Iraq Leadership Fellows

This campaign, entitled ‘Together for Success’, brings together elementary and middle school teachers to provide free classes to support children who are falling behind and to prepare them for the next stage of their education. The goal of the campaign is to increase the number of children who succeed in the school exams, and to reduce the burden on struggling parents to pay for private tutoring. The campaign will coordinate with the directorate of education and provincial authorities and includes a public outreach component to ensure maximum impact.

The goal of this campaign is to advocate for the application of the Iraqi constitution when it comes to protecting the rights of people with disabilities. The campaign will include outreach and training to prison authorities to enable them to meet their obligations under Iraqi and international law. The campaigners have formed a team with the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in order to pursue the implementation of better practice. The campaign will also advocate that decision-makers close gaps in the law where they exist, and to support the building of facilities that can better meet the needs of disabled detainees.

This campaign seeks to increase the number of women who are included in Iraqi political decision making by increasing the quota of women in parliament from 25 to 40 percent. The campaign will target government officials, ministries, and civil society organizations and local communities.

The goal of this campaign is to protect children’s right to an education in Iraq, where conflict and displacement has disrupted the access of children to schooling. The campaign focuses on advocating for the restoration of access to education for these children with relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Education. The campaign will also advocate for the provision of specialist classes to help children who have missed years of schooling to catch up with their age group in the rest of the country.

This campaign seeks to protect freedom of speech in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq by lobbying against a law that restricts the speech of civil society activists and journalists in the Kurdistan Region. The strategy includes raising public awareness about the law, fostering popular demonstrations against the law, and persuading Kurdish parliamentarians to amend the law.

Meet the campaigner: Karwan Gaznay

The province of Diyala has witnessed an explosion of illegal drug use among young people, and this campaign seeks to raise awareness among young people, families and the community about the dangers of drug use, the warning signs of addiction, and potential paths to preventing and tackling addiction. The campaign also seeks to persuade local authorities to mount a public health effort to deal with this growing epidemic.

Meet the campaigner: Ameer Ali Ismael

This campaign seeks to increase the representation of Iraq’s Yezidi community in the parliaments in Baghdad and in Erbil, and throughout the civil service. This is an effort to preserve the Yezidi community in Iraq after the genocide inflicted on them by ISIS. It will work towards this goal by raising public awareness and through direct political advocacy.

Meet the campaigner: Farhan Ibrahim Ali

This group of campaigners is seeking to transform Iraq’s higher education curricula to shift away from traditional didactic teaching methods towards more critical and participatory learning. The goal is to create a learning environment that better equips young Iraqis with the tools they needs to fully engage in the modern economy and in political and civic life. Their strategy focuses on lobbying the relevant ministries and gaining the support of higher education institutions and students.

Meet the campaigners: Ayad Hassan Jasim, Ahmed al-Hitawy and Osama Hameed Mohammed