Iraq 2019 Chart page

Women’s ability to earn money is not only a fundamental economic right but is also critical to improving their and their family’s wellbeing. Through our programme, women gain knowledge in small business management and in a vocational skill (e.g. tailoring) that can help them earn a living.

8% of women graduates of our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reported personal earnings of at least $1.90 a day, compared to 3% at enrolment.

Savings and assets are critical for women and households to cope with economic shocks, by providing a safety net for hard times. For women living in conflict and poverty, savings can be seen as an unaffordable luxury. In our programme, women learn how they can save even on a low income. 

92% of graduates of our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reported saving a portion of their earnings, compared to 50% at enrolment.

Food security is a key indicator of wellbeing and decreasing poverty. Food security is not just about having access to enough food but also nutritious food. Nutrition is a key part of our training, supporting women and their family’s health and wellbeing. 

Upon graduating from our year-long programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 98% of women reported having sufficient food in the house in the last four weeks, compared to 94% at enrolment.

As well as supporting women to know their reproductive rights, our programme supports women to have greater decision-making power (which we see in Goal 5.6), access to referral services such as access to contraceptives and increase their self-efficacy (which we see in 5.1) – all of which contribute to the increase in women who practice family planning.

Women on our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reported sometimes or frequently practising family planning - 63% at graduation compared to 62% at enrolment.

Many of the women who enrol on our programme have never completed primary school due to discrimination in their communities that undervalues girls. The increases in access to education is a positive sign of change that will impact across generations.

Women graduates of our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reported that 43% of girls were in school compared to 41% at enrolment.

Women gaining confidence is central to their empowerment, believing in themselves and their abilities to participate, succeed, engage and create change for themselves, their facilities and communities. It is also a positive sign of recovery from trauma and isolation. Using a set of questions commonly used in women’s empowerment research studies, we present self-efficacy as a score on a scale of 0-1, where 1 indicates the highest possible level of self-efficacy. 

The perceived self-efficacy of the women on our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has increased on graduation, from 0.64 on average to 0.71 on a scale of 0-1.

In the conservative communities where we work, women are denied influence over decision-making, including over their own bodies. Our data highlights an important shift in women’s voices being heard in decision-making which should also lead to positive changes in wellbeing and self-efficacy.

96% of women graduates of our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq reported being involved in decisions about having more children compared to 88% at enrolment.

Women face multiple barriers to accessing employment. For both women and men, unemployment is very high in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), with many working-aged adults unemployed. 

On graduation of our programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, 10% of women reported employment across all occupation compared to 3% at enrolment.

Conflict and poverty increase women’s vulnerability to all forms of violence, with violence acting as both a consequence and driver of discrimination with women surviving violence being more vulnerable to further abuse.

21% of graduates from our programme  in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) reported publicly speaking out against abuse of women compared to 27% at enrolment.

Women’s engagement with groups in their community demonstrates women’s increasing participation. Informal networks are key for providing social and economic support as well as group decision-making skills through elections of committees to manage the group.

The percentage of women who were a member of a group outside our training had increased by the end of our year-long programme in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, from 71% at graduation to 28% at enrolment.