The Iraqi Community of Practice (CoP) in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance is a 24-month project implemented by Search for Common Ground (Search) and funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). The CoP is a community of 37 organizations operating throughout Iraq. The current iteration of the CoP builds on the experience and trust cultivated and achieved since 2018 with the existing 30 CoP prime members and 40 Iraqi civil society organisation (CSO) sub-grantees and aims at increasing capabilities and opportunities for focused coordination and coalition building. This project has the goal to enhance collaborative and inclusive impact of an Iraqi community of practice as a leading civil society space in the democracy, human rights, and governance sector in Iraq. Upon this build two central objectives:
- Objective 1: Diverse CSOs in the democracy, human rights, and governance sector in Iraq have enhanced strategic impact.
- Objective 2: Diverse CSOs and strategic partners in the democracy, human rights, and governance sector in Iraq increase coordination and collaboration.
Key Achievements:
- Enhanced the strategic impact of diverse CSOs in Iraq’s democracy, human rights, and governance sector by completing 5 of 8 What Works Webinars and progressing on 3 of 4 small research/tool creation grants, contributing to knowledge sharing and innovation.
- Advanced experiential learning by conducting 2 of 4 two-day trainings within the Community of Practice Experiential Learning Modules.
- Supported mentorship development for CSOs, pairing 9 of 20 mentees to foster leadership and capacity building.
- Strengthened coordination and collaboration among CSOs and strategic partners by conducting 4 of 8 thematic roundtables, 1 collaboration lab, and translating the resulting 5-page policy paper into 3 languages.
- Successfully hosted 4 virtual coffee chats with DRL and delivered 4 induction and onboarding sessions, ensuring continued partner engagement.
- Organized a highly successful 4-day Annual Workshop in Malaysia with 50 participants.
Utilizing lessons learned and well-established relations with civil society participants and the actors in the wider civic space, the current phase cultivates prime implementers’ ownership of the CoP and incentivizes the meaningful inclusion of local partner organizations. This reinforces mutually beneficial collaboration between larger and smaller CSOs, encourages proactive CoP management, and enhances strategic facilitation of diverse convening spaces that respond to different collaboration needs, ultimately leading to greater local ownership and sustainability of the CoP. At the outset of the project, there were few mechanisms and opportunities for effective collaboration and coordination among CSOs in Iraq. Today, Search is able to foster a dynamic and collaborative environment where CSOs actively engage in capacity-building, knowledge-sharing, and joint initiatives, enhancing their strategic impact in the democracy, human rights, and governance sectors in Iraq.
Baseline:
Participants reported that the CoP project offers a chance to unite all the organizations and assume leadership in the coordination process. Still, this might not be possible given the scope of the project as it is. Particularly with regard to only three thematic areas (human rights, democracy, and governance) and only DRL’s implementing partners, the level of cooperation needed is higher than the long-term desire changes of the CoP project. The NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) was also instrumental in enabling NGOs in Iraq to coordinate during the past ten years. Even if the NCCI served as a more fundamental base for NGOs, its recent closure created a significant vacuum in terms of NGOs’ networking.
Despite the narrow project scope, participants believe that the planned activities will have a good effect across the nation; thus they appreciate the efforts of Search for Common Ground. Most of the participants, meanwhile, were not knowledgeable about the project’s scope. The present project implementation stage might benefit from a kick-off workshop. Participants in the project will have the chance to mutualize intentions and better contextualize sub-activities.
Participants discussed their positive experiences with the CoP project. They viewed this phase of the project as an opportunity to participate in regular meetings and webinars. However, participants indicated a preference for physical modality over online means, which produces better results.
Activity feedback:
Webinars:
The webinars were well-received, with the participants showing a high level of engagement. They requested to be provided with the speaker’s presentation slides and the resource tools, which they can use as a reference and guide.
Experiential learning:
One participant from the 2-Day Training of Grant Operations and Financial Management stated: “The workshop was very important for developing our grants management skills. The discussion on correct procedures and reducing deviations from the budget was very important.”
Annual Workshop:
“I found the COP workshop to be incredibly valuable and enriching. It provided a platform for meaningful connections with the DRL and other participants, highlighting shared concerns and fostering collaboration. Meeting partners from various NGOs allowed us to exchange experiences, deepen our understanding of each other, and identify common obstacles.”
