Providing 12-17 Week Transferable and Employability Skills to 30,000 Underserved Learners Across 8 Countries – A Truly Cross Border System

Otermans Institute (OI) is a global micro-organisation upskilling unserved and underserved populations globally with the mission of making them employable. Currently working in more than eight countries, supported by UKRI grant funding, and having worked with governments of 3 nations, it is providing its pedagogy and training digitally to underserved and rural learners. OI aims to upskill 750 million learners, mostly rural, by 2025 and its delivery has proven successful in 3 continents which makes it truly cross border effective. From remote schools to foundation-run organisations to UNHCR supported camps in Iraq, 0I has supported over 35,000 unserved learners to date. Through immersive research across 3,200 kilometers in South Asia, 0I developed a blanket curriculum and teaching & training method that can upskill 200 million learners just in India today. The same system can be replicated in other Southern Asian countries and was deployed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka where 80 million other students can benefit immediately. Currently, this system has been taken by governments in India, by the Department of Works and Pensions in the United Kingdom and was taken by the Technical Education Department of the Government of Afghanistan before the government fell. The original methodology of the research and curriculum development will be presented in the talk along with the latest results of its delivery with two separate rural cohorts from South Asia which was delivered in partnership with UNICEF.