Iraq

Blog Post:  Posted July 27, 2010, 4:06 pm by Lyndsey Romick

Iraq's women: worth the risk

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Governance, Education, Civil Society

Iraq's contentious election has tied its political system in knots. But this isn't stopping Mercy Corps from pursuing one of its main objectives there: making women's voices heard. It's part of our effort to build skills for traditionally disenfranchised groups, as Mercy Corps' Sahar Alnouri said recently at a public event at Mercy Corps' Action Center in Portland.

Alnouri, who's worked in Iraq since early last year, said the election has put everyone on edge. In 2005, post-election sectarian violence displaced millions of Iraqis and left the country in a very sensitive state. Explosions are still common, and people wonder if the fighting will break out again.

The insecurity is the hardest part about working in Iraq, Alnouri said. "You have to be in a constant state of preparedness, even if nothing happens." It's also hard to gather information because travel is dangerous. But these problems don't deter Mercy Corps from helping those who suffer the most from the insecurity: women and girls.

For starters, instability keeps girls from attending school. Parents often shield their daughters from potential danger by keeping them at home. Alnouri helps coordinate Mercy Corps' women's literacy program, which fills an important need in a country where the illiteracy rate is about 30 percent higher for women than it is for men. So far we've helped about 26,000 women how to read and write, as well as lessons in democracy and governance, human and women’s rights, and other key social issues.

But female literacy is only the first step.

The Iraqi constitution is fairly liberal on women's rights, but reality doesn't always match the rhetoric. And with the fledgling Iraqi police force tied up with security matters, women's rights aren't top priority. Alnouri said Mercy Corps programs teach women about their rights, about voting and about their role in a democratic society. As a result, women are becoming more confident -- and more politically aware.

For example, 30 percent of the candidates in the most recent election were women, and their newfound knowledge empowers them to speak out for political change. Alnouri related one story that demonstrates the new political consciousness. In the midst of recent negotiations to form a new government, one of her female colleagues remarked, “We need training for our politicians on how to use the democratic system.”

Though the results of the election are still in dispute, our commitment to Iraq's women is certain. We're helping them develop the tools they need to find their own voices, despite the security risks.

Blog Post:  Posted March 16, 2010, 12:13 pm by Greg Tuke

Voting in Iraq: an act of faith

Country: Iraq

Topics: Peaceful Change, Citizen Involvement

The biggest issue that regularly confounds me each time I vote here in Seattle is finding a postage stamp. Despite this, I have become a strong believer in the mail-in ballot, mostly because I don't have to haul myself to the polls at seven o'clock in the morning before I head off to work.

But, as I learned this week, voting in Iraq presents other challenges. I was talking yesterday on video Skype with my colleague Mohammed, a Mercy Corps staffer for the Global Citizen Corps program, about the recent Iraqi elections and wondering how it had gone.

"Oh, it's gone quite well, very safe, only a few very small bombs went off," he told me.

Now I don't know about you, but I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of safe "small bombs." More than 100 people were killed in these latest elections in Iraq. So to me, it is a pretty big act of faith to march down to the polls there, dip your finger in ink and make your views known through the power of the ballot box.

But many, like Mercy Corps' Global Citizen Corps member Kardo (pictured here) did. This desire we have to vote, to help shape the way we are governed — well, it is very strong, it seems. And while I would hope I would do the same if I were in Kardo's shoes, I doubt I will ever get to the point of thinking of any bomb as "small."

Blog Post:  Posted March 9, 2010, 10:59 am by Luke King

A palpable sense of accomplishment in Baghdad

Country: Iraq

Topics: Urban, Peaceful Change, Conflict & War

On Sunday morning, election day in Iraq, I was awakened by a text message from a colleague telling me to get to a safe spot. Turns out I had slept through the first of dozens of bombs that would occur on election day in Iraq.

From 6:45 a.m. until 10:00 a.m., more than 100 bombs exploded throughout Baghdad. That’s roughly one explosion every two minutes.

My colleague and I spent the morning huddled in a corridor away from any glass that could shatter during the blasts. We sipped coffee, worked on our computers and listened to the news as foul-smelling air drifted through the windows.

We had long anticipated that election day would be volatile, but we certainly didn’t expect such a volley of bombings. It was discouraging. We knew that our Iraqi colleagues were going to the polls, and we were worried about them. We were equally worried that no one would go to the polls, preferring to stay home and avoid the risk of being harmed or killed.

Indeed, 38 people died in Baghdad that day.

