Project profile — Mashreq Gender Facility - Iraq

• Iraq (100.00%)

• Government And Civil Society, General: Women's rights organisations and movements, and government institutions (15170) (40.00%)
• Employment policy and administrative management:
Employment policy and administrative management (16020) (20.00%)
Statistical capacity building (16062) (20.00%)
• Business And Other Services: Business Development Services (25030) (20.00%)

• Gender equality (principal objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Children's issues (not targeted)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Nutrition (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

The project aims to create a funding facility dedicated to empowering women and girls to participate in the Iraq economy, contributing to inclusive economic growth in the Mashreq region. The Facility is doing this by providing technical support and funding for strategic regional and country-level initiatives based on Action Plans developed by the respective governments, in collaboration with the private sectors and civil society, and supported by the international community. The project is identifying and addressing gender constraints to women’s full participation in society and improving women’s access to economic opportunities. This is one of three parts of the Mashreq Gender Facility project in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, which has a total budget of $10 million.

The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) gender constraints to women’s full participation in society in Iraq are identified and addressed; and (2) women’s access to economic opportunities in the Mashreq are improved through the implementation of country-level action plans.

Results achieved as of December 2023 include: (1) delivered 11 training courses on financial management to 30 women-led businesses and provided them microloans after the training; (2) produced 2 videos to prepare for a public campaign promoting women’s economic empowerment; (3) delivered a series of capacity-building workshops to support Iraqi governmental employees in mainstreaming gender in national strategies and policies; (4) provided recommendations supporting women’s equal rights on the draft Labour Laws in Federal Iraq and Kurdistan Region of the draft Law on Combating Domestic Violence, and the Pension and Social Security Law; and (5) conducted a series of capacity-building workshops on collecting data on childcare services for a variety of ministries and institutions.

• Proactive disclosure
• Related activities:
• Mashreq Gender Facility - Jordan
• Mashreq Gender Facility - Lebanon
• Mashreq Gender Facility: Advancing the Child Care Agenda in Iraq
• Mashreq Gender Facility: Advancing the Child Care Agenda in Jordan
• Mashreq Gender Facility: Advancing the Child Care Agenda in Lebanon