For families with children who have special needs, it can be challenging for both the family and the children to receive the support and resources they need in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In the last two years, SEED has worked with two families from the host community who have children that are diagnosed with [...]
Survivors of ISIS captivity and violence face many barriers to their reintegration and recovery. SEED works to strengthen protections and services and advocates for survivors’ rights. Supporting the Reintegration and Recovery of Female Survivors of ISIS in Kurdistan, Iraq Over 6,000 Yezidi women and children were taken by ISIS in 2014. [...]
One Year Anniversary of the STEPS Center, Shelter for Trafficking Survivors For people who have experienced trafficking, safe shelter is often the first step towards recovery and stabilization. Until last year, there were no shelters specifically for survivors of trafficking in Iraq or Kurdistan. After the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) passed the 'Anti-Human [...]
Ninety two young artists entered SEED Foundation’s first ‘Art of Equality’ competition to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and support the promotion of gender equality and positive portrayal of women and girls in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The 13 national and international judges including diplomats, governmental and non-governmental [...]
Like in the rest of Iraq, gender inequality and gender-based violence (GBV) are pervasive in the Kurdistan Region (KRI). There are efforts by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to face the problem of GBV, including a strong law addressing domestic violence and a law enforcement department called the Department of Combating Violence Against Women and [...]
SEED supports clients from diverse backgrounds and is dedicated to taking a client-centered approach, ensuring each individual’s needs are met. Maureen, a 38-year-old woman from Tanzania, was placed in a household in Sulaimani, Kurdistan, as a domestic worker. After nearly a year, Maureen was forced to work longer hours than agreed upon, denied freedom of [...]
Reporting on gender-based violence, especially during crises such as #COVID-19, is a difficult and sensitive task. When ethical reporting standards are not followed, it can place the lives of survivors at risk. @UNFPAIraq’s guidelines provide journalists with key steps to follow when communicating these difficult stories. SEED has worked with UNFPA to make these [...]
Nagham*, a 21 year old Yezidi girl, currently lives in an IDP camp after ISIS invaded her home town of Shingal (Sinjar), where she grew up with her family. After the ISIS invasion, life became extremely unsafe and Nagham and her family were forced to flee to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Although they [...]
As SEED’s community coordinators and mobilizers logged on one by one to the video call and greeted each other, there was both excitement and curiosity for the first remote psychosocial support (PSS) training for staff since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). This was the start of a two-day training in [...]
To promote improved services to some of the most vulnerable and violence-affected people in the world, SEED Foundation worked with a broad range of stakeholders to develop a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Standard of Care Model, tailor made for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Delivering high quality services to meet the [...]