Lina Khalifa

Jordanian education innovator transforming refugee education

Lina Khalifa is a Jordanian social entrepreneur who founded Khadamat in 2013 - an education platform providing free online courses to refugees across the Middle East. Growing up in a refugee camp herself, she recognized the lack of educational opportunities for displaced youth. Her platform now offers over 2,000 courses in Arabic, Kurdish, and English, with 300,000 active learners monthly.

Khalifa's breakthrough was developing the 'Digital Backpack' system - a USB drive containing full course libraries that works offline in areas with limited internet. This innovation has reached 50,000 Syrian refugees in camps lacking connectivity. Her partnership with MIT's Open Learning initiative provides certification pathways for refugee graduates.

In 2019, she launched the SkillBridge program connecting refugee graduates with employers in tech and healthcare sectors. Over 12,000 refugees have secured jobs through this initiative. Khalifa's TED talk "Education Without Borders" has become a cornerstone of global refugee education discourse.