CONTEXT
Post-Daesh Iraq is a country slowly trying to return to normalcy. There are still large numbers of people trying to return to their homes. The entire society is riven with conflict, trauma and sectarian divisions. Paying the highest price for all this are women and children. Weak state institutions are challenged daily by the many militias, affiliated with regional powers, that control infrastructure, checkpoints, as well as actual portions of territory. The Iraqi mosaic, from an element of millennial wealth, has sadly turned into a struggle for supremacy. Iraqi youth have been taking to the streets for years, demanding an end to sectarianism, corruption, and the dominance of arms. And organized civil society is constantly engaged in the long and complex work of rebuilding social ties and peacebuilding.

PROJECT
Starting in January 2021, and running until September 2022, Un Ponte Per through the "Regakan" project, funded by CEI - Italian Episcopal Conference, initiates a new intervention in northern Iraq, aimed at fostering the economic development and job placement of young Iraqis in the eco-sustainable tourism sector.
The project, implemented in partnership with the Deir Maryam al-Adhra Monastery and the former Tobacco Factory - now redeveloped into a "Culture Factory" - aims to set up a widespread hospitality network in the governorate of Suleymania, promoting access, rehabilitation and securing of sites of special cultural and environmental interest, as well as the creation of routes and guided tours. The intervention aims to foster employment development for the local population through specific trainings and internships in emerging sectors (ecotourism, humanitarian sector, languages, new technologies).
The planned trainings are intended for young graduates in the tourism sector, at the end of which the start-up of 8 small local start-ups will be subsidized, specializing in accommodation, catering and handicrafts, in order to create a welcoming and widespread hospitality network. In cooperation with local authorities, more than 150 local youths will be involved. 

UPP IN IRAQ
Un Ponte Per (A Bridge To...) begins its story in Iraq back in 1991, alongside and in support of the civilian population who were victims of the Gulf War. Following the post-war emergency, it organizes the campaign to treat Iraqi boys and girls suffering from serious diseases in Italy, initiates school twinning between Italian and Iraqi schools, and launches campaigns to denounce and violate the embargo on the Iraqi population. After the 2003 war, following the burning and looting of the National Library and Historical Archives in Baghdad, Un Ponte Per set off with the program "The House of Books" to renovate its premises, restore manuscripts and train library staff. A commitment that continues to this day with the defense of minority cultural heritage and the preservation of Iraqi archaeological, cultural and environmental sites (such as the "Save the Tigris" water defense campaign). UPP has also been supporting Iraqi activists since 2004, out of whose synergy the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative was born in 2009. At the outbreak of the war in Syria, UPP became involved in Iraq in the work of welcoming and providing psychosocial support to the many people seeking refuge in the country. It is at the forefront of the humanitarian emergency caused by Daesh's (Islamic State) conquest of large portions of Iraq and the ensuing civil war. After the expulsion of Daesh from Iraq, Un Ponte Per inaugurated in the Nineveh Plain its "Peace Workshops," centers where Iraqi youths can engage in sports activities, attend trainings, and socialize with people from different ethnic/religious groups. UPP consistently carries out work to protect and access reproductive health for women and girls. Its peacebuilding work and support for war victims continues till today.