The mission of the Iraqi Al-Amal Association is to build capacity and raise awareness around social issues in Iraq to ensure peace, sustainable development and the respect of human rights in Iraq.
IAA launched a Conflict Resolution programme in 2004 aimed at teenagers and since then has organised a wide variety of peacebuilding activities, including:
- Training courses on non-violence and peaceful building of society, human rights concepts, character building, teamwork and project management. In addition, English lessons and computer training. This has included working with partners such as NCCI and the Ministry of Development Cooperation of the Netherlands.
- Training on gender and peacebuilding, in collaboration with Toledo Centre for Peace.
- Annual campaigns in November and December each year on gender based violence. Activities for this campaign vary according to the needs and involvement of women in different provinces of Iraq.
- IAA has a track record in organising events and activities with the participation of a wide range of groups in society, including other NGOs, government officials and the media. They have produced working papers on topics including transitional justice, the media and dialogue for dissemination to different audiences in Iraq.
- IAA has supported a group of young people to voluntarily organise a peace day under the slogan of "Baghdad City of Peace", for which a website has been created: http://iqpeace.com/category/english/
Partnerships
IAA has engaged with numerous other local and international partners to achieve its mission. These include working with UN agencies in the Kurdistan region and joint programmes for advocacy campaigns. IAA have also received support from international governments, for example from the Norwegian and Dutch Ministries of Foreign Affairs. The Mennonite Central Committee has supported specifically the peacebuilding work of IAA. IAA is currently receiving EU funding for a human rights programme.