Field Updates
Iraq
Field Updates
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Iraqi War Widows and Female Heads of Households Benefit From Grant
Women for Women International's programs in Iraq have received a grant totaling more than $970,000. The grant will provide job-skills training and rights awareness programming to Iraqi war widows and female heads of households—a total of 2,500 women.
Why It Matters
Iraqi war widows and female heads of household, who make up 60% of Women for Women International's programs in Iraq, care for an average of three children and live in poverty. Of the women we serve in Iraq:
- 70% cannot afford daily, basic necessities
- 51% are unable to pay for medical care
- 90% are not engaged in productive work
- 57.5% cannot read or write more than their name
- More than 50% do not have access to electricity or water
What the Grant Will Help Us Do:
Classes and seminars will be taught by native Iraqi women and will help women build knowledge of practical topics such as: health, household finances, decision-making and awareness of economic, legal, social and political rights, as well as market-based skills and business-skills training to achieve economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods for women and their families. The two-year grant will take effect immediately.
Classes in useful, market-valued trades such as soap-making and linen production and income-generation training in small business operations will help women sustain an income and provide for their families. Women for Women International will also partner with three local Iraqi NGOs to provide additional skills, such as literacy training, legal aid and medical care.
How the Grant Supports Our Mission:
Women for Women International believes that women are often the bellwether for the future direction of a society. Thus, the deteriorating condition of Iraqi women is a warning sign, or indicator, of future instability for the larger Iraqi society. Through Women for Women International's work with war-torn countries, we have learned that the most efficient and effective means of changing political and economic patterns in a society is through investments in women, particularly those who have been marginalized.
We work to provide direct aid and economic solutions paired with social and political empowerment for women to create lasting change in their lives. Women for Women International then proposes an innovative project integrating economic development with rights awareness and life-skills education. By bridging economic and social development in a holistic approach, Women for Women International will give Iraqi women the full range of tools they need to move from poverty and crisis toward self-sufficiency and active citizenship.
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"Iraq Community Schooling Program Trains Women to Conduct a Classroom
In September 2009, Women for Women International officially launched a community schooling program in Iraq. The program trained 100 women in teaching children in a supplemental educational environment; in addition to traditional schooling. Women teach small groups of children in their homes, allowing for children to experience a weekly educational environment in areas where schooling can be interrupted by periods of violence.
Funded by two grants, the community schooling program trained women in Women for Women International's Iraq programs throughout two, three-month sessions in how to conduct a classroom, write lesson plans and more. Following the completion of an advanced level of training, the women in the program received a community schooling kit (pictured) and began teaching classes from March through May 2010.
The program is ideal for Women for Women International-Iraq participants because it provides:
- Security: Women can conduct classes in their own home.
- Income-generation: Women can earn up to $150 per month teaching classes.
- Consideration of women's personal lives: Women can continue to take care of their children and household responsibilities.
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Opportunity for a Better Life: Women for Women International & Iraq Foundation Cooperation
Through WIC (Women Initiative Conference) meetings that were held in Baghdad's green zone every Tuesday, we met representatives of the Iraq foundation. The Iraq foundation is an institution that assists with rehabilitation of Iraqi widows by giving courses in Computer Software, English language, Training of Nursery and Women's Rights Awareness Training. This institution also has a literacy project in Basra. During one of the meetings Mrs. Eman, one of the Iraq Foundation representatives in the conference, asked other NGOs attending the conference to provide her with 50 widows in the Al-Risafa area (the eastern bank of Tigris) to take one of the trainings mentioned above plus 10.000 (or about $9) per day in addition to gift baskets. The gift baskets, which contain different things each time, are not offered on daily basis, but are offered to women in certain special occasions like beginning of Ramadhan and Eid
In order to qualify, women had to be between the ages of 20 and 40-years-old and have completed at least 8 stages of school. These qualifications applied to some of our participants. After discussing the subject with Mrs. Eman, we invited her to visit our center and meet some of the widows in the groups that are about to graduate. She was very excited to work with our organization and was very supportive. She trusted our recommendation to accept some of the widows who did not yet have their husbands death certificate or others who did not update their IDs yet as widows, but were in fact widows.
Women for Women International received an invitation from the Iraq foundation to join their reception party that was prepared for widows graduating and the widows that were joining the program. Most of the new widows were Women for Women International participants. Graduates received certificates with gifts from the institution as well as another gift from the center they trained. The institution hired professional computer centers in Baghdad to train the widows and also coordinated with labor and social matters ministry, human rights ministry and other institutions like Kurdistan Women Union.
Those in attendance were: representatives from the American Embassy, some Iraqi parliament members, Kurdistan Women Union, Almustansiria Center for Computer and Languages Training and Almansour Center for Computer and Languages Trainings. Our organization was thanked several times for its efforts to benefit the Iraqi woman in general and widows in particular and we were delivered a thank-you letter with much thanks and appreciation from the Iraq foundation.
Widows of our program took the flag of the new course from the graduates' representative. There was also a small bazaar in the end of the ceremony with tailoring and embroidery works. The coordination between Women for Women International and the Iraq Foundation will change some widow's lives that lost their husbands. Most of these widows are very young, some were just married, and others carry the burden of raising children on their own.
Perhaps today the opportunity was available to these women to gain some additional computer skills and English language skills and maybe tomorrow promises for more to the rest of women as long as we will keep on seeking and coordinating with other facilities to serve Iraqi women in a better way so that they will be able to earn a suitable income for themselves and their families.
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Candle Making Begins in Iraq - Women Entrepeneurs Thrive
In a public/private partnership with Prosperity Candle, we have been able to invest in women entrepreneurs in conflict and postconflict regions to produce distinctive handcrafted candles for the global marketplace.
A "kitchen table" enterprise, candle-making requires low start-up capital, yet is highly scalable with a large and growing international market. It is a business that can begin in the safety of a home, then easily be expanded to employ dozens of individuals within a community.
Each Prosperity Candle is a unique expression of peace and hope, highlighting the resilience and courage of women who have survived war and seek not only to support their families, but to prevail and prosper.
Mission Economic development that promotes stability and peace is more critical today than ever. Women-owned businesses have a key role to play, yet remain an untapped source of employment and growth - especially when hardship exists. But where many perceive obstacles, we see the opportunity to stimulate entrepreneurial activity, thereby supporting peaceful and thriving societies. Our mission is to build sustainable partnerships with women entrepreneurs living in places torn by conflict. We work with determined individuals who seek to rebuild their lives, provide for their families, and achieve security and wellbeing through self-reliance.
Together with Prosperity Candle, we selected Iraq for the pilot project. In May 2009 we provided training to Iraqi and Afghan staff and, following successful field-testing in June, are shipping customized kits, guides and supplies to 50 women entrepreneurs in Baghdad. By the end of the 12-month pilot we plan to export 3,000 high quality pillar candles for sale in the U.S., with test-marketing during the 2009 holiday season. In 2010, we will expand in Iraq and to Afghanistan, followed by pilots in other countries where Women for Women International implements income-generation programs. Our goal is to partner with 1,000 entrepreneurs by 2012, each delivering 1,000 Prosperity Candles per year. A million points of light. What Sets Us Apart The Prosperity Candle is a business with a strong social mission and a simple, transparent model for shared success that is firmly grounded in years of relevant business and development experience. We are committed to empowering women entrepreneurs in conflict regions through sustainable, market-based commerce.
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Women in Iraq Learn the Importance of Oral Hygiene
We received an update from one of our women groups in Iraq and I thought I'd share this with you. Our participants attended a dental care training class as one of their health and wellness courses and it was very well received by all the women who attended. The training was lead by two dentists, Dr. Ammar, specialist in orthodontics and general care, and Dr. Khalid, specialist in gum disease.
They taught the importance of developing good dental habits which includes getting regular check-ups every six months. Most of the women that attended said that, in the past, they would only go to the dentist when a toothache reached the point of needing medical attention. The participants learned what signs to look for in order to prevent the development of gum disease and tooth decay. The presentation included the proper methods of brushing and the proper tools to use to keep their teeth and gums healthy. The presentation also discussed the importance of taking care of children's teeth and how certain foods and candy can affect their teeth. The women in this group asked many questions and the doctors were pleased to have been able to deliver so much new and important information.
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Iraq Program Update to Sponsors
Thank you for your generous support of Iraqi women survivors of war. We deeply appreciate your dedication to the women of our program. Thanks to sponsors like you, we have already successfully enrolled almost 700 Iraqi participants, and hope to increase participation to 1,500 women by the year's end! During this particularly difficult time for Iraqis, you are providing these women with a source of hope for the future, which otherwise would be nearly impossible for them. I'm happy to provide you with some highlights of the first few months of our program in Iraq that has been compiled by our staff there.
Due to traditions, customs and financial burden in the rural areas of Hillah and Karbala, this was the first time many of the women received any kind of education. Women in these areas typically work in farming or animal husbandry and do not complete their studies. As part of our Rights Awareness and Leadership Education program, Iraqi participants take courses in five areas: politics, economy, family, health and nutrition. Some topics include Equality in Raising Boys and Girls, The Business Woman in Everyone, and Stress Management. Our manual trainers use a discussion based forum to help the women in our program find common ground and learn from mutual ideas.
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Our Constitution, Our Future: Enshrining Women's Rights in the Iraqi Consitution
In an attempt to create a safe forum for women's advocates and members of Iraq's Constitutional Committee to meet in person, share views and craft a set of recommendations on the Constitution for the full Committee, Women for Women International convened a conference in Jordan in late June.
Participants expressed a variety of viewpoints on issues such as how to define gender equality in the Constitution, the relationship between religion and state, the need for quotas to guarantee women's representation in the legislature and the constitutional drafting process.
The major areas of debate highlighted below represent key issues discussed at the conference, which led to a series of final recommendations. The recommendations, summarized below, reflect the views of a majority of participants.
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Iraqis Want Women's Rights Secured in New Constitution
June 29, 2005, AMMAN, Jordan -Iraqi women want their rights clearly defined in their country's new constitution, according to recommendations released today from a historic conference sponsored by Women for Women International. The two-day conference brought together male and female members of the Iraqi National Assembly, including members of the Constitutional Committee, Iraqi civil society leaders and women's rights advocates.
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"Windows of Opportunity: Pursuing Gender Equity in Post-war Iraq," Women for Women International Briefing Paper
Iraq 's post-war reconstruction period occupies a brief moment in time, but holds long-lasting implications for women. During this window of opportunity, decisions are underway which will determine women's permanent roles in governance, their rights under civil law and their future status in Iraqi society. The outlook for women, and society as a whole, is diminished when individual women, and their representative NGOs, are excluded from decision-making processes.
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Group Updates
Group 46
Elections and Naming the Group
Two of the Women groups have held elections to choose their group president and assistants.
For Group 46, three women of the 20 participants in the group were nominated to run for group president: Nihad Neama, Rihab Abdul-Muneam and Taghreed Habeeb.
The first candidate, Nihad Neama, was born in 1960. She is divorced and has four daughters and one son. Nihad was so creative and full of energy as she was expressing herself to the group. She had a sense of leadership and the ability of making women interact with her. Nihad is now running a food making project; she explained to the women in the group how she spends her sponsorship money on her food making project on things such as buying tools and instrument that helps her save time in making food. She said that she feels a sense of masculinity when dealing with her business but, at the same time, a female full of motherhood and love to her family.
The second candidate, Rihab Abdul-Muneam, is married and has two sons and one daughter. As she spoke about herself she was calm, but sad. The sadness could be felt in the room as she shared her story, the first story to share in front of her sisters, about the loss of their house and the reality of now living in a small apartment that belongs to her relatives. The tears filled her eyes as she expressed the stable life she was living in comparison to life she is now facing. She added that each woman has a pearl inside of her that cannot be hidden and they must work to let it appear and amaze everybody. Rihab commented that most of her time is filled with learning the English language as it is a language she really likes.
The third candidate, Taghreed Habeeb, is married and has a daughter and a son. As she spoke, she emphasized the importance of learning and making use of each minute that Women for Women International is providing. She commented thatt education is the weapon in women's hands towards independency and stable role and life in society.
When the three candidates finished their speeches the twenty participants began voting. They put their votes in a small box and one of the participants to collect the votes from the box while the trainer wrote the results on the white board. The results were:
Taghreed: 2 votes
Rihab: 5 votes
Nihad: 13 votes
Nihad became the president of the group, Rihab became her assistant and Taghreed became the treasurer. After the elections were made the participants cheered for their president and chose the word "Future" to be the name of their group.
Group 47
Elections and Naming the Groups
Group 47 also held elections in the same way as the group "Future." The three candidates were: Zainab Abass, Wasan Faleh and Bushra Ridha.
First Zainab stood in the middle of the group and began telling her story. She is married but has no children, but she feels all the children of the world like hers. Before the Women for Women International program she was lonely person with no friends and felt sad all the time. When she began participating in Women for Women International Program she became more active and optimistic. She urged women to be educated and she expressed her willingness to teach her sisters how to read and write.
Wasan, looking clam, spoke next. She is married and has two daughters and a son. She expressed herself as a woman that was just like the others, having certain issues and interests that she wishes to fulfill and a willingness to help any woman to do the same. She added that no one of us is without a problem so we need to find a way to work it out in order to continue living.
Bushra Ridha was the last to speak. She is 34 years old and is not married. She expressed herself as sister of all who can be a great help to everybody. She said that it did not matter for the three women who would be the president as long as they all believe that each one of them is aiming to help other women in their groups and community.
The trainer then asked all 20 participants to write the name of the chosen candidate for their vote. Those who did not know how to write were assisted by the trainer. They put their votes in a small box and were then collected so they could be written on the white board. The results were amazing:
Bushra Ridha: 3 votes
Zainab Abass: 5 votes
Wasan Faleh : 12 votes
With 12 votes Wasan became the president of group "47," Zainab became the assistant, and Bushra became the group's treasurer.
After the elections the participants chose the name "Life" for their group. The participants liked the idea of elections. Some of the participants decided to vote this time with the knowledge of how important is to have someone who they choose to represent their desires and needs in their Women for Women International women's group in particular and as a society in general.
