Yanhad: promoting youth civic engagement, career development and entrepreneurship in Iraq
The World Bank estimates youth unemployment in Iraq to be at 36 percent, an important figure when compared to the national unemployment rate of 16 percent. Thus, Iraq’s government expressed its commitment to deal with the issue of youth unemployment to rebuild the social fabric of the country and enhance opportunities for social and economic inclusion.
In this context, the Yanhad project aims to foster youth’s participation in stabilisation efforts in the areas of Mosul, Baghdad and Sulaymaniyah, to reach out to young people all across the country. The project, funded by the European Union and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, promotes youth participation in inclusive and democratic governance, fosters economic empowerment and employment and strengthens social cohesion for youth. To do so, Expertise France and its partners work to increase civic engagement within the local civil society, strengthen the capacities of the universities of Mosul and Nineveh’s career development centres and improve access to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.Supporting the students of Mosul and Nineveh Universities
At the Universities of Mosul and Nineveh, students improve their knowledge of the work environment and increase their readiness to seek for jobs through relevant career guidance services offered by the Career Development Centres (CDCs) of both universities. About 250 students are directly benefiting from soft skills trainings provided by CDCs.
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Photo by: Helen Baker – Students from Mosul and Nineveh Universities working |
Students are encouraged to work on projects that promote knowledge sharing, intercommunity dialogue, social cohesion and tolerance, thus contributing to the intellectual and moral revival of Mosul and Nineveh, both deeply affected by the socio-economic crisis. Under Yanhad, 18 students (male and female) have received grants to help them develop their business ideas. A student stated the importance of Yanhad training: “I learnt how to develop an idea, analyse the possible issues and challenges, find solutions and most importantly how to structure my ideas following a clear framework”. |
Fostering youth civic engagement
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In partnership with local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the Yanhad project also seeks to educate young people on providing civic engagement opportunities for the youth and fostering dialogue with local authorities. 300 youths will participate in 15 civic initiatives and 30 dialogue sessions organized with local authorities in Nineveh. The project supports the engagement of youth, through Iraqi CSOs, in community service projects and fosters dialogue with local authorities. It includes a grant mechanism that supports Iraqi NGOs to enable them to implement socio-economic projects. |
Photo by: Soma Farman – Expertise France through the Yanhad project sponsored stands for start-ups from Takween Accelerator & The Station programmes, to showcase their businesses in a local event. |
The objective is also to strengthen civil society organisations in Nineveh by providing tailored capacity building programmes implemented by NCCI for 30 non-governmental organisations. Seven local CSOs will receive 60,000 USD grants from Expertise France to support livelihoods of vulnerable people in Nineveh, hence getting an opportunity to put in practice the coaching received.
Awaz, an employee in one of the local organisations, who participated in Yanhad training of trainers, says: “Although I am already a trainer and provide trainings to the staff of the organisation I am working for, I still gained some valuable information to improve my strategy. It helped me to better design training materials, to present the ideas in a way that can fit with my audience’s expectations, and it brought me other technical skills”.
Promoting youth entrepreneurship & economic empowerment
In partnership with the American University of Sulaymaniyah, The Station’s incubators of Baghdad and Mosul and Takween accelerator, Yanhad commits to support youth entrepreneurship thanks to incubator and accelerator programmes, sharing best practices and networking. To date, 100 entrepreneurs around Iraq have benefited from the project through intensive professional trainings and have received seed funding to kick-start their businesses.
This program is a getaway to understand how small businesses can turn into big companies in the future.
Huda Sarhang, the Founder of Lala Candles, one of the entrepreneurs who participated in Takween accelerator training under the Yanhad project talks about her experience: “Takween teaches me not to just expand my business but also my standards in marketing, product development, and product quality. This program is a getaway to understand how small businesses can turn into big companies in the future”.
As young Iraqi men and women are calling for civic, economic, social and political participation, Expertise France, through the Yanhad project, fosters their contribution to the stabilisation process in line with Iraq’s reconstruction and development framework. Yanhad supports Iraqi authorities’ efforts to place youth at the core of economic development and local partnership through increase in civic engagement and economic empowerment for Iraqi youth.
For further information, read Yanhad's project sheet
Visit Yanhad's website: www.yanhad.org