught by electrical engineering and computer sciences professor (and Jacobs Institute faculty director) Bjoern Hartmann and foreign policy expert Zvika Krieger, a student team prototyped a platform meant to help address this: ReEmploy. ReEmploy provides local, supplemental job opportunities to refugees as a means of expanding and building their local network for resettlement and community engagement. Through completion of local tasks and engagement with the platform’s features (which emphasize conversation and shared interests), refugees connect with locals for long-term relationships and engagement.
Want to learn more about ReEmploy and its designers? Check out:
“Countering extremism with technology,” Berkeley Engineering