Training team headed to Iraq

September 10th, 2009

This fall, an advance training team heads to Iraq to launch a “capacity building” training program for Iraqi community groups and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The delegation has a two-fold mission:

1. lead a comprehensive focus group discussion with Iraqi and international policy makers, academic experts, and community leaders about the needs of orphans and their caregivers; and
2. offer a preview of training to a select group of Iraqi NGOs.

This initiative is a direct response to the appeal of our Iraqi friends who attended the April 15 conference on orphans in Baghdad. There are already many local organizations in Iraq who have a deep passion to help orphans in their own communities and are currently offering a range of services to help them. Capacity building training will empower them to run their organizations with greater efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to expand the kinds of services they offer to meet the physical, educational, medical, and psychosocial needs of the estimated 2.5 million orphans in Iraq today.