Iraq

Country Programs

LWF started working in Iraq in August 2014 in Dohuk Governorate, following the insurgency of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS). The LWF is registered as a charitable agency with the Kurdistan Regional Government since 2015 and the Federal Government of Iraq since 2018.

The humanitarian crisis in Iraq remains one of the largest and most volatile in the world. Combat against the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) has ended and hundreds of displaced people are returning to their homes and communities. Many of these returnees have found homes, schools, and healthcare facilities destroyed or severely damaged. In many areas, the rehabilitation of basic water supply, sanitation, and other services has proven a task that may not be completed for years.

Climate change poses an additional challenge to the already affected population of Iraq. It has resulted in prolonged heat waves, erratic precipitation, increasing temperature, increasing water scarcity, and increasing occurrence of sand and dust storms. Also natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and earthquakes as well as communicable disease outbreaks have posed risks to the communities.

LWF Response

The LWF has intervened in Iraq since 2014, supporting internally displaced people, returnees, host communities and Syrian refugees. It has been implementing projects in the Kurdish region of Iraq, mainly in the Dohuk governorate, and in late 2016/early 2017 LWF Iraq expanded its activities to the neighboring areas of the Nineveh Plains, working through local partners.

Updated 12 February 2024

ACT Appeal | Iraq: Durable Solutions to the Protracted Humanitarian Crisis in I…

What we do in Iraq

Livelihoods

Protection and Social Cohesion

Quality Services

Cross-Cutting Issues

LWF increases livelihood opportunities for women and men through business rehabilitation programs and several vocational training programs, for example on beekeeping and crop production. As more and more displaced people are returning to their homes, they are finding their homes and businesses destroyed, and themselves without income.

In 2020, LWF World Service joined the PROSPECTS initiative, which brings together the International Labor Organization (ILO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Children’s Fund (UNICEF), as well as the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation. LWF Iraq through trainers certified by ILO provided Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) and Financial Education (FE) trainings to youth from different community groups in Duhok and Ninewa governorates. The aim of these trainings is to develop the business skills for women and men, and subsequently, promote access to finance to develop their businesses through providing loans.

LWF focuses specific attention on increasing awareness, coping capacities, and mechanisms of the population, especially targeting vulnerable women and girls. Protection activities are taking place in Davudiya IDP camp as well as in several community centers, also providing support to returnees, refugees and host communities. It is of primary importance that the different communities within Iraq are understanding each other’s perspectives to be able to cooperate well together. LWF has projects on community dialogues for communities to share their past and present experiences, to nurture social cohesion.

LWF promotes safe WASH practices to facilitate access to drinkable water and hygiene, and rehabilitates WASH infrastructure which was destroyed during the conflict. WASH infrastructure works and activities such as hygiene promotion sessions are being conducted in Davudiya IDP camp, whilst the LWF focuses on garbage collection and awareness activities within several villages in the Ninewa plains.

Child protection and gender justice aspects are mainstreamed throughout all projects, ensuring that all activities, based on multi-cultural, multi-religious community led-programing, ultimately contribute to social cohesion. LWF Iraq Program will address discrimination and exclusion and will empower women socially and economically as leaders and decision-makers in their households and communities.