NaTakallam hired refugees to teach online, bypassing Lebanon's work ban

When Syria's war pushed over a million refugees into Lebanon, the state answered by sealing the formal labour market: registered refugees had to sign a pledge not to work, permit fees were prohibitive, and after early 2015 even the temporary right to work was withdrawn. The educated majority — teachers, pharmacists, engineers — were pushed into informal labour, paid less than other workers, exposed to exploitation, their qualifications worth nothing.

The standard responses were lobbying for work-permit reform, which moved at the speed of Lebanese politics, and humanitarian cash assistance, which ran out as donor fatigue set in. Aline Sara, a Columbia graduate in international affairs, began by matching refugees she knew with people abroad who wanted to learn Arabic, and in 2015 launched NaTakallam — Arabic for 'we speak' — with a fellow graduate, treating the border not as a wall to dismantle but as a line to step around.

They exported the work: refugees tutor online from home to students abroad, so the Lebanese work ban never applies, and their native fluency becomes a paid skill.

Lebanon's work permit rules only apply to work performed inside the country.

Online tutoring for foreign clients happens outside Lebanon's jurisdiction.

Refugees' native Arabic fluency is valuable to global learners but not to local employers.

Paying for quality made the service sustainable, not charity-dependent.

When a rule blocks income based on physical location, find a delivery channel the rule doesn't cover, like remote work.

Refugees have earned a cumulative $1.5M through sessions with learners in 110+ countries; top tutors make twice Lebanon's minimum wage; 2023 WISE Award. From Arabic the platform expanded to nine languages — adding Ukrainian and Russian in March 2022 to employ people displaced by that war — with 12,000+ learners served and a 2023 WISE Award; the jurisdictional-routing idea now travels through refugee-livelihoods policy discussions as remote work becomes an accepted tool of aid.