Countering GBV within the Refugee Community in Erbil, Iraq

DOZ International > Iraq Ongoing Projects > Countering GBV within the Refugee Community in Erbil, Iraq

Kawargosk Camp by Abdulaziz Ramadan, DOZ e.V.

Funded by Nord Süd Brücken with financial support from BMZ

Project Summary

The project “Countering GBV within the Refugee Community in Erbil, Iraq” is funded by Foundation Nord Süd Brücken with financial support from BMZ – German federal Ministry for Development Cooperation. The project started in December 2022 and will be accomplished in June 2023. The project is supervised by DOZ e.V. Germany and will be implemented by DOZ Iraq.

The project provides a safe space for self-empowerment and knowledge enhancement on combating gender-based violence (GBV) through 5 workshops for selected women and girls within Kawargosk refugee camp in Erbil. These participants will be potential trainers to expand knowledge on combating gender-based violence in their circles in the camp and transfer the knowledge they learned through Training for Trainers – ToTs Workshops to other active girls and women in the community. In addition, the awareness campaign will share knowledge and information about GBV challenges in the camp and raise awareness at a public event. Both of these will help to mobilize at the community level in the camp to further counter GBV cases and increase knowledge beyond the individual, thereby building strong alliances between generations and gender roles in the long run.

Expected Results Under This Project

50 women were trained on how to deal with gender-related cases and shared their knowledge with other women in the refugee camp after the project.
200 people are aware of gender-based violence cases in the camp and advocate in their circles to combat gender-based violence through the public event.

Upcoming Activities

Three Workshops
Open Public Action Day

Activities Implemented Under This Project

Photo by DOZ Iraq During GBV Workshops at Kawargosk Refugee Camp, Erbil, Iraq 2023

During the months of May, June, and July 2023, DOZ Iraq organized three training workshops on gender-based violence at the Women and Girls Center / Kawergosk Social Center for Women in the Kawergosk refugee camp in Erbil. The training workshops aimed to empower women and educate them about issues related to violence, Gender-based violence, and providing them with the resources and skills necessary to address and prevent GBV. These training workshops also aimed to create a safe space among the participants, highlighting the challenges and problems that society faces in facing gender-based violence, how to confront it, and work collaboratively towards finding effective and sustainable solutions.

The training workshops received a response from 48 participants from different backgrounds, including activists in women’s issues, university students, school teachers, and girls from the camp community who are interested in women’s issues. The training workshops included providing the participants with an introduction to gender-based violence through Introducing it and referring to its various types (rape, sexual assault, physical assault, forced marriage, underage marriage, etc.), misconceptions about gender-based violence were also discussed, and the root causes of gender-based violence were discussed, including the “system patriarchal and gender norms, power and control dynamics, social and cultural factors, economic factors, and other causes) that have an impact on individuals and society and contribute to the exacerbation of GBV.

On the other hand, the training workshops discussed the effects of gender-based violence, including (psychological, social, and economic effects, which in turn affect victims of gender-based violence and society in general). Within this framework, the discussions between the participants and the trainer dealt with strategies for preventing gender-based violence, including (promoting equality and respectful relationships, addressing wrong societal norms through intensification of awareness and educational programs and campaigns targeting the community, empowering women and enhancing their role in engaging in Areas of decision-making to reduce discrimination and violence to which they are exposed, the need to include awareness of equality issues in educational curricula to spread human values and contribute to building a more just and tolerant society).

The training workshops included many practical sessions among the participants by dividing them into small working groups. These working groups received active participation in exchanging information and recounting many experiences and stories that the participants themselves faced during their family, professional, and educational journey, during the refugee phase. And they left their homes and cities, as these shared experiences all fall within the framework of gender-based violence issues, and the participants stressed the importance of these group discussions among them, as it was an opportunity to exchange experiences as well as ideas and opinions on the issue of gender-based violence.

In addition, the working groups among the participants received many recommendations from the participants, which included:

– Organizing more workshops and awareness discussion sessions on gender-based violence to spread awareness among the community and enhance their participation.

– Providing more safe spaces for women and girls in the refugee and displaced persons camps, and in the neighborhoods of the local community, as these spaces are considered a suitable environment for women and girls to develop and empower themselves.

– Providing training opportunities (vocational training) that target women and girls to empower them economically and have an effective role in society.

– Updating and developing educational and training programs to enhance knowledge and skills in dealing with gender-based violence issues.

– Supporting research and academic studies on the issue of gender-based violence to provide a database for activists working in this field.

– Enhancing cooperation between governmental and non-governmental institutions to achieve positive results in combating gender-based violence.

These workshops on gender-based violence witnessed active and fruitful participation by the participants within the workshops, as they included the participation of success stories by the participants and the exchange of information. on gender to reduce this negative phenomenon, and there was confirmation by them that this is a kind of workshop that contributes to empowering them and developing their skills and giving them the strength to have a positive participation within society to work on combating gender-based violence and achieving positive standardization in the communities to which they belong .

Photo Highlight During First Workshop