Building AI Skills for Work: What 5,675 Learners Achieved

“After nearly 9 months of unsuccessful job interviews, I applied what I learned, landed a job, and successfully negotiated the exact salary I wanted.”

That's one learner's story from SkillsForward by Kiron, an upskilling program that supports refugees and migrants to build the AI and human skills essential for the future of work. The program is supported through LinkedIn’s Future of Work Fund. Since October 2025, led by our Senior Learning Experience Designer and Program Manager at Kiron, Dr. Karen Velázquez Powers. Our goal was to reach 5,000 refugees and migrants with practical AI and human skills. As the program has wrapped up, we've reached 5,675 learners – 113.5% of our original goal – through blended pathways, self-paced courses, live events, and additional offers designed to meet each learner where they are.
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Over this 10-week blended program, learners developed AI fluency and human skills in equal measure, learning not just how to use AI tools but how to think critically, communicate clearly, and collaborate around them. That combination led to a finished project, a new job, and a faster, smarter way of working. Here's the full picture of what the program achieved, and four of the people behind those numbers.

Proudly supported by:
LinkedIn, through LinkedIn's Future of Work Fund (June 2025 – August 2026)

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Why SkillsForward exists

AI is changing what employers expect from candidates faster than most people can keep up with. That shift lands hardest on people who are already navigating unfamiliar job markets with credentials and experience that don't always translate. 

McKinsey's 2025 global survey found 88% of organizations were already using AI in at least one business function, and the World Economic Forum names AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy as the three fastest-growing skill areas through 2030.

But technical skills are only half the picture. The same WEF research shows that creative thinking, resilience, flexibility, and curiosity are rising right alongside them, and analytical thinking remains the core skill employers value most. As AI takes on more routine tasks, the human abilities to think critically, communicate clearly, and work well with others become more important, not less.

For refugees and migrants, keeping pace with that shift comes on top of barriers that already make finding work harder – OECD research points to challenges in recognizing foreign qualifications, language proficiency, and limited access to professional networks that open doors to employment. SkillsForward was built to ensure that AI literacy and the human skills that go with it don't become one more barrier stacked on top of those, and instead, done right, become a way through them.

SkillsForward was built specifically for refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants: people with real professional experience and ambition, who need practical AI fluency not as a bonus skill, but as one of the tools that determines whether they get in the room at all. The 2026 program cycle was backed by LinkedIn's Future of Work Fund, LinkedIn's philanthropic program focused on expanding economic opportunities for professionals overcoming barriers. Its mission aligned directly with the gap SkillsForward set out to close.

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What SkillsForward actually teaches

SkillsForward runs as a 10-week blended program built around two connected pathways: Boost Your Career with AI and Drive Your Success with Human Skills. Rather than treating AI literacy as an abstract technical subject, the program is built to answer one practical question: what can a learner do differently at the end of it that they couldn't do before?

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By the end of each pathway, learners are able to:

• Use generative AI tools deliberately, not just experimentally – writing effective prompts, evaluating AI outputs critically, and applying tools like ChatGPT and Custom GPTs to real tasks in their field
• Build something with what they've learned, through a final project that pushes learners from consuming AI courses to producing an AI-powered application, model, or tool of their own
• Communicate and work more effectively, through the parallel Human Skills pathway covering structured communication methods, teamwork, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation under pressure
• Translate their existing experience into new markets, using AI as a bridge to reframe years of prior professional experience into the language and standards of a new country's job market

Pairing AI fluency with communication skills anchored in a final project turns course completion into something a learner can actually use in an interview or on the job.

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Results and impact for SkillsForward 2026

Here’s how SkillsForward managed to make an impact:
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The numbers that matter most, though, are about what changed for learners, not just how many showed up:

The most consistently valued elements were the practical ones: hands-on exercises, final capstone projects, and guided prompting practice. Two live events also stood out. Career Orientation Day was a virtual session where learners explored career paths in their target job markets, heard from professionals about hiring expectations, and got practical guidance on next steps. The LinkedIn InDay session, part of LinkedIn's company-wide day for employees to give back, brought LinkedIn staff together with learners for CV and profile reviews, mock interviews, or Q&A about job searching. Both gave learners rare direct access to industry professionals, and learners rated them among the most valuable parts of the program.

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Four learners, four paths

‍Ola – Amman, Jordan (originally from Syria)

Ola is currently pursuing two bachelor's degrees simultaneously, in Political Science and Business Administration, and has been recognized twice by Jordan's Ministry of Youth. Through SkillsForward, she built a complete AI model of her own – Ola Samer | AI Horizon Navigator – and used skills gained through Kiron's Coursera program to launch a website that helps recent graduates build CVs, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles.

Ashraf – Germany (originally from Afghanistan)

Ashraf brings 20 years of experience in strategic procurement and operations with organizations like UNDP, GIZ, and Welthungerhilfe. His challenge wasn't a lack of expertise – it was what he calls the "Recognition Gap": the difficulty of translating two decades of international leadership into the specific language German employers expect. Through SkillsForward, he built a Custom GPT – a "Career Coach – ATS-Ready Germany" – to help translate his experience into German industrial standards, cutting his research and drafting time by more than half.

"Your international background is an asset, not a hurdle. The 'Recognition Gap' is real, but it is purely a translation problem, not a lack of skill. Use tools like Custom GPTs to translate your past achievements into the language German hiring managers value – it turns years of global expertise into local results."

Amir El-deen – Yemen

Amir El-deen is a working software engineer – an Odoo Developer with a decade of experience across ERP systems, RESTful APIs, and DevOps pipelines. He joined SkillsForward, already established in his field, curious whether the AI-focused curriculum had anything to offer someone with his background. It did: he now uses prompt engineering daily to generate boilerplate code, debug faster, and document work more thoroughly.

"The AI and prompt engineering skills I learned through SkillsForward aren't just theory – I use them every single day at work... I'm not just keeping up with the AI revolution – I'm actively leveraging it to deliver better results for my team and clients."

Jolis – Kampala, Uganda (originally from Burundi)

Jolis finished his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and hit the wall so many new graduates face: employers wanted experience he had no way to get. As a refugee navigating the job market in Uganda, that wall was steeper still. SkillsForward's project-based structure gave him something concrete to point to – a final AI application built step by step over the course of the program – and, with it, real confidence in what he could offer an employer.

"Employers wanted experience. But how do you get experience if nobody gives you a chance? Instead of getting stuck in that frustration, I decided to focus on what I could control – learning... Never underestimate the power of small, consistent steps."

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Learnings and reflections 

Ola, Ashraf, Amir El-deen, and Jolis came into SkillsForward from four different countries, at four completely different career stages – a student building her second degree, a 20-year operations leader restarting in a new country, a working engineer sharpening tools he uses daily, and a new graduate trying to get his first real chance. What they have in common isn't a shared starting point. It's that each of them left with something specific: a model, a tool, a habit, a project – proof they could point to when it mattered.

What’s next

We're planning the next SkillsForward cycle and want to build on what this one proved. Pairing practical AI skills with human skills, anchored in a real project, gives refugees and migrants something concrete to bring to an interview or a promotion conversation.

If you're a funder or partner interested in supporting the next SkillsForward cycle, we'd love to hear from you at info@kiron.ngo.