Souktel: Opening the Jobs Market with Cell Phone Technology

Lana Hijazi and Jacob Korenblum have met many people in the Palestinian Territory whose job searches were hindered by a lack of access to information. While working in the region's international aid and telecommunications sectors, they discovered that the biggest barrier to finding a job in the West Bank of the Palestinian Territory is not always a lack of employment opportunities, but too little information about available jobs. 

Job seekers also have to get past roadblocks and checkpoints that impede physical movement in the region. So Hijazi and Korenblum launched a citizen sector organization, Souktel, that surmounts these obstacles by using a new mobile phone technology to deliver job opportunities to men and women via text message on their cell phones.

Their service promotes gender equality and provides a way for thousands of people across three continents to generate significant income. Souktel comes from Arabic word “Souk” for “market” or “marketplace,” where one goes for shopping and to get information.  

Newspapers in the region have mostly advertised only executive-level positions. Some jobs have been advertised on the internet, but only one-third of Palestinians have internet access, largely through Internet cafes that are often dominated by men and off-limits to women.

Women’s job searches are often further hindered when traditional families don’t allow women to search for jobs in person, leaving female job-seekers with few resources for finding work, and a greater chance than men of remaining unemployed. Their unemployed status may lead them to enter into an unwanted early marriage.

The effort to recruit job seekers was fairly straightforward, because Korenblum and Hijazi knew that college campuses and technical training schools had no in-house counseling services to help graduating students find jobs. They began with a workshop at Berzeit University, one of the larger colleges in the Palestinian Territory, where half of the students are women. Job seekers can post a mini-curriculum vitae and search for job openings in the fields of their choice using their cell phone for a fee of US $1 per month.

Diaa’ heard about Souktel from a friend, and signed up from her mobile phone. She stayed updated on job opportunities from inside her home, which was safer and made her family more comfortable. Soon after she signed up for Souktel’s service, she found a well-paying data entry job at a local company, earning her new respect in her community.

Souktel also connects aid agencies to people who need help. Using AidLink, aid agencies that previously had to call thousands of people individually by telephone can now reach them all through the touch of a button, and send news about the arrival of food at distribution centers, or other emergency aid services. Souktel’s technology allows aid agencies, including the United Nations World Food Program, World Vision, and the Red Cross, to upload community member phone numbers to a central database, and distribute information to certain geographies, women, or other specific groups in need.