Launching the Nadia’s Initiative Women’s Center

Summary

In 2024, Nadia’s Initiative committed to launch a flagship, comprehensive women’s center in Sinjar, Iraq to serve more than 6,000 women and girls, especially survivors of the Yazidi genocide and ISIS occupation, many of whom faced displacement, sexual violence, and other atrocities. It will be the first and only comprehensive center in the region designed to provide support to survivors, led by survivors under the leadership of Nadia’s Initiative’s founder, Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad. In collaboration with partners, the center’s programming will include education, vocational training and small business support, legal aid, sports-based empowerment programming, and mental health and psychosocial support. As the center grows, it aims to expand service availability to additional community members in need. It is slated to open in 2024 to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide and aims to provide hope and empowerment.

Approach

Informed by extensive consultations with survivors of the Yazidi genocide, NI commits to launching a comprehensive Women’s Center for those survivors and for other women in Sinjar. Set to open in 2024 – the 10th anniversary of the genocide – NI will use the Center to support survivors and send a message of hope and commemoration.

With a focus on women’s empowerment, the Women’s Center will be open to all women in the region, and is designed to provide a safe, community-focused space, offering a comprehensive array of services, including: livelihood support, education, healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) , legal aid, shelter, and capacity building in leadership and advocacy.

NI aims to reach more than 6,300 direct beneficiaries – including by creating approximately 600 new jobs and providing MHPSS to more than 1,000 survivors – during the first five years of Center operations.

NI brings to this commitment more than six years of implementing community-driven, survivor-centric projects in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) ; cultural preservation; education; livelihoods; healthcare; and women’s empowerment.

Moreover, all members of NI’s Iraq team – as well as our President and Board Chair, Nadia Murad, and Strategic Advisor and Co-Founder, Abid Shamdeen – are Yazidis originally from Sinjar. This allows NI to bring to its work a unique knowledge of the local context, challenges, and opportunities.

NI has also worked with partners in northern Iraq that will support Center programming, including:

Sunrise NGO, which has lead implementation of NI’s education portfolio and other projects; L’Oreal Women’s Fund, which is supporting NI’s initial vocational training and literacy courses; Dorcas Aid International, whose Iraq team supported past NI programming in WASH and agriculture; Free To Run, an INGO promoting sports-based empowerment for women and girls worldwide; and the Center for Victims of Torture, which is working with NI to develop preliminary concepts for the provision of MHPSS to genocide survivors.

Action Plan

NI completed construction on the Women’s Center in April 2024.

Throughout summer 2024, NI will continue onboarding staff and implementing pilot programming in education and vocational training, with specific emphasis on literacy and cosmetology, for a group of approximately 80 beneficiaries. –

In fall 2024, NI plans to formally and publicly launch the Women’s Center and begin offering a fuller slate of programming and services, including education and livelihood support, to be followed soon after by sports-based empowerment activities implemented by NI partner Free To Run.

During Q4 2024 and 2025, NI will continually ramp up programming at the Center, vastly expanding its beneficiary pool.

In 2025 (programmatic Y2) , NI intends to begin offering trauma-informed mental health and psychosocial support in partnership with the Center for Victims of Torture, along with a wider array of educational offerings.

In 2026 (Y3) , NI will also begin offering legal aid (with assistance from contracted lawyers) for survivors seeking to access reparations and other support as promised under the Yazidi Survivors Law, and/or secure civil documentation (e.g. personal identities or land ownership certification) .

By end of Y3, NI aims to have initiated all currently-envisioned Women’s Center activities, and throughout Y4-Y5 will focus on consolidating impact for existing beneficiaries and expanding existing programming to reach additional beneficiaries.

Through this gradual uptick in programming, NI aims to have reached 715 total beneficiaries by the end of Y1; 1860 by the end of Y2; 3345 by Y3; 4830 by the end of Y4; and 6315 by the end of Y5.

NI intends for this Center to continue providing services to genocide survivors – ultimately led not by NI but by local leaders and community members in Sinjar – for many years to come

Background

Tens of thousands of Yazidi women and girls have returned to Sinjar, Iraq after years of displacement triggered by the Yazidi genocide and ISIS occupation of the region from 2014-2017. Many of these women were subjected to conflict-related sexual violence and other atrocities while in ISIS captivity.

Under the leadership of 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad – herself a survivor of the genocide and ISIS captivity – Nadia’s Initiative (NI) has taken a leading role in rebuilding much of Sinjar’s basic infrastructure.

However, the region lacks a comprehensive center where survivors (especially women and girls) can gather to access the basic services required for the rebuilding and reclaiming of the Yazidi homeland and the restoration of social and economic life across Sinjar.

Moreover, NI anticipates the Iraqi government will close all remaining displaced persons camps within its borders in 2024 or 2025, triggering a potential sudden anInformed by extensive consultations with survivors of the Yazidi genocide, NI commits to launching a comprehensive Women’s Center for those survivors and for other women in Sinjar. Set to open in 2024 – the 10th anniversary of the genocide – NI will use the Center to support survivors and send a message of hope and commemoration.

With a focus on women’s empowerment, the Women’s Center will be open to all women in the region, and is designed to provide a safe, community-focused space, offering a comprehensive array of services, including: livelihood support, education, healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) , legal aid, shelter, and capacity building in leadership and advocacy.

NI aims to reach more than 6,300 direct beneficiaries – including by creating approximately 600 new jobs and providing MHPSS to more than 1,000 survivors – during the first five years of Center operations.

Progress Update

Partnership Opportunities

NI seeks programmatic and technical partners and financial resources that will help sustain Women’s Center services and programming for years to come., NI brings to any potential new partnerships its deep programmatic expertise and established networks in Sinjar, as well as a leading advocacy voice and globally recognized brand in the counter-CRSV and survivor justice and accountability spaces.