Lorraine Charles

Lorraine Charles is a British social entrepreneur and researcher, serving as the co-founder and executive director of Na'amal, a social enterprise focused on connecting forcibly displaced people with remote work opportunities. Her expertise includes political economy, development, education, and refugee issues, with a particular emphasis on the Middle East. Charles's work operates at the intersection of humanitarian advocacy and the future of work, and she is based in the United Arab Emirates while collaborating with organizations and refugees across Africa, the Middle East, and other regions.

Charles began her career as a researcher examining the challenges refugees face in the Middle East, initially concentrating on education before shifting her focus to livelihoods and employment. She studied the experiences of refugees in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon, exploring the decrease in funding and opportunities as refugees age out of K-12 education. Identifying a gap in employment options, Charles recommended reconceptualizing refugee employment by encouraging remote work beyond national borders due to limited local job availability. She contributed an article to World Economic Forum on remote work for refugees, helping to establish the intellectual foundation for Na'amal.

As a social entrepreneur, Charles co-founded Na'amal, which means "we work" in Arabic, to provide employers with access to refugee talent. Na'amal trains refugees and other underrepresented communities to prepare them for success in remote roles, offering a Work Readiness Programme that develops soft skills such as innovation, entrepreneurial thinking, collaboration, communication, goal-setting, motivation, and time management through online learning, mentoring, and skills workshops. Alumni of Na'amal have secured employment with major technology companies, worked as freelancers, or launched their own businesses.

Charles's work has led to institutional recognition and partnerships. Na'amal partnered with World Bank through its Innovation Challenge on Jobs and Migration, conducting research with 2,000 refugees to assess the economic potential of remote work for refugees and migrants. The organization has also collaborated with partners such as MIT ReACT, Techfugees in Lebanon, and Chams in Jordan to provide advanced digital skills training. Charles has consulted for International Labour Organization and Finn Church Aid, focusing on refugee integration into the digital economy and the future of work.

In addition to her leadership at Na'amal, Charles holds dual roles at University of Cambridge as a research associate for the Centre for Business Research and co-lead of the Digital Skills and Digital Work project at the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement. She serves as a member of the MIT ReACT Advisory Committee and the International Rescue Committee Technical Advisory Committee for ReBuild, an East Africa livelihood program. Charles is also a project affiliate for Refugeework.net, a research project at University of Edinburgh focused on digital livelihoods for refugees. She is recognized for combining academic research with practical impact, making her a knowledgeable speaker on humanitarian, economic, and digital inclusion topics.