MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER

I was born and raised in Kobani, Syria. While growing up, it was inevitable not to experience and witness the suffering and oppression of women in society.

In 1997 I moved to Ukraine where I volunteered at a local non profit rehabilitation organization. There, I had the first hand exposure to civil society and process of rehabilitation. I witnessed victims recover from drug, psychological and social abuse. There were people out there who needed help, and without such organized selfless committed group of people, lives of those victims of abuse and sufferers would not have changed. I saw hope, acceptance, tolerance, understanding, and I saw change. These victims were helped to reintegrate to community. This was impactful. It was touching. It was beautiful. This experience had a great impact on me and I was very much inspired.

In 2000, I moved to live in Kurdistan and I immediately started to volunteer at the Kurdistan Women Union. I was very much inspired by the dedication of the union and their advocacy for women’s right particularly their lobbying and advocacy to protect women from domestic physical abuse on pretext of discipline as articled in the Iraqi law.

After the liberation of Iraq in 2003, I became the head of Kurdistan Women Union branch in Mosul. The situation of women caught much of my attention but it was also the state of civil society in Mosul which was much less advanced than in Kurdistan that concerned me a lot.

Seeing the need, several friends and I shared a common interest and a vision and we decided to found an organization with the goal of serving women and society. Our vision was that a society could change and advance more quickly if women were protected, empowered and educated. Because in our believe a woman is a mother, a sister, a daughter, and a school in herself.

We made a commitment to work on all approaches to help, empower and protect women. The diversity approach of our projects was to mainstream gender equality and to prove that women are part of every aspect of life.

–Ms. Jihan Mustafa Ibrahim

Founder and Executive Director

ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY AT EVERY LEVEL

Accountability To Affected Populations
UN, Sphere, ICRC, IASC, Do No Harm Humanitarian Standards
Local Ownership and Stakeholder Engagement
Needs and Evidence Based Approaches
Cross Cutting and Gender Dynamics
International Policies and Procedure Standards

History

Founded in 2003, WRO is a non-profit, non-government and independent organization dedicated to working towards the protection and advancement of all members of societies across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). As one of the largest NNGOs in Iraq, WRO supports the needs of Syrian refugee, Iraqi IDP, and host community women, men, and children in prevention and response to sexual/gender-based violence (SGBV) and increasing their access to quality economic, protection, food, health, education, shelter and legal services. WRO has become a local and regional expert in SGBV prevention and response, economic empowerment, and integrated programming.

WRO has over a sixteen year history of collaborative work at the national, regional and international level partnering with UN agencies, international organizations and governmental bodies such as UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDEF, UNIDO, UNOPS, UNFPA, IRC, the Global Fund, WVI, IFA, Global Medic, German Government, ASODH, UN Women, Japan Government, DRC, NDI, LWF, IRI, , Global Affairs Canada, US Embassy regional reconstruction and Provincial teams and the Iraqi Civil Society Program Organization.

Experience

WRO has successfully delivered over 100 humanitarian and development initiatives focused on advocacy, Stabilization and Reconciliation, Peace building, SGBV prevention and response, psychological MHPSS and physical health, non-formal education, capacity building, protection, wash, legal, advocacy, livelihoods, political and economic participation, voter and democratic awareness, and reconstruction. Furthermore, WRO is devoted to international commitments including contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNSCR 1325 on women, peace and security.

As a national and regional expert in Protection and SGBV, WROs efforts have shed light locally and internationally through awareness raising and advocacy on many important issues such as mainstreaming gender-based violence GBV across all sectors, sexual violence in conflict SVC, and other issued related to marginalized groups rights in Iraq through initiatives that directly impact tens of thousands of families each year including though provision of lifesaving support and developmental services that help to heal from psychological distress, rediscover hope, and retain dignity in an effort to support individuals and families in creating and determining their own futures.

Capacity

Through its engagements and partnerships WRO has gained extensive international knowledge and experience Operationally in: Donor Relations, Finance Management, Compliance and