Thaki

Thaki is a nonprofit empowering refugee and vulnerable children in the Levant to learn and thrive through self-paced, motivational electronic educational tools. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Thaki sources second-hand and low-cost laptops and electronic devices from corporates which it loads with a mix of third-party and original educational material. It has also created a training toolkit to support digital literacy for teachers. Since March 2022, Thaki has also been part of the UN Global Compact Network. In January 2024, Thaki's founder, Rudayna Abdo, won the Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Award.

  • Organisation type NGO
  • Year founded 2015
  • Headquartered Amsterdam
  • Registration Lebanon · Netherlands
  • Website https://www.thaki.org

Related sustainable development goals

  • Quality Education
  • Gender Equality
  • Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  • Reduced Inequalities
  • Responsible Consumption and Production
  • Climate Action
  • Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • Partnerships for the Goals

Impact

33,000+ students benefitted from Thaki tech

5,800+ devices repurposed and distributed

159 organisations using Thaki devices in refugee schools and centres.

US$14m value of in-kind contributions

Focus areas

Focus sectors

  • Education
    • Education services
      • Computer literacy
      • E-learning
      • Out-of-school learning

Focus populations

  • Adolescents
  • Children
  • Immigrants and migrants
  • Low-income people
  • Refugees and displaced people
  • Students
  • Teachers
  • Victims of conflict and war

Focus geographies

  • Middle East
    • United Arab Emirates
    • Lebanon
    • Jordan

Partners

  • Accenture
  • Aliter Networks
  • Alsama
  • American Community School
  • Anera
  • aramex
  • arcenciel
  • Badri and Salim El Meouchi Law Firm
  • Big Bad Boo Studios
  • Borderless
  • BuBleik SAL
  • Close the Gap
  • Distribute Aid
  • DonaLeb
  • DOT Lebanon
  • e-learning for kids
  • Ecoservlb
  • Edraak
  • edutek
  • EI-Technologies Lebanon
  • Engicon
  • Farik Beirut
  • Fondation Saradar
  • General Electric
  • Girls got IT
  • Gradient
  • Group AMANA
  • GSR Foundation
  • HOK
  • Holdal Group
  • Home of Hope Lebanon
  • IBM
  • Internet-in-a-Box
  • Isaacson Miller
  • JPA
  • Jubaili Bros
  • Jusoor
  • Khaddit Beirut
  • Khatib & Alami
  • Kiwix
  • KPMG
  • Lamsa
  • Lebanese Alternative Learning
  • Lebanon Mountain Trail
  • Leonard Education Organization
  • Little Thinking Minds
  • Majid Al Futtaim
  • Malaak
  • MVO Nederland
  • My School Pulse
  • nafda
  • National Geographic Learning
  • New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD)
  • Oxford University Press
  • Penta Consulting
  • Pervacio
  • PhET Interactive Simulations
  • Polypod
  • PwC
  • Queen Rania Foundation
  • ReBootKamp (RBK)
  • Refinitiv
  • ruwwad
  • SAYEGH
  • SETS
  • SheFighter
  • Social Support Society
  • Society for Social Support and Education
  • Sockeye
  • Sonbola
  • Sopowerful Foundation
  • Standard Chartered
  • Step Association
  • Strategy&
  • Sunshine Books
  • Tamkeen
  • Teach for Lebanon
  • The Education and Diversity Foundation
  • The Nawaya Network
  • The Present Movement
  • Theirworld
  • Tight-Knit Syria
  • tinQwise
  • Transpo Group
  • Tri-pulley
  • Tuyoor Al Amal
  • Unite Lebanon Youth Project
  • University of Colorado Boulder
  • ValuStrat
  • Wakilni
  • World's Largest Lesson
  • Youth Hub

Programmes

  • Laptops for schools

    Thaki sources pre-owned laptops from corporate partners and loads them with educational resources for use by schools and learning centres.

  • Nour by Thaki
    A new project to build children's emotional resilience, Nour is self-guided digital programme that is available online and offline, which uses an animated character - a bunny called Nour - to help guide children throughout the programme.
  • Solar Power by Thaki
    Installing solar panels and stable electricity solutions for schools in Lebanon.
  • Teacher Digital Toolkit
    A bilingual platform with a variety of resources and learning modules that support teachers to teach more confidently and effectively with digital tools and Thaki’s educational content.

Financials

Funding model

  • Grants to organisations
  • In-kind gifts
  • Programme related investment

Primary funders

  • Catalyst Foundation for Universal Education
  • GSR Foundation
  • MIT Solve
  • Netherlands Enterprise Agency

Funding source

  • Corporate
  • Fundraising
  • Revenue generation

Operations

Key staff

  • Rudayna Abdo, founder & CEO
  • Ammar Faraj, financial consultant
  • Zeina Choucair, communications consultant
  • Majd Almuhder, IT manager
  • Kaitlin Giuglianotti, programme manager
  • Mariam Khalaf, operations manager
  • Daniel Bader
  • Angela Solomon, strategy consultant

Board members

  • Cecile van Oppen
  • Geoffrey Alphonso
  • Rula Asfour
  • Nadia Muna Gil
  • Yousif Asfour

Contact details

More

Resources

The key to digital learning: A Circle case study on the NGO repurposing laptops to educate refugees. Read more

More from Thaki:

Annual report 2022

Financial statement 2022