Iraq

Al Noor Universal Foundation (AUF)

$35,000 *
To build the accountability of municipal and provincial councils with their constituents in Diyala. AUF will survey 3000 Diyala residents about their relationship to government and use the survey as a basis for a local governance workshop with 25 NGO representatives, who in turn will participate in five forums with government officials and other society leaders.

Al-Tahreer

$39,910*
To facilitate dialogue between citizens and elected officials in Ninewa and to improve the responsiveness of Government to citizen concerns. Altahreer Typical Society will broadcast series of 90-minute television shows where officials from the Provincial Council, Ninewa’s Police Department, the Directorate of Municipal Services, the Directorate of Health, and the Directorate of Agriculture will discuss local issues and interact with local residents.

Alinsan Cultural Foundation for Human Rights Activists

$35,600*
To promote a better understanding among community players in southern Iraq of the challenge of violence and values of civic and political rights. Alinsan Cultural Foundation for Human Rights Activists will conduct 35 seminars, reaching out to 1050 concerned citizens in the provinces of Najaf, Karbala, Diwaniyya, Babel, and Wasit. Alinsan will also coordinate with the participants to facilitate roundtable discussions in their communities.

Almarefa Cultural Institute

$47,500*
To raise civic awareness and strengthen democracy education among urban and rural residents of Karbala province. Almarefa Cultural Institute will conduct 20 seminars, continue to publish its democracy magazine, maintain its website, and continue to run its research center in the city to conduct surveys among residents on political development and the work of the local and central government.

American Society for Kurds (ASK)

$41,000 *
To promote transparency in five Kurdistan Regional ministries by training five volunteer monitors through four workshops that will involve high level government officials to discuss ongoing government programs, and have the volunteers coordinate monitoring activities throughout the year to evaluate the ministries’ performance. ASK will also continue its monitoring program in parliament.

ASUDA for Combating Violence against Women

$49,700 *
To document and monitor violence and abuses against women and develop the institutional and organizational capacity of women’s NGOs. ASUDA will monitor and report on abuses of women’s rights in northern Iraqi cities, organize a capacity building training for 10 newly established women’s NGOs from central and southern Iraq, and conduct a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the urgent need to combat violence against women.

Athar Center for Development

$45,000*
To build the leadership skills of young people in Dhi Qar and help them build relationships with officials. Athar Center for Development will select 41 of the best trainees from its previous NED grant to match with the 41Provincial Council members of Dhi Qar, and train them through 12 workshops, 32 visits to government offices, and 4 analysis and evaluation sessions after each visit.

Awareness Cultural Association (ACA)

$25,000 *
To promote the civic engagement of citizens in Najaf with their elected government. ACA will conduct 15 one-day public forums between officials, NGOs, citizens and members of parliament while simultaneously running a televised and radio prime-time show series for Najaf callers to ask answers from their officials about their concerns.

Babylon National Organization for Human Rights

$20,000*
To promote democracy and human rights values among youth in Iraq. Babylon National Organization for Human Rights will conduct monthly interactive seminars for 1,200 students from high schools and universities on democracy and human rights principles and values in the provinces of Babel, Karbala, Najaf, Diwaniyya, and Wasit.

Badlisy Cultural Center

$32,000 *
To build the institutional capacity of student organizations in the Sulaimaniyya province and promote transparency between civil society organizations. The Badlisy Cultural Center will conduct 21 training-of-trainers workshops for 12 of the Kurdish region’s most active student organizations and continue its online newsletter on civil society.

Baghdad Women Association (BWA)

$46,000
To raise awareness about combating violence against women in Baghdad. BWA will organize eight monthly workshops for social researchers, leaders of women and human rights groups, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Women Affairs, and the Ministry of Human Rights. BWA will also produce a documentary on cases of violence against women and broadcast four episodes of radio program.

Bent Alrafedain (BROB)

$38,000 *
To build a cadre of women leaders by conducting 12 workshops on leadership for 120 women from its two previous Endowment grants and 50 men. Subsequently, BROB will bring regional female leaders together with the 120 trainees in a conference to support the trainees’ efforts to network and to advocate women’s rights.

Bethnahrain Free Women’s Union

$33,200*
To educate Iraqis in Kirkuk about democracy and human rights principles and encourage civic participation. Bethnahrain Free Women’s Union will organize three-phase series of educational seminars for men and women activists, NGO leaders and youth drawn from different religious and ethnic groups. Bethnahrain will also conduct a survey in Kirkuk about citizens’ perceptions and understanding of the Iraqi political process.

Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)

$2,499,321
To continue building a constituency for market oriented democratic development. CIPE will assist business associations with capacity building and advocacy training, work with political parties to create economic platforms, organize training programs for policy makers, conduct surveys to analyze changes in the private sector regarding economic and political reforms, award grants to provide assistance to business associations, and increase public awareness through mass media of the role of free market reforms in sustaining democratic gains.

Center for the Empowerment of Participation and Equality (CEPE)

$30,000
To strengthen women’s political participation in Dhi Qar through legal and civic education and network building. CEPE will conduct 48 workshops for 80 women activists on legal defense and civil rights. CEPE’s trainees will help organize two public meetings between themselves and media, government, civil society organizations and legal institutions, who will give feedback on the training and build connections with the women trainees.

Civil Dialogue Forum (CDF)

$28,800 *
To create a forum for dialogue between civil society activists and government officials on civic activism. CDF will conduct a series of dialogue forums to engage 480 civil society activists and 120 government officials in Baghdad Province on civil society needs. CDF will also distribute 1,000 copies of a booklet to the forum attendees and other NGOs in the province.

Civil Society Initiative (CSI)

$45,500 *
To enable young people to establish a forum for youth issues in Chamchamal and Kalar Districts. CSI will train two groups of 45 to 50 total youth on leadership. The participants will engage in a training application through polling on youth issues before creating two youth-led forums for organizing meetings, planning advocacy activities, and holding seminars for young people and on behalf of young people.

Civilized Dialogue Organization (CDO)

$25,000 *
To raise awareness among men and women in Dhi Qar of women’s rights. CDO will hold training workshops for 360 men and women in rural areas on gender based violence and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CDO will reinforce the workshops with live plays, compile recommendations for future advocacy, and monitor the local courts on cases affecting women.

Democracy and Human Rights Development Center (DHRD)

$60,700 *
To promote civic monitoring, accountability and transparency in the judicial process. DHRD will conduct court monitoring in Sulaimaniyya, Erbil, Duhok, and Kirkuk. DHRD will also conduct an intensive five-day training program on monitoring techniques, a judicial procedural awareness training workshop for 25 legal professionals and members of the security forces, and a series of roundtable discussions.

Democracy and Social Support (DSS)

$25,000*
To encourage youth political participation in Erbil Province. DSS will organize in Makhmour and Altoun Kopry districts 40 seminars to raise youth awareness and encourage their political participation. DSS will also distribute questionnaires to survey the opinion of the attendees and to identify concerns and priority issues affecting youth’s political participation, and discuss the results in a TV debate.

Documenting Center for Civil Society Organizations in Iraq (DCCSO)

$30,000*
To encourage and strengthen dialogue between the legislative and civil society in Iraq. DCCSO will conduct 12 dialogue sessions between parliamentarian committees and major civil society and public opinion players. DCCSO will also coordinate with experts to prepare papers and produce reports that will be made available to the parliament and other organizations.

Eelaf Center for Humane and Social Affairs and Studies

$25,000*
To raise human rights awareness among educators and form a student-led human rights watch group in Diyala. Eelaf will conduct an awareness campaign on human rights with art exhibits, 1000 pamphlets, 1000 notebooks, and 2000 posters in education institutions in Diyala. It will follow up with two forums to assist students in forming a human rights watchdog.

Empowerment Center for Participation and Equality (ECPE)

$30,000 *
To strengthen women’s political participation in Dhi Qar through legal and civic education and network building. ECPE will conduct 48 workshops for 80 women activists on legal defense and civil rights. ECPE’s trainees will help organize two public meetings between themselves and media, government, civil society organizations, and legal institutions, who will give feedback on the trainings and build connections with the women trainees.

Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring

$29,500 *
To raise human rights awareness among local police in the Salah al-Din province. Hammurabi Organization for Human Rights and Democracy Monitoring will conduct 12 three-day trainings for 360 police officers and 40 ranking officers in nine district police stations on topics identified by its staff during their meetings and visits with local law enforcement.

Humanitarian Charity Organization (HCO)

$30,000*
To promote national unity in Maysan province and raise awareness of women’s right abuses. HCO will launch a campaign on women’s rights as an issue to address jointly by all the ethnic and religious groups represented in the province. HCO will first organize a 24 show radio series and 36 lectures on women’s involvement in politics followed by “national unity on women’s rights conferences” in historic locations of Maysan.

Iraqi al-Firdaws Society

$32,000 *
To raise civic and human rights awareness among 42 young people in Basra province. The Iraqi Al-Firdaws Society will train seven groups of six young people, ages 18 to 28, from all seven of Basra’s districts, who will present two papers to community leaders and elected officials at a public forum to be held at the end of its project.

