Erbil, KURDISTAN (December 5, 2020) Rwanga Foundation held the final ceremony of the 'Youth Volunteers Initiative’ Project to recognize the twelve volunteer groups who implemented their voluntary projects from six governorates.

The ceremony was held in Erbil International Hotel and was attended by the volunteer groups, evaluation committee and representatives of the sponsor companies.

Abdulsalam Medeni, Chief Executive Director at Rwanga Foundation said ‘’Youth have the right to go into a difficult psychological condition during this time, but nevertheless, pessimism and running away from the truth does not give you a solution. You must participate and use your ideas to solve problems. We must all participate to become a story of success’’.

For the year 2020 of the project, a total of 166 applications from all six governorates including (38 applications from Duhok, 35 applications from Erbil, 32 applications from Nineveh, 29 applications from Sulaimani, 12 applications from Halabja, 7 applications from Kirkuk and 14 applications from other governorates).

The evaluation process was done through five judges:

The Evaluation Committee selected the best 12 projects. The committee members were:

·       Dilan Botan - HR Manager at Mselect

·       Dilshad Kadir - Regional Oversight and Accountability Coordinator, USAID IGPA/Takamul Project/ DAI

·       Abdulbasit Ahmed Wahab - M&E Officer / Internews

·       Stav Aso - HR Manager / BCF

·       Nsar Farhad – UNV

Moreover, a total of 12 groups (2 projects from Halabja, 2 from Duhok, 3 from Erbil, 2 from Sulaimani, 2 from Kirkuk and 1 from Nineveh) were selected and announced as winners, including a total of 122 volunteers (36 females and 86 males). The total number of Beneficiaries were 6,323 Beneficiaries.

The total fund for all 12 projects was 29,255,500 IQD

During the ceremony, appreciation certificates were given to the volunteer groups, and the Judges.

Sponsors of the Youth Volunteers Initiative 2020: Korek Telecom, MRF, Al- Hayat Pepsi, Erbil International Hotel, Hemn Group, Fastlink, Burger King, Darin Group, Andazeary Rang, Lucid.

With the aim of supporting the female and male youth to come up with project proposals and participate in a competition to implement their projects for the best benefit of the public. Rwanga Foundation holds an annual competition that encourages the volunteer groups to apply their project proposals in order to get funds for their projects