ORT Jump Israel apprentice final takes place in Jerusalem

An apprentice-style employability skills challenge set by mentoring charity ORT UK has taken place in Israel.

An immersive hybrid programme in media partnership with Jewish News, The ORT UK Employability Skills Israel Programme was held at World ORT Kadima Mada’s Kfar Silver Youth Village with 21 students from the UK, USA, Brazil, Ukraine and Israel.

The challenge was to create a solution to further boost mental health support for the thousands of teenage MDA volunteers in Israel.

Working in teams, participants learned the art of design thinking, market research and pitching.

The young entrepreneurs faced industry experts in the collaborative challenge and presented their ideas to judges, including Jewish News News Editor Justin Cohen, and MDA UK CEO Daniel Burger, this Friday at MDA’s station in Jerusalem.

The judges were so impressed that they awarded each group a specific win in different categories before finally selecting four well-being programmes: to create fully equipped relaxation rooms; upgraded apps to support the well-being of volunteers and their families with different options; therapeutic support accessed via art animals and music; a mentoring programme with former volunteers.

Dan Rickman, CEO of ORT UK said: “The students embraced every opportunity to learn to work collaboratively in their teams, network and build connections and present innovative practical solutions for MDA, which will start being implemented immediately.

Rickman confessed he was “overwhelmed and incredibly proud” of the students’ “commitment, passion and teamwork demonstrated during their final presentations”. Thanking the Wohl Foundation for supporting a series of pilot  employability projects and for the role of World ORT and Kadima Mada, he added: “ORT UK strives to make an impact through education and without doubt these young people not only had an experience the will never forget, they’ve also gained skills and insight that will serve them into the careers.”

MDA UK chief executive Daniel Burger said: “I was delighted by the high calibre of presentations delivered by the students. Mental health and wellbeing are especially important in a medical emergency emergency service where the youth have no idea what type of situation they might encounter.”

Justin Cohen, News Editor, Jewish News, said: “ORT deserve huge praise for developing this innovative, fun and hands on way for young Jews from Britain and elsewhere to engage with israel and the heroes of MDA. It was a great honour for Jewish News to be media partners on this and a wider programme of initiatives offering practical opportunities to inspire leaders of the future”.