Limited pilot
The volunteerjourney
Every step between sending the form and the day you are one of us, with a signed certificate that carries your name.
This is a limited trial. We are working it out together, and things will change.
Certificate of Contribution
This is to certify that
Your name here
has volunteered with Unblock Syria, and has corresponded with technology companies about the access restrictions facing people inside Syria.
Why volunteer with us
It actually helps
Every company that says yes hands a service back to people who lost it.
Real work, with a team
Four or five of you take on blocked companies together, start to finish.
Proof you can show
A signed certificate, and a recommendation on your own profile.
A way into work
Help with your CV, and your name put forward to SYNC.
Act one
Getting in
You apply
Seats are limited and the form is the only thing a lead sees, so take your time over it.
One email, and the invite is in it
Unblock Syria
We have your application
Unblock Syria · General
Your invitation to join
You need to speak Arabic. Almost everything in the groups happens in Arabic.
A lead picks you from the pool
Depends on availability and fitLeads read the pool constantly, looking for what their teams need. If one picks you, you join the volunteers group.
Volunteer pool
Unblock Syria · Volunteers
Leads and volunteers, talking about real work
You stay in the pool. Not being picked yet is about availability, not about you, and other ways to help need no application.
Your lead gives you a task
Small, real, and agreed with your lead. It might be finding something that works from inside Syria in place of a blocked service, checked properly: signup, payment, the feature itself. Whatever it is, you send it in with evidence.
TelegramUnblock Syria · Volunteers
Leads and volunteers, talking about real work
Your lead
First task: pick a blocked service, find something that works from inside Syria and does the same job. Send it with evidence. Ask me anything.
On it.
Do it well and your name goes up.
unblocksyria.com/about#contributorsVolunteers
36 and counting
Miriam Alarbaji Alsayegh
Zain Mhesn
AbdulAlim Rajjoub- NewYour name
Najwa Trefi
Yaman Aldous
Yara Alshighri
Act two
Doing the work
Your lead puts you on a team
Once the task is done wellA lead and four or five people who take on blocked companies together, start to finish. You test what is blocked, write to the company, and follow up. This is the point you stop being an applicant.
Your team
Your lead, and the companies you take on
The leads, talking to each other
You
Lead
Owns the company, keeps it moving
TesterInside Syria
Verifies what's blocked, re-tests after changes
Communicator
Writes the tickets, emails and follow-ups
Networker
Finds employees who can raise it internally
Your lead works out who does what. The shape of the teams, and how much each one carries, is still settling.
Your page starts filling up
Your name links to a page of your own, and badges land on it as you earn them.
unblocksyria.com/volunteers/your-nameCertifiedYour name
Communicator · Damascus
Badges
5 of 20
First Contact
On the Map
Ground Truth
Plan B
Red Pen
Recent activity
- An alternative you submitted was approved
- Wrote to a company about access restrictions
- Reported a blocked service
VerifyCertificate of Contribution
Checkable at a permanent link
The set, so far
First Contact
Your first message to a company.
On the Map
Blocked services you reported, and we published.
Ground Truth
Services you checked from inside Syria.
Plan B
Working alternatives you found for blocked services.
Red Pen
Corrections you sent that put the record right.
Tenth Letter
Still writing to a company long after others stopped.
Signs of Life
A company answered you for the first time.
Human Contact
You got past the support bot to a person who could act.
Inside Ally
Someone inside a company took it up and pushed it.
On the Agenda
A company you worked on opened a real review.
Unblocked
You were on the team when a service opened.
Legal Ground
You found the licence or exemption that made the ask legal.
Byline
Your name on a story we published.
Signal Boost
You carried our posts further than we could.
Mother Tongue
You made the site read properly in Arabic or Kurdish.
Day Zero
You were here before any of this had a name.
Day One
You were here for the first group.
Plus One
Someone you brought in stayed and did the work.
Open Door
You helped a newer volunteer find their feet.
Still Here
Ninety days, still turning up.
Act three
What you take with you
You earn your certificate
Signed, numbered, and checkable at a permanent link. It records what you did.
Most companies never answer anyone. The certificate records what you did, not whether they replied. We are still settling what exactly earns one, and the first group will help us work that out.
Certificate of Contribution
This is to certify that
Your name here
has volunteered with Unblock Syria, and has corresponded with technology companies about the access restrictions facing people inside Syria.
UBS-9RTM-4KDSSigned on behalf of Unblock SyriaDate of issueTo whom it may concern,
Your name volunteered with Unblock Syria as a communicator.
They wrote to technology companies about the access restrictions facing users inside Syria, tracked every reply, and recorded what each company said.
They corresponded in English and Arabic, and trained newer volunteers.
Sincerely,
Unblock Syria
We say your name out loud
If you want to be namedA shoutout on our accounts, with your name on it.
Unblock Syria
@unblocksyria
Shoutout to Your name, who kept writing to a company everyone else had given up on and got a real answer out of them. This is what the work looks like.
We write you a LinkedIn recommendation
Your team lead writes it, about work they watched you do. It stays on your profile.
linkedin.com/in/your-name/details/recommendationsYour name
Volunteer at Unblock Syria
Damascus, Syria
Recommendations
Received (1)Given (0)Your team lead · 1st
Team lead at Unblock Syria
Your team lead managed you directly
Joined with no advocacy experience and ended up running our correspondence with one of the hardest companies on our list. A careful writer, and good at hearing what a compliance team is actually saying no to. I would work with them again.
LikeReply·Visible to anyoneSomeone goes through your CV with you
One of our volunteers sits down with it properly. Feedback on your own work, not a template.
- Your CV, rewritten with you
- Your LinkedIn profile and how you show up on it
We put your name forward to SYNC
SYNC matches Syrian talent with employers worldwide. We send them your profile with our star on it.
A nonprofit built by Syrian technologists in Silicon Valley, working towards 25,000 tech jobs for Syrians.
Talent pool
sync.ngo
StarredYour name
Referred by Unblock Syria
What you did here is the evidence. It is on the record, and anyone can check it.
You could end up leading a team
If it showsWork well with people and it gets noticed. You shadow a lead first, then run a team of your own.
- Four or five people, and the companies you take on
- You read the pool and pick who joins you
- Access to the admin dashboard
And the part that isn't a document
Small teams of motivated people who care whether it works. You learn to work with people like that, and you make friends doing it.
Every company that says yes hands a service back to people who were shut out of it: students who cannot reach their course, freelancers who cannot get paid, families who cannot make a call.
Act three complete
Apply nowBefore you apply
- This is volunteering, not a paid job.
- The programme is still being built, so how it works and what the roles are may change.
- Places are limited. We choose by what the teams need, and by your skills, experience and interests.
- What you do, and how much time it takes, depends on the role you are given.
- The certificate records your volunteering and what you actually contributed. It is not an academic qualification, and not a professional accreditation from anyone else.
We want this to be clear, fair and worth your time from day one.
Ready when you are
All of that starts with one form. About twenty minutes, and only a handful of seats.
Nothing here is final. We will change what does not work.