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IF Staff Meet with Secretary Clinton in Baghdad
 On April 25, IF's Suhaila Assadi and Eman Abdul Rahman, who both work on the Widow's Empowerment Program (WEP), took two Iraqi widows to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the US Embassy in Baghdad. Ms. Clinton hosted a town hall-style
meeting at the embassy to address Iraqis about the US' continued commitment to Iraq and the Iraqi people. This was Ms. Clinton's first visit to Iraq as Secretary of State.
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Literacy and IT Training Begins in Mdaina
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As part of IF's new Mdaina Education Project (MEP), launched in February, we are pleased to announce the start of the literacy and information technology (IT) training programs in the Southern marshlands of
Mdaina!
The trainings will continue until August 2009. The literacy training is geared towards 250 illiterate and semiliterate adults, and is taking place in four local schools and run twice a week for two hours and 15 minutes a session. The Iraq Foundation would like to thank the Department of Education in Al-Qorna for offering valuable literacy curricula for the literacy component of this project.
In April, IF also began the IT computer training program, which will provide six local IT experts with advanced skills training. In addition to enhancing these individual's employment skills, this training will ensure that Mdaina has competent IT personal to handle the administration of the computer center established by the MEP project and train an additional 50 teachers and 50 small business owners in basic computer operations, which will benefit their work and livelihood.
Learn more about MEP...
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IF Holds Graduation Ceremony in Basra
 On April 1st, IF held a
graduation ceremony in Basra, Iraq to honor the 135 Iraqi widows who completed the first cycle of
training in Basra's two training centers as part of the Widows Empowerment Project (WEP).
During this ceremony the participating widows received certificates and
small gifts to commemorate this accomplishment. Alongside the ceremony, IF held an exibition to displayed the widow's products. In addition, during April the second cycle of training classes began in all four training centers in Baghdad and Basra.
Learn more about WEP...
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IF Convenes Capacity Building Trainings
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 From April 20 - 24th, IF convened two two-day capacity building trainings in Nasiriyya, as part of our Southern Governorate NGO Capacity Building project. Each training gathered together ten participating NGOs to review and expand the skills learned last November in Sulaimaniya, which include Strategic
planning, project proposal design and project management, advocacy and
networking, governance and management, and financial planning.
Learn more about Southern Governorates NGO Capacity Building...
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Chief Operating Officer Addresses USIP
Selwa Gailani, Chief Operating Officer of the Iraq Foundation, addressed a US Institute of Peace panel entitled "Two Years After the Surge: Implications for Women in Iraq" on April 29th. Ms. Gailani's
talk highighted IF's uderstanding of the role the US surge played and the positive
effects felt in Iraq in terms of the environment in which
civil society organizations operate. From USIP, "When the surge
began... by the end of 2007 we began to notice some improvement. Not
only in implementing projects, women were more active in advocating for
their rights," she told the USIP audience. Iraqi widows who participate
in the Iraq Foundation's Widows Empowerment project have become
"empowered to go out and find jobs" said Gailani , as a direct
result of improved security."
Learn more about the USIP Event...
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