But around mid-day, something changed. The explosions tapered off, and newscasts began reporting an uptick at the polling stations. Our neighbor, an elderly woman with whom we share a house, walked out of the gate with her two daughters to go vote — even though she had told me earlier that she was too afraid to go.

More reports came in of steady turnouts and photos started appearing of proud Iraqis leaving the polls with their stained index fingers, waving defiantly. It’s now being reported that the turnout rate reached 68 percent.

By that evening, there was a palpable sense of accomplishment throughout Baghdad. It was clear that despite the efforts of some to ruin these elections, the Iraqis had simply overcome. In my career, I’ve never seen such courage from so many.

That evening there were two more bombs close to the Mercy Corps office, but I hardly noticed them over the celebratory gunfire ringing throughout the city.

Blog Post:  Posted March 8, 2010, 12:03 pm by Sahar Alnouri

Happy International Women's Day

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Peaceful Change, Civil Society, Citizen Involvement

I’m blogging again today to wish you all a Happy International Women’s Day.

The first International Women’s Day was celebrated 35 years ago, in 1975. The political and social landscape of the world we inhabit has changed dramatically in the last 35 years — old countries have disappeared and new ones have been created; the Internet and other technologies have transformed the way we work and live; and the role of women has grown and changed all over the world.

This year, the United Nations selected “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities” for the International Women’s Day theme. In Iraq, this is a theme we can celebrate proudly.

Article 14 of the Iraqi constitution declares that “Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, origin, color, religion, creed, belief or opinion, or economic and social status.” Iraqi women represent 25 percent of members of parliament. They vote, they work and they have found ways to survive and maintain their families during the very difficult last seven years.

Iraqi women have not made these strides alone — each of these achievements was accomplished with the support of Iraqi men.

Mercy Corps’ Women’s Awareness and Inclusion program in the south and our Protecting Women through Education programs in north and central Iraq are examples of how we are supporting equal rights and equal opportunities. Access to basic education is a constitutional right for both Iraqi men and women. It is also one of the first steps towards helping women to recognize and access other opportunities.

In my opinion, celebrating International Women’s Day is not about separating women from men. It’s about taking a moment to recognize that women all over the world frequently struggle to survive, to care for their families and to achieve equal rights and equal opportunities in environments that don’t provide them access to their basic needs and rights. It is about recognizing that the barriers women struggle against to achieve those basic needs and rights are often different from the barriers that men face.

To me, it is about understanding that it will take the efforts of both men and women to level the playing field for our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers.

Please, take a moment today to recognize the women you work with, the women in your families and in your communities. Also acknowledge the men who support the women in your workplace, in your families and in your communities. It is only by working together than men and women throughout the world will achieve equal opportunities and rights for all people.

Blog Post:  Posted March 8, 2010, 9:33 am by Sahar Alnouri

Iraqi staff with purple fingers

Country: Iraq

Topics: Peaceful Change, Citizen Involvement

Here are some our Baghdad staff who participated in yesterday's elections. They are proudly displaying their purple index fingers, which signifies that they voted.

Blog Post:  Posted March 5, 2010, 9:09 am by Sahar Alnouri

Iraqi women learn about democracy as elections approach

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Peaceful Change, Education, Citizen Involvement

Living and working in Baghdad these days seems to be about waiting. People are waiting to see if there will be violence during the elections, waiting to see the results of the elections on March 7 and waiting to see if those results will be accepted peacefully — or if the country will be plunged back into conflict.

Mercy Corps is committed to staying in Iraq and helping the people who need help the most, which means working in places like Sadr City, Diyala and Kirkuk.

In preparation for the elections, we launched a series of lectures in our women’s literacy centers on Democracy, Governance and Elections in nine governorates, reaching about 15,000 illiterate women. We didn’t just want to teach women how to vote — we wanted to explain to them what happens when they vote and how the Iraqi democracy is designed to function.

Yesterday, we got the results back from the pre- and post-tests that we did with a sample of women who participated in the Democracy lectures in four governorates in southern Iraq. The results are outstanding: in ThiQar province, only 39.9 percent of the women surveyed before the lecture thought that in a democracy more than one person is involved in decision making. After the lecture, 81.6 percent of the women understood that, in democracy, decisions should be made by the people.

In Muthana governorate, only 69 percent of the women thought that boys and girls had equal rights to education before the lecture, but 95.9 percent understood that boys and girls have the same right to education during the post test. When women understand that their daughters and sons both have the right to receive an education, they are more likely to advocate for that right on behalf of their children.

While this is only a small step in encouraging women’s participation in Iraq’s democracy, I think it’s an important one. International Women’s Day is on March 8, and I can’t think of a more fitting contribution than helping Iraqi women vote in their elections.

Blog Post:  Posted January 7, 2010, 2:40 pm by Greg Tuke

Giving their blood for peace

Country: Iraq

Topics: Youth, Global Engagement, Conflict & War, Citizen Involvement

I have been thinking a lot about hope and fear the past few weeks. It is hard to avoid at this time of year. Christmas and New Year’s are holidays of hope. Yet that hope easily can turn to fear when we find out people are flying with hidden explosives.

Fortunately, that attempt to kill innocents in the airplane failed. But last month in Iraq — one of the countries where I work with young people in Mercy Corps’ youth leadership program — the attempts succeeded, with terrorists killing 127 people in Baghdad.

The question weighing heaviest on my mind is: what do we do to end the terror?

One of the great things about working for Mercy Corps is the exposure you get to extraordinary people. I listened to two such people last month, hoping to get their perspectives. Both have dedicated their lives to bringing education to girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan; Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, and Julia Bolz, a Seattle-based activist. Between the two of them, they have helped build hundreds of schools for girls in this part of the world, impacting not just these individuals, but generations to come.

There is no simple answer to the terror question. But one thing stuck out to me as I listened to them both. Both spoke with one clear message: “Promoting peace is based in hope. Fighting terrorism is based in fear.”

Two days after the terrorist bombings in Baghdad, I heard from another group of extraordinary people. Two hundred Iraqi youth from our Global Citizen Corps responded to the bombings by organizing a caravan to the city and donating their blood, most for the first time. Their actions were covered by national and international media, reaching more than five million people with this story of hope. The driver of one of these vans was so moved by what these teens were doing, that he refused to take any money for his services that day.

I doubt we will ever capture, kill or eliminate every person who is set on terrorizing others around the world. But I am convinced that most people want to live with hope instead of fear, as these young Iraqis demonstrated last month — if we only give them a chance.

Blog Post:  Posted October 20, 2009, 10:07 am by Ali Abd-alkaree...

Celebrating peace in Khanaqin

Country: Iraq

Topics: Youth, Sports, Peaceful Change, Conflict & War

In Khanaqin, Iraq, Mercy Corps and the local branch of the National Olympic Committee organized a wonderful festival for the International Day of Peace. The day involved children reading a poem and releasing white doves before a football match in Azadi Stadium.

The English club — a group of college students and members of the Global Citizen Corps program — participated in the festival, some as organizers and others as football players.

The English club collected a group from children (boys and girls) from elementary schools, aged 7 to 13. Members of the English Club trained the children for more than one week on reading a famous poem called "A Child Calls for Peace" in Kurdish language by Koran – the great modern Kurdish poet — and how to release white doves and set off fireworks before the match.

The game pitted the old players of Khanaqin club (green and black t-shirts) against the youth players, with few members of the English Club (white t-shirts). When the first half of the match finished, the kids came once again to the yard and they read the poem, then the second half started and the players took their positions in the yard and enjoyed the match until the referee finished the match.

The Department of Education in Khanaqin had a great role in supervising the match, along with two sport supervisors. At the end of the match, the kids with support from the English Club released the fireworks into the sky. The two teams shook hands and took collective pictures to be good memory.

Two satellites TV channels carried the festival (Gali Kurdistan and Kurdistan TV). In addition, the English club invited all the official departments in Khanaqin to the festival. 

One Table:  Posted August 31, 2009, 3:10 pm by Alisha Rodriquez

Before it was like I was blind

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Education

Since 2003, Mercy Corps has worked to improve the lives of millions of people in Iraq. Our largest program is in the south of the country, and focuses on community building and good governance. Our Community Action Program (CAP) gives communities the tools to organize and advocate for their most pressing needs, and builds the capacity of local government to respond effectively to those needs. With our help, we hope local citizens will have a voice and an impact in shaping the new Iraq.

One of CAP’s most successful initiatives is our Women’s Inclusion Program. Since its inception in 2005, approximately 20,000 women of all ages have learned basic literacy skills — reading, writing and arithmetic — and have received education on preventative health care and good hygiene practices, food/nutrition, democracy and peace building, human and women’s rights, and the environment. Through this program, we aim to give women the skills to improve their lives and participate meaningfully in their communities and government. At the end of the program, they are prepared to sit for primary school exams; young women of school age can re-enter the public school system and complete their education, while older women will be better positioned to seek employment or manage their households.

I recently paid a visit to a literacy center in the southern city of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, located near the Persian Gulf. The center was located in a run-down school. The screens were shredded off the windows, the room was not air-conditioned and was extremely uncomfortable in the late afternoon heat, and the 60 or so women and girls were crowded into a tiny 10x10' room, 3 or 4 to a bench. They ranged from age four to age 60, and were in their final class session before completing the program.

My colleagues and I were introduced to the group, and one of our staff translated a question to them: "How has this program changed your life?" Immediately, a beautiful, precocious-looking girl of about 13 shot out of her seat with her hand in the air. "Before this program it was like I was blind. Everywhere I went, I didn't know what I was seeing. Now that I can read, I can see." Someone else called out, "I can teach my children to read and write, and I can help the older ones with their schoolwork." Another woman, about 40 years old, stood up and said, "I used to go to the market and would have to ask a shop owner for the price of items. Because I had to ask, he would say to himself, 'This is an illiterate woman,' and he'd quote me a higher price. Now that I can read the prices of items myself, I get a better price because the bartering starts lower."

A coworker asked how many women were planning to vote in Iraq’s national elections in January. Almost every hand in the room was raised.

The teacher — a small, energetic woman of about 30 — invited us to sit and listen to their lesson. The class had just finished writing down what "human rights" meant to them. They resumed the lesson by bringing their definitions up to the front of the room and taping them on the blackboard. When all had finished, the teacher began reading them aloud:

"My children will be free and can get an education."
"I can find a job."
"Everyone will have enough to eat."
"We will be able to vote."

We rose, and through our colleague's translation, conveyed our congratulations to these women, and our pride at what they had accomplished. I cannot imagine people more brave, who have overcome so much, as the women in that room. They have experienced nearly thirty years of unimaginable war, poverty, hunger, and tragedy. To simply attend one class would be full of obstacles: They would have to summon the courage to accept their illiteracy and decide to make a major life change. They would have to convince their husbands, their fathers, their brothers, and uncles to let them leave the house to go to a class where they'd inevitably learn skills to be independent and exercise their intellect. They'd have to show up every week, after completing all their household responsibilities, and have the resolve to master the challenge of learning to read and write, their first academic pursuit of any kind.

It was hard not to cry as I looked at their faces, young and old, and know that, given the chance, the women in that room were the seeds of a new Iraq. Let us hope they have the freedom and the inclination to flourish, to be empowered by their newfound knowledge, and to finally be able to stand up and help bring their country to peace and stability.

Blog Post:  Posted August 24, 2009, 12:23 pm by Emily Gish

U.S. ambassador visits women's peace-building program in Iraq

Country: Iraq

Topics: Women's Empowerment, Peaceful Change

Last Wednesday, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill met with six women participants of Mercy Corps' Empowering Women Peace Builders in Kirkuk program, and discussed with women their views on the future of Kirkuk and U.S. policy in the contested city and Iraq at large.

The program, which is funded by the Iraqi Women's Democracy Fund and is administered by the State Departments’ Office on Global Women's Issues, seeks to build the leadership and peace building capacity of individual women leaders, build the organizational and peace building capacity of women focused civil society organizations through trainings and the awarding of small grants to carry out peace building and tolerance promotion activities in Kirkuk. Equally as important, the program builds a network of women peace builders that the women can use for information and support.

Kirkuk, which is at the center of tensions between the Kurdish regional government and the Iraqi central government, is the home of a diverse citizenry with large populations of Arabs and Kurds as well as sizable Turkmen and Christian minorities. Many Kurds view Kirkuk as its historic capital and complicating matters even further, it sits atop large oil and gas reserves. Recently there has been an increase in tensions in the city and surrounding areas as well as several high profile bombings.

Despite the ethnic diversity of the women in the meeting — which included Arab, Kurd, Turkmen, and Christian representatives — and the diversity in their professions — which included Provincial Council members, leaders of civil society organizations, teachers and rights activists — common themes in their messages to the Ambassador emerged.

All women agreed that the inclusion of women and youth in peace building is essential both at the grassroots level and in the more formal political processes. They also agreed that it is important for the government and the general public to better comprehend the vital role that independent civil society should play in a democratic Iraq. They asked for longer term support for peace building, explaining that it will take time to achieve real peace in Kirkuk. Addressing special needs for widows and other female headed households, especially economic empowerment and greater knowledge of their rights — which often starts with literacy, was also seen as urgent.

Ambassador Hill assured the meeting's participants that the both peace building in Iraq and women’s issues are important to the embassy and he challenged the women to continue their work for peace building and tolerance promotion in Iraq in general and Kirkuk in particular.