Peacegeeks

Snapp is a digital service that matches newcomers with local professionals for one-on-one virtual chats to share employment advice.

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Snapp summary report

PeaceGeeks initiated the MentorApp research and pilot project, funded by Immigration,Refugees and Citizenship Canada from 2018 to 2021. Our aim was to understand current mentorship experiences, in order to co-create and test a digital platform that strengthens newcomers’ access to relevant employment mentors. As newcomers continue to face barriers finding skills-commensurate work, employment mentorship offers a proven way to bridge employment gaps.However, opportunities to connect with an employment mentor remain under-tapped by qualified newcomers.

Mentorship programs offered by settlement service providing organizations are also constrained by manual ,time-intensive program administration and limited mentor supply. In 2019, over 40,000newcomers of working age arrived in BritishColumbia; yet we estimate that less than 1,500newcomers in B.C. are matched in employment mentorship programs every year. With Snapp (Skilled Newcomers and Professionals Partnership), we inspected the question of how to deliver services online, leveraging automation and social dynamics to reduce barriers to entry and increase the scale and reach of mentorship opportunities.The project was conducted through shared visioning, research, co-design, and testing with newcomers, mentors, and over 15organizational partners, including service providing organizations(SPOs), Local ImmigrationPartnerships (LIPs), and municipal and community stakeholders.

PROJECT GOALS

1. Create better employment outcomes for newcomers through easier access to mentors with a relevant background and experience.

2. Design and develop an online application to help newcomers better access their most relevant mentors for employment.

3. Build settlement sector knowledge, collaboration, and capacity around accessible mentoring.

Micro-matching participants

Many newcomer mentorship programs require multiple meetings, intensive screening and orientation, and a formalized mentor/mentee relationship. On the contrary, Snapp offers micro-matches (one-time introductions), is purely virtual (using email and video calls), has lower eligibility barriers, and offers reciprocal exchange where newcomers can give local professionals feedback on their advisory skills.

Empowering program administrators

Snapp streamlines logistics for case managers and frontline workers who are looking to connect their clients (newcomers) by consolidating participant information into user-friendly dashboards and automating the connection flow and communication. The platform generates matches algorithmically, with the option for manual curation.

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Arrival Advisor Is

All encompassing

Arrival Advisor is a newcomer’s one-stop-shop for settling in Canada. Whether they're looking for a job, registering for the Medical Services Plan (MSP) or just even just researching where to migrate, the app gives users to the tools to successfully jumpstart their life in Canada, from making the decision to move to Canada the point in which they feel confident in their status as a new Canadian.

Arrival Advisor Is

Multilingual

Arrival Advisor is working very hard to have its content available in English, French, and Arabic. PeaceGeeks is currently translating the app into Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Korean, Punjabi, and Tagalog

Arrival Advisor Is

Relevant

Through an anonymous questionnaire, the app helps newcomers identify their most urgent tasks and recommends them to their most relevant information and services.

Arrival Advisor Is

Actionable

Arrival Advisor helps newcomers navigate their settlement journey step-by-step by providing intuitive recommendations for their next steps, as well as offering Maps compatibility to get them where they need to go.

Arrival Advisor Is

Secure

PeaceGeeks is passionate about protecting data security and privacy, especially for communities at risk. Users do not need to provide any personal information or create an account within the app, and they can delete their user data at any time. An optional questionnaire will tailor the wealth of information within the app to the user’s needs while respecting their anonymity, alternatively, users can navigate the app through its general organization of information.

Community Resilience Workshops

These workshops facilitate open dialogue among citizens in under-resourced, rural, and marginalized communities to deliberate local challenges and responses.

Capacity Building Workshops

These workshops equip content producers, activists, community-based organizations and civil society organizations with the skills, resources, and networks to create and amplify alternative narratives.

Artists-in-Residence

Meshkat Community works with a handful of artists every year who are funded and mentored to create art — fine arts, music, videos, performing arts, creative writing, and more — engaging with various themes of peace and prevention of extremism.

Peace Awards

The annual Meshkat Peace Awards recognize communities and organizations making outstanding contributions to the creation of content promoting critical, creative thinking, and constructive dialogue to strengthen social cohesion.

Digital Youth Network

The DYN provides young Jordanians between with the means, tools, skills, and knowledge to meaningfully engage in digital contributions to peace in safe, positive, and responsible ways.

Joint Action Plans

Developed by alliances within and across local communities, Joint Action Plans promote common objectives through community based activities, digital campaigns, awareness campaigns, and capacity building workshops for women and youth.

Website

The Meshkat Community website aggregates content promoting social cohesion in the MENA region, and creates a digital hub for people to share their content, observations, and reflections on effective responses to harmful online narratives.

Social Media

Meshkat Community creates, curates and shares content consistent with the objectives of Meshkat Community through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to inspire online citizens to promote social inclusion and challenge hate.

Settlement 2.0 & 3.0 Reports and resources

Together, Settlement 2.0 and 3.0 provide a strategy for a brighter future for the sector that prioritizes empowering newcomers to be agents in their own settlement journey and offers actionable steps to build the overall capacity of the sector to embrace innovation towards more successfully and sustainably supporting newcomers over time.

Settlement 3.0

Innovations in our DNA (Full report)

Learning from the factors created by the COVID-19 pandemic and settlement experiences across regions, Settlement 3.0 explored how innovation and tech can best support newcomers in their settlement journey from pre-arrival to full and meaningful integration.

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Innovations in our DNA (Executive Summary)

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Settlement 2.0

Innovations in our DNA (Full report)

The Settlement 2.0 Project strives to understand how the settlement sector can embrace tech and innovation in service delivery and strategic principles. Take a look at PeaceGeeks’ final recommendations.

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Innovations in our DNA (Summary)

As the immigrant and refugee-serving sector has gone #suddenlyremote during COVID-19, take a look at our Settlement 2.0 conversation starter on innovation and design to ensure positive newcomer settlement outcomes.

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Community consultations report

This report outlines the second phase of the Settlement 2.0 project, undertaken in partnership between SFU Public Square and PeaceGeeks Society.

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Situational analysis

This report provides a snapshot of the current state of the technological and innovative capacities of the immigrant and refugee-serving sector in Canada.

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