Google launched a Covid-19 microsite in Arabic, the latest in a series of efforts to help individuals, educators, businesses and relief efforts in the Middle East and North Africa.
The site is divided into four main parts: Health Information, safety & protection tips, resources from Google, and additional content. This follows other products and initiatives designed to help people access useful and reliable information, such as the SOS alerts on Search, Do the Five campaign with the World Health Organization to raise awareness about prevention measures, and the ongoing Doodles which thank medical staff, grocery workers, and emergency responders.
Enabling productivity of remote students, educators and workers
Google launched Teach From Home site in Arabic which contains tips, trainings and tools from Google for Education to help educators teach remotely. For students, YouTube launched an all-Arabic educational hub called YouTube Dorosi (meaning lessons) , a library of hundreds of classes based on official government curricula in MENA.
Google also moved its face-to-face training for digital skills, Maharat min Google, to virtual sessions accessible on Google Meet, a video conferencing app available on G Suite, and YouTube. To developers who want to continue earning about machine learning, quantum computing and other related topics, Google is also running Digital Days, a series of live sessions moderated by MENA’s Google Developer Groups (GDGs).
Small and medium businesses
Last week, Google announced $340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs globally, including in MENA, with active accounts over the past year in countries. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across its advertising platforms.
On the microsite, a section is dedicated to helping businesses stay connected and informed. This includes local resources for remote working & distance learning, and tips to help businesses manage through uncertainty.
Supporting relief efforts of public health officials
Earlier this month, Google launched Community Mobility Reports which show movement trends over time among communities based on anonymised aggregated data to provide insights into what has changed in response to policies aimed at combating covid-19. The report includes many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, such as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and more.
Google also pledged a sum of US$250 million in Google Ad Grants to help more than 100 government agencies around the world run public service announcements and health and safety awareness campaigns. The ad grants are being rolled out in MENA.
Google’s efforts to extend support for Covid-19 individuals, communities and relief efforts will continue to be updated.
