Natakallam
NaTakallam (“We Speak” in Arabic) is a social enterprise leveraging the freelance digital economy to provide income to refugees, displaced persons & their host community members, by hiring them as online tutors, teachers, translators & cultural exchange partners, regardless of their location & status. NaTakallam's official headquarters are in New York, but its staff, tutors and translators are based in 30+ countries worldwide, with a focus on refugee communities in the MENA region, Francophone Africa and Latin America.
- Organisation type Social enterprise
- Year founded 2015
- Headquartered New York
- Registration France · United States
- Website https://natakallam.com
Related sustainable development goals
Focus areas
Focus sectors
Development
- Economic development
- Employment
- Job creation and workforce developement
- Education
Focus populations
- Asylum seekers
- Immigrants and migrants
- Internally displaced people
- Refugees and displaced people
- Undocumented immigrants
Focus geographies
Africa
- Burkina Faso
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Cameroon
- DR Congo
- Senegal
- Burundi
- Central African Republic
Americas
- Venezeula
- Mexico
- Colombia
Middle East
- Iraq
- Syria
- Yemen
- Lebanon
- Palestine
- Jordan
- North Africa
Programmes
K-12 and university programmes
NaTakallam partners with universities and schools interested in bringing NaTakallam to bring real-life conversations, language learning and cultural exchange to the classroom. To-date, more than 2,000 students have used Natakallam's services to enrich their coursework.Language tutoring
One-to-one and group online language tuition is available in a range of languages including: Arabic; Armenian; English; French; Spanish; Persian; Kurdish, Russian, Ukranian. Classes cost from $16/hour and "conversation partners" can earn up to $60/hour.Refugee Voices
NaTakallam’s interactive guest speaker sessions offer enriching conversations that equip participants with a more nuanced global awareness and an ability to encounter a diverse range of ‘others’ with empathy. These virtual sessions can be tailored according to your team’s interests, as well as corporate social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and staff development objectives.Translation services
NaTakallam provides translation, interpretation and transcription services delivered by refugees and displaced persons in Arabic, French, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian (Farsi/Dari), Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrinya, Urdu – and more.
Financials
Funding model
- Grants to organisations
- Pro bono services
- Programme related investment
Primary funders
- Alfanar
- Ben and Jerry's
- HundrED
- Qatar Foundation International
- Sesame Workshop
Operations
Key staff
- CEO and co-founder, Aline Sara
- chief of staff, Daniël Kuipers
- COO and co-founder, Reza Rahnema
Contact details
- info@natakallam.com
- https://natakallam.com
- Columbia University Startup Lab 175 Varick Street New York, NY, US 10014