Beyond Black & White Thinking: Fostering Integrative Complexity to Encourage Reintegration of Children Affected by War ISIS systematically destroyed and terrorized communities across Iraq and Syria, breaking up families and often recruiting the most vulnerable members - children - as domestic workers, cleaners, messengers, or soldiers. These children, many of whom are now young adults, [...]

How to Recognize & Respond to Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) SEED Delivers First Ever TFGBV-focused Training in Iraq for National NGOs “TFGBV is one of the most important issues we deal with, it’s common and prevalent in our society - especially in the Middle East - due to the misuse of technology, [...]

Restoring A Sense of Safety for Returnees in Ninewa SEED Trains over 50 NGO staff on Protection and Gender-Based Violence To date, almost 5 million Iraqis, formerly displaced by ISIS, have returned home. And while once many lived in communities that enjoyed relative safety, years of exposure to conflict and long-term displacement has resulted [...]

Gender-based Violence Training: Helping Yourself to Help Others For Bassma and Hemin, working in a difficult environment everyday was taking its toll. The emotional strain and demand to be available at all hours of the day, was having an impact on their mental health and their relationships with their families.  Bassma, 36, is a [...]

Stringing Together Beads of Hope: Economically Empowering Survivors of Human Trafficking through Paper Bead Making Thanks to Intira Thepsittawiwat, who donated her time and expertise, SEED Foundation supported 11 women, from 3 countries, to learn how to make paper bead necklaces. These women, while residing in SEED’s STEPS Center, were empowered with new skills that [...]

‘I have possibilities now,’ says Mohamad after 16 years of not knowing his birth name or true age “I want to exist on paper to follow my dreams,” Mohamad,* a 16-year-old who was abandoned by his biological parents, told his SEED Foundation lawyer, who has been supporting Mohamad’s legal efforts to obtain his [...]

Access to Client-Centered Services Critical to Supporting Survivors of Trafficking Tara*, 52, came to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) from South Asia in 2018, having been recruited for a well-paid domestic worker position. Upon arrival, her employment agency failed to obtain her residency (iqama), instead moving her to several locations in the KRI and [...]

Legal Services Play Critical Role in SEED’s Support for Trafficking Survivors Navigating the legal system is often a complicated and lengthy process for victims, or survivors, of human trafficking. It is common in Kurdistan for them to face criminal charges instead of being recognized as survivors, leading to further exploitation or abuse. [...]

For families with children who have special needs, it can be challenging for both the family and the children to receive the support and resources they need in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In the last two years, SEED has worked with two families from the host community who have children that are diagnosed with [...]