Elevate is a non-profit that supports education for women and girls who have been displaced from their homes by conflict or climate.

We provide scholarships with top universities - including in crisis situations - and work with employers to secure jobs when they graduate. 

We also provide grants for women and girls who are at risk of becoming climate refugees. We support them to gain the skills they need to adapt and secure their livelihoods. We advocate for the right to education and equality for women and girls in climate- and conflict-affected countries.

ABOUT

ELEVATE

We provide scholarships

We provide grants to gain skills

We advocate for the right of equity and education

We secure full-time employment

While our work is global our impact is local. These are some of the countries our scholars and grantees are from

IMPACT

Success stories

  • "I fled Somalia with my family when I was 10 years old and lived in Dadaab refugee camp for 13 years before my first scholarship allowed me to leave Dadaab in Kenya in 2005 which was the world's largest refugee camp at the time. The refugee environment was among other things characterized by extreme poverty, insecurity, dependency on donors even for the most basic necessities of life, restriction of movement and general lack of opportunities..From that environment, I was fortunate to get a full scholarship to one of the best universities in the world, Princeton University to study Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with Environmental Science as a minor. There I met a diverse group of students from around the world whom I bonded with through various activities inluding soccer. I learnt critical thinking which is probably the biggest benefit I received from Princeton University. After Princeton, I went on to study a Masters degree in Finance on another full scholarship to EBS in Germany which is a leading business school in Germany and Europe as a whole as well as the first English-language business school in Germany. My Princeton and EBS education have prepared me to do well in the corporate world. "

    - Abass

  • "This scholarship was a life changing opportunity. It took me to a new level completely. From offering me an opportunity to finish my higher education, to providing me with an opportunity to work for one of the leading multinationals Mastercard, where I am part of their account management team based out of UAE. Being part of the Mastercard family has been a remarkable and a priceless journey, where I have learned a lot, met people with influence, learned about the payments industry and the future of the technology companies. This experience has definitely widened my horizon, to becoming a world citizen. Where I was being valued, respected and appreciated."

    - Lina

  • "My scholarship has unlocked opportunities I never thought were possible regardless to my status whether at university then or currently in the professional world. Before my scholarship, I was partly accepting to the limitation in my education and career paths due the reality that being a refugee means being less than others around you. I no more do. They way that I pay back to society is currently focusing on supporting my family through helping my siblings with their education and aiming to scale up my contribution to include supporting refugees like me, with their education (short term), through tutoring and mentoring, which I have been doing here in the UK in East London's disadvantaged schools. And financially (long term)."

    - Nour

  • "Moving to a country that appreciates its residents' degrees and expertise regardless of their nationality was the biggest win for me. I was and still have the chance to be accepted in any job that "I like", and not just "any job" because I need it. You don't always know what you want to do with your life while you're still studying, sometimes you figure this at a later stage. I was able to move from one job to another until I knew what I want to do. The world had a limit for me. It was to finish my studies then find an average job in my country. After the scholarship my world has no limit. This scholarship gave me far more than just a degree and a job, it gave me faith that I'm able to achieve whatever I aim for if I put it the right energy and expertise"

    - Rama

  • "Having received the Elevate scholarship had given me a future. Not a better one nor a brighter one; receiving the scholarship has given me a future as I never had one to start with. Being a female refugee, the only option I would have had after losing my father was being forced into marriage, without any regard to what I want to achieve in life. Receiving the scholarship has changed my life on a personal, educational, career & financial levels. The person I am today and everything I am I owe it to BRC. Receiving the scholarship was directly related to better job opportunities and financial gains. The thing that allowed me to help many people back home (relatives & non relatives) whether with their livelihood or with their kids tuition fees. "

    - Elham

  • "The scholarship allowed me to get a higher education degree, I grow up in Gaza Strip, where I studied software engineering and secured investment for my startup, I needed to learn how to create a successful business and getting a business degree was the first step to do it. Elevate helped me secure a great job at MasterCard in Frankfurt and I am supporting financially my family, and contributing to the education of youth in Palestine by mentoring or financially whenever possible. "

    - Mariam

  • "I am honored to have received this scholarship from Elevate. I really appreciate the effort you've made in education for Afghan girls. By giving this scholarship, you are not only supporting our education financially but valuing students' talents. I believe that investment in knowledge will never be wasted. And, financial concerns should not stop education. There will be no better chance for Afghan refugees than to receive a scholarship. Indeed, they need to enhance their knowledge to get their country out of this catastrophe. This scholarship represents a step up in my academic upbringing, marrying my desire to support the development of my country in an effective way while achieving my career goals. "

    - Shahnaz

This is what our partners have to say about Elevate

  •  “Hiring “kids” who come out of refugee camps and difficult circumstances is not just doing good but also doing well for our business and our partners. There’s no one who can bring a more diverse and unique experience to the workplace than them. They are eager to win and grow as their success means food on the table for their families back home, a roof above their head, and tuition fees for their siblings as their ticket out of poverty. While the rest of us are spoiled for choice and believe in the “you can do whatever you want” way of life, they have no choice but to succeed and to make Miss Lorna – as they call her – proud, as she was their only ticket out. No choices! We can’t do enough for those kids. But more importantly, we can achieve much more with them, and we're lucky to have them.”

    - Sami Lahoud, Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships & Infrastructure

  • "Working with Elevate is a life affirming process, it's symbiotic process and positive experience where everyone works together and benefits. The approach taken to give refugees an opportunity and companies to build technically strong and diverse teams should be an exemplar in the industry"

    - Damien McCloud, Director Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

  • “Diversity is essential to Engineering. The global challenges that the world faces require people from very diverse backgrounds to collaborate to find the best solutions for all. Elevate has been able to identify the perfect female candidates for UCL's Engineering department.”

     - Sally Day, Professor of Photonics

  • "We are committed to finding and supporting the highest potential students, many of who will be refugees. There is much to do to discover, encourage and support students from displaced communities, but they will greatly enrich academic life and the Oxford community."

    - Tom Fletcher, Principal of Hertford College

  • "At Accenture, we are committed to a culture of equality and diversity in our workforce. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring a range of insights when working with a client. Partnering with Elevate has brought us exceptional candidates with a we"

    - Peter Lacy, Global Sustainability Services Lead & Chief Responsibility Officer

LEADERSHIP

Board of directors

Staff

Elevate Partners

  • Mastercard logo
  • Accenture logo
  • Princeton logo
  • Yale logo
  • ARUP logo
  • NYU logo
  • University of Southern California logo
  • Indiana University logo
  • Carnegie Mellon University logo
  • University of Oxford logo
  • Microsoft logo
  • Open Socety Foundations logo

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We live by the “doing well by doing good” mantra. And “Diversity & Inclusion” is a way of life.

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