Empowering Adolescents with disabilities through Education and Civic engagement programmes in Ninewa Governorate

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

UNFPA’s project main objective is to empower youth with disabilities and create an environment for young people with disabilities age 10-24 years to exercise their rights for basic services and civic engagement. The challenges of young people with disabilities are exacerbated due to the post humanitarian crisis context in Iraq. The project will be implemented in the Ninewa governorate including Mosul. The area of implementation have been strongly hit by the raise of terrorist organization ISIL and the war that followed it. Many different minority groups live in the area. Three youth centers were chosen by UNFPA based on a capacity study done in 2019: Al-Hadbaa, Alqush ja Bartella. According to UNFPA’s analysis these youth centers are the ones that need the most support in terms of infrastructure but also in term of services provided to youth with disabilities. The objectives of this project will be achieved through action and impact on many different levels: 1) strengthening the awareness of young people with disabilities about their own rights. 2) Strengthening the capacity of selected youth centers by providing them disability-friendly frameworks and services; 3) Strengthening at a community level the awareness about the rights of people with disabilities 4) strengthening the availability of learning material designed for people with disabilities. The beneficiaries of this project are young people with disabilities aged between 10 and 24 in the project area. The project will contribute the realization of the primary objectives of Finland’s development cooperation (eradication of poverty and of inequalities). It also contributes to the third objective of the development policy (education, well-functioning society and democracy) and the fourth objective of the Strategy for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian aid in response to the conflicts, Syria and Iraq 2017–2020 (the special needs and rights and the protection of vulnerable groups, especially people with disabilities in the conflict response). Through the support given to this project, Finland’s objective is to promote the inclusivity of services especially for people with disabilities.