Affiliates: Sri Lanka

Yarl IT Hub (YIT) is a not-for-profit social enterprise which strives to inspire, support and foster technology, innovation and entrepreneurship in the community. It’s an organization created by the community for the community. The Yarl IT Hub community consists of all those who abide by the core values of the organization and share the dream of making Jaffna the next Silicon Valley.

The Yarl IT Hub supports six initiatives:

The Yarl Geek Challenge is a premier technology competition open to youth. The intent of the competition is to nurture IT skills, innovation and creativity, and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among the entrants.
UKI is a full scholarship-based accelerator program for coding in Jaffna, targeting students who have completed advanced level examinations and who don’t have access to university education or vocational education programs.
Aki.Coach is a soon-to-launch digital education platform for Tamil medium secondary school education.
Hatch Kalam is a co-working space in Jaffna. It’s a joint initiative between GIZ, Hatch and Yarl IT Hub. Tech-related workshops are conducted at the space.
Thulir Social Innovation Centre is in the process of creating 100 start-ups and SMEs by 2025.
Cutar conducts workshops to encourage and inspire girls to learn to code. It was started with the idea of encouraging and supporting women getting into technology and entrepreneurship. In 2018, Cutar held a forum with ICT teachers from girls schools to identify the challenges and needs from their perspectives.

Click here to learn more about Yarl IT Hub (YIT)