Iraqi Kurdistan: training courses for refugees

The NGO ”Un Ponte Per…” (UPP) and the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS) are providing training courses and job-seeking assistance to men and women refugees in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan.

‘Darfat’ (Kurdish for ‘opportunity’) is a new 10-month project funded by AICS and UPP, which will organise training courses in Sulaymaniyah. The project will focus mainly on the inhabitants of Barika refugee camp and is designed to help unemployed Syrian and Iraqi men and women refugees and IDPs and women victims of violence. The goal is to help create sustainable and dignified job opportunities to mitigate the challenges and instability of this complex region.

Employment as a means of integration

The project coordinator in Italy, Ettore Acocella, explains the job-seeking component. As well as providing training in the traditional professions, such as painting and decorating or working as an electrician, there will also be the chance to learn more unusual skills, such as sound engineering. The project will be based in three main sites: the Bakira refugee camp, which hosts around 8,000 Syrian refugees, the Deir Maryam Aladhra Monastry and the Sulaymaniah women’s shelter for victims of violence. Employment, Acocella explains “is a way to encourage integration” but also “to increase mutual understanding”, and “to facilitate dialogue between different communities”. By attending the same training course, people from different backgrounds can start getting to know each other.

The situation in Kurdistan

Acocella recalls how the Autonomous Region of Iraqi Kurdistan “welcomed the Syrian men and women fleeing from the north of their country”, as well as members of other Iraqi communities from other parts of the country. “The Islamic State has now been defeated”, but there are still many challenges that can, at times, impede the return home of IDPs. “The war and other factors”, continues Acocella, “had a massive impact on this region’s economy.”

di Matteo Petri, tratto da Vatican News del 10/4/2019

By Matteo Petri, Vatican News 10/4/2019