Iraqi Association for Human Rights in Basra (IAFHRB)

$20,000 *
To mobilize general opinion in south Iraq in support of women rights and inform women of constitutional provisions for them. IAFHRB will launch a show in Dhi Qar and then Basra with theatrical troops, book and art shows, and public forums after the two shows, all on the theme of abuses against women. It will distribute pamphlets, posters, and Iraqi media will cover the events.

Iraqi Center for Human Rights Activists (ICHRA)

$19,300*
To raise awareness of Human Rights and Child Rights among teachers and parents in Basra. ICHRA will conduct four trainings of trainers on human rights and its incorporation into curricula for 80 teachers and parents, of which a select 16 will take a planning workshop to prepare their own workshops for 80 more teachers and parents in schools throughout Basra.

Iraq Civic Action Network (ICAN)

$100,900*
To build the institutional capacity of Iraqi civil society organizations and to encourage dialogue and coordination between civil society leaders and local government representatives in South and South-Central Iraq. ICAN will conduct an intensive institutional capacity building training program in its central office in Hilla for 60 NGO leaders and organize 10 town hall meetings.

The Iraqi Civic Action Network (ICAN)

$80,000*
To develop a strategic plan and coordination among leading civic groups in Iraq. ICAN will identify among its network members 17 groups and invite them to participate in a strategic planning meeting to be held in Beirut, Lebanon. The meeting will address the goals and objectives of each group, potential networks, strategies coordination and collaboration at regional and national levels.

Iraq Civic Action Network (ICAN)

$40,300 *
To promote dialogue, coordination, and national networking among Iraqi NGOs on women’s empowerment, human rights, and civic education. ICAN will facilitate monthly meetings in four different regions and coordinate logistics that will support the recommendations and resolutions that 19 Iraqi civil society organizations and NED grantees agreed to implement in the months following the July 2008 Beirut strategic planning meeting.

Iraqi Human Rights Organization (IHRO)

$29,200*
To encourage greater accountability regarding the Iraqi government’s human rights records by training a cadre of professionals as human rights violations monitors. The IHRO will conduct 60-day training workshops in Baghdad for 432 activists, journalists, and lawyers in human rights violations monitoring and reporting. IHRO will visit prisons and police stations to document cases of abuse and publish the findings on a quarterly basis.

Iraqi Institute for Human Rights (IIHR)

$26,200*
To raise human rights awareness among law enforcement officers in Kirkuk and consolidate their role in community cooperation with human rights groups. Iraqi Institute for Human Rights will conduct 24 training courses for 480 participants. IIHR will also design and distribute 1,000 copies of a human rights booklet to the course attendees and other law enforcement officers in Kirkuk.

Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association (IJRD)

$29,000 *
To equip Iraqi journalists with skills to advocate for freedom of the press. IJRD will organize 12 two-day training workshops for 240 journalists from 12 governorates. IJRD will also engage the participants in a discussion and seek their feedback about an effective national advocacy strategy to address the drawbacks related to the journalism draft law to be presented to the parliament.

Iraqi Organization for Human Rights Coordination (IOHRC)

$35,000 *
To raise awareness of the role of provincial councils among community leaders in Baghdad, Karbala, and Basra. IOHRC will conduct two workshops about provincial councils’ roles in each province for 150 civil society, religious, and tribal leaders and provincial council members, who will give recommendations upon completing the workshops. IOHRC will continue the publication of its magazine quarterly.

Iraqi Organization for Preparing Young Leaders (IOPYL)

$41,000 *
To train young people in Baghdad on leadership skills. IOPYL will conduct a series of training workshops for young leaders in active civic and public roles from different religious and ethnic groups. IOPYL will coordinate with government offices and public institutions to organize field visits and internships for the trainees to practice the skills they learned and encourage their civic participation.

Iraqi Social Education Team (ISET)

$32,400*
To equip civil society activists with skills in human rights advocacy. ISET will use a manual it developed to train 150 civil society activists on human rights advocacy in Baghdad. ISET will follow up each training session with town hall meetings for six trainees to present their advocacy plans and engage with other civil society members of the media, government and academia.

Kurdish Institute for Elections (KIE)

$46,000 *
To strengthen the role of civil society in promoting civic engagement in the Kurdish north. KIE will conduct four public opinion surveys concerning four laws under review and include the results into draft law recommendations for the Kurdish National Assembly.

Kurdistan Polling Center (KPC)

$21,000 *
To promote transparency and accountability in Kurdistan’s courts and NGOs. KPC will conduct interviews with 2,000 Iraqis in Sulaimaniyya, Dohuk, Arbil, and Kirkuk about their opinions on the courts’ and NGOs’ independence and integrity. The interviewers will be trained by eight coordinators who will be trained by KPC and oversee the polling process.

Kurdistan Youth Freedom Organization (Youth Freedom)

$17,800 *
To launch a women and youth advocacy network in Sulaimaniyya that will begin a civic dialogue. Youth Freedom will conduct a training of trainers course for 10 youth and women leaders, who will in turn recruit and train 40 members of civic groups on advocacy and join them to a youth network that will assess community concerns and discuss them with local government officials.

Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS)

$234,412*
To launch an Iraq Leadership Academy (ILA) that will form a cadre of Iraqi experts on a proven conflict mitigation model. The LCPS will cooperate with a Guatemala-based institute to hire Iraqi project managers for the ILA and help them create an adapted manual of the Enlightened Dissent Method and a list of future Iraqi trainees.

Madarik Center for Research and Studies

$30,600*
To launch a public policy forum for Iraqi scholars and experts that contributes to democracy building efforts. Madarik will conduct, in Baghdad, 12 forums for 180 scholars and democrats of various socio-political backgrounds, who will focus on civic responsibility and threats to democracy. It will print pamphlets recording the findings of these forums and enroll new scholars in its public policy forum.

Model Iraqi Women Organization (MIWO)

$22,900 *
To raise awareness about combating violence against women in the Karakh district of Baghdad. MIWO will conduct four educational seminars for 200 participants from different socioeconomic and educational backgrounds, produce and perform five theatrical shows, and organize a roundtable discussion to identify ways to combat violence against women at the local and national level.

National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI)

$125,000
To develop a sustainable process for non-violent community problem solving and solidify relationships between political parties and civil society organizations in Kirkuk. NDI will conduct public opinion research that includes conducting a survey and focus groups, organizing roundtable discussions, and holding a conference for representatives of civil society organizations and political parties. The conference will schedule post-election benchmarks and formulate long-term planning for issues already identified by the community.

New Iraqi Academic Organization (NIAO)

$25,000 *
To raise the awareness of government employees and elected officials in Maysan of critical women’s rights issues. NIAO will conduct a survey about women’s rights and use its results to develop and produce a radio series of 45 lectures, newspaper articles, and workshops for 100 women leaders.

The Observer Human Rights Center (OHRC)

$16,500 *
To raise public awareness on women rights in Najaf, Diwaniyya, Karbala, and Babil provinces. OHRC will conduct one-day Training of Trainers for eight women from four women and human rights NGOs in all four provinces. The women trainees will subsequently conduct 24 workshops on women’s rights for 600 leaders from their respective provinces.

Press & Media Care Committee

$20,000 *
To create a partnership between civil society and media in south central Iraq. Press and Media Care Committee will conduct four four-day workshops for NGO staff on Media relations and use of media and launch a website to host a forum on civil society and human rights in south center Iraq that will foment constructive public debate on those subjects.

Rafidain Civic Education Institute

$31,000
To enable citizens to fight corruption by raising their awareness. Rafidain will conduct 10 seven-day anti-corruption and corruption sensitization workshops for 250 civic activists and government employees, while at the same time running a series on corruption on a local radio broadcast.

Rawafad Al-Kheer for Youth Organization (RAYKO)

$22,500*
To raise accountability of elected officials at the local level in Shatra, Dhi Qar, and promote dialogue between citizens, CSOs, and government officials. RAKYO will conduct 12 symposia for 30 local council members and citizen leaders. The discussions will be compiled into a monthly magazine that RAKYO will publish to promote its own mission and raise awareness of municipal government roles and responsibilities.

Sufraa Foundation for Development

$51,200 *
To empower citizens to engage in civic action with their local elected government. Sufraa will training 20 civic leaders from Babil’s 16 sub-districts to organize 16 civic forums for a total of 800 local citizens and council members. Sufraa will also hold four district-level conferences for 280 CSOs, government leaders, and local citizens. Sufraa will subsequently select 20 exceptional participants to be trained on advocacy aimed at provincial councils.

Universities and Institutes Graduation Association In Diwaniyah (Graduates Unity)

$30,000 *
To raise the awareness of Diwaniyya citizens on processes of democracy. Graduates Unity will conduct 15 workshops for 300 citizens, each one including a three-act theatrical play about the political rights and duties of Iraqi citizens. The plays will be re-broadcast on a local television network and CD recordings will be distributed to local NGOs and community leaders.

Women and Child Rights Center (WCRC)

$27,400
To raise awareness of women’s rights in south central Iraq by empowering women to use media for advocacy campaigns. WCRC will conduct a one-year women’s rights awareness and advocacy training program for 450 women, drawing on the resources of local NGO’s, universities, and media outlets.