Erbil, KRI (December 9, 2021) 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 Dr. Salar Osman (Deputy Minister of Culture and Youth), the volunteer groups, evaluation committee and representatives of the sponsor companies.

The project was announced on 2/7/2021, and the youth had a duration of 51 days to submit their initiatives, then the initiatives were evaluated by a specialized committee and 12 projects were selected as winning projects in (Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok, Halabja, and Nineveh). The winning volunteer groups received financial support from Rwanga Foundation to implement their projects.

12 volunteer projects were funded in 2021 and implemented by the volunteer groups:

-        Supporting Adolescents

(Green Branch) volunteer group, conducted (Supporting adolescents) project. Through this project, (8) volunteers conducted training courses to support the youth in Shangal district, the training courses were conducted by special trainers for2 months

o   Provided Fund: 4,250,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 123

-        More Than Honey Project

(Shnrwe) volunteer group, conducted (More Than Honey) project. Through this project, (5) volunteers raised the level of natural healthy food and the protection of environment in Halabja Governorate by supporting the environment-friendly projects such as honey farming by conducting trainings for the youth for2 months

o   Provided Fund: 4,250,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 100

-        We Protect Water We Protect Life Project

(Team Work) volunteer group, conducted (We Protect Water We Protect Life) project. Through this project, (5) volunteers published information about the importance of saving water because it's importance is not only for this generation, but its important for the future generations as well and it’s their duty to protect it, the project continued for 2 months.

o   Provided Fund: 4,247,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 4,026

-        Building Libraries in Schools Project

(Vazheen) volunteer group, conducted (Building Libraries in Schools) project. Through this project, (6) volunteers started building libraries in the schools of Akre district, the project continued for 2 months

Provided Fund: 3,694,000 IQD 

Number of Beneficiaries: 4,955

-        Be Careful to Live Safely Project

(Brothers) volunteer group, conducted (Be Careful to Live Safely) project. Through this project, (5) volunteers raised people's awareness on the threats of mines and remnants of war by conducting seminars and training courses and publishing information through posters and social media posts in Sidakan sub-district, the project continued for 2 months

o   Provided Fund: 4,115,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 28,742

-        Enhancing the Service and Environmental Reality of the City Project

(Perseveres for Goodness Volunteer Group) volunteer group, conducted (Enhancing the Service and Environmental Reality of the City) project. Through this project, (5) volunteers chose a street from the western side of Mosul, and they worked on the street’s traffic island, they worked on cleaning it, and replacing the soil, planting trees for the streets and planting green grass, then registering it and giving it as a gift to the Mosul Municipality. The project is located in the city of Mosul / Al Shifa neighborhood. The project continued for 37 days.

o   Provided Fund: 4,250,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 500

-        School not Prison Project

(Pait) volunteer group, conducted (School not Prison) project. Through this project, (21) volunteers supported the students in studying and improving their surroundings specially the primary stages because they are the future of this country, also repairing the schools in a modern scientific way in Baadre sub-district, the project continued for 15 days.

o   Provided Fund: 3,879,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 800

-        Basic Renovation of the School of New Kirkuk 

(Future Youth) volunteer group, conducted (Basic renovation of the School of New Kirkuk) project. Through this project, (12) volunteers initiated the basic renovation of the School of New Kirkuk, making the school more beautiful and creating a safe atmosphere for the students and the teachers, the project was conducted in Kirkuk Governorate and it continued for 1 month

o   Provided Fund: 4,241,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 2,000

-        Saving our City's Environment is Everybody's Duty’ Project

(The Aware Youth) volunteer group, conducted (Saving our City's Environment is Everybody's Duty) project. Through this project, (18) volunteers provided (300) trash cans and distributed it in parks, schools, markets and tourist attraction places as needed in Kirkuk governorate and it continued for 2 months.

o   Provided Fund: 4,248,750 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 17,076

-        Greening Bardarash Camp Project

(Environmental Friendly) volunteer group, conducted (Greening Bardarash Camp) project. Through this project, (6) volunteers started the process of greening Bardarash camp, raising the percentage of the green area in the district and the refugee camp specially in the dry areas and converting it to almost a forest, the project was conducted in Bardarash sub-district and it continue for two months.

o   Provided Fund: 4,000,000  IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 3,329

-        Artificial Forest Project

(Rizgari Environmentalists) volunteer group, conducted (Artificial Forest) project. Through this project, (25) volunteers rose the percentage of the green areas by building a park in Kalar district and the project continues for two months.

o   Provided Fund: 4,200,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 3,000

-        Children of Banksy Project

(Halatn) volunteer group, conducted (Children of Banksy) project. Through this project, (12) volunteers collected information about (125) child who are working on the streets. In the cities of Erbil, Soran, Qaladze and Koya. initially, to collect the information a gift was given to the child and his information was collected to see whether they could create an art product, after that the project team created a story about the child with the collected information, for the others a portrait was created, the products were presented in a closed fair in Erbil Governorate.  The projected continued for 2 months

o   Provided Fund: 4,250,000 IQD 

o   Number of Beneficiaries: 135

The Evaluation Committee for the year 2021:

v  Abdulbasit Ahmed- International Internews Organization

v  Nsar Farhad- United Nation Volunteers (UNV)

v  Goran Rasool- Author and Vivil Activist

The sponsors for the Youth Volunteers Initiative 2021 were: KurdNeft, Darin Group, Erbil International Hotel, MRF Group, Kavin Group, Fox View, Fastlink. 

Youth Volunteers Initiative is an annual project of the Rwanga Foundation that started in 2018, the project is implemented in (Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok, Halabja, and Nineveh) with the aim of supporting the young volunteers to come up with project proposals and participate in a competition to implement their projects for the best benefit of the public. The project asks the volunteer groups to apply their project proposals to get funds for their projects. Each year 12 groups will be funded to implement projects in their community. since 2018, 46 projects were funded and 136,268,500 Iraqi dinars were dedicated to funding the projects. 453 volunteers participated in the project, and 104,205 people benefited from the voluntary project.