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SILICON SLOPES, Utah, and OSLO, Norway — Pluralsight, the enterprise technology skills platform, today announced that its social enterprise, Pluralsight One, has formed a multi-year partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to transform its digital capabilities, and bring technology skills development opportunities to displaced people and their host communities around the world. The partnership is designed to create sustainable social impact for displaced and crisis-affected populations around the world, as well as increase the technical capabilities of NRC to support the organization’s digital transformation.

The partnership comes at a critical time for the organization and the world. According to recent data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 70.8 million people are now displaced worldwide, the largest number ever recorded and almost equal to the population sizes of California and Texas combined. Even more tragic is the fact that every second refugee was a child in 2018, many of them (111,000) traveled alone and without their families.

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa, and the Middle East were the hardest hit, and ongoing conflicts in those regions will continue to displace more people this year. In addition to recent refugees, tens of millions have been left in a protracted state of displacement by ongoing conflicts around the world, with no clear timeline for their resettlement. Gaining technology skills as they await their fate can help them work towards a better and brighter future.

“We are committed to helping NRC accelerate and magnify their impact, building on their phenomenal track record. And we want to empower these humanitarian experts with the technology skills they need to advance their work in the face of the incredibly complex problems they’re tackling head-on,” said Aaron Skonnard, co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. “In addition, we will provide refugees and displaced persons the opportunity to learn technology skills so they may create a better and safer future for themselves, their families, their communities and potentially, our world as a whole.”

NRC recognizes the important role technology can play in meeting the global refugee crisis, and is partnering with Pluralsight One to support its digital transformation and the application of technology-based solutions to its existing programs and future programs to create better outcomes for refugees around the world.

In Iraq, attorneys with NRC’s Information Counselling and Legal Assistance program have been working with refugees to re-establish their documentation since improper documentation creates significant barriers for refugees. The face-to-face program is hard to scale today, but if NRC could build a virtual legal assistance program through technology, they could greatly increase the number of people they assist and provide them with help 24/7.

In Venezuela, technology could be used to provide life-saving information to refugees who are crossing the border into neighboring countries with little insight into what to expect with the situation on the ground or what steps to take once they reach their destination. By placing free wi-fi hotspots along the routes out of Venezuela and into Colombia, Brazil and other countries, fleeing refugees can connect to the internet to gather information on where to go and how to receive services.

“Our job is to help displaced people help themselves. Access to the right skills is vital to rebuilding lives after crisis has struck,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “Partnering with Pluralsight One as we undergo a digital transformation will have a major, lasting impact on our organization and the people we serve.”

Pluralsight One and NRC will work together for at least three years, with an option to extend the partnership after that time, to fill the gaps in both NRC’s own technology and the tech learning within refugee and host communities. Pluralsight One Fund is providing $750,000 over the course of three years to advance the organization’s digital transformation goals. In addition, Pluralsight One has provided an initial year 1 product grant valued at over $6.3M that includes access to the platform for 8,000 NRC global team members and will continue to scale product access and usage over the span of the 3-year partnership. Access to the platform is paired with tech strategy support, content mapping to organizational and programmatic learning objectives, and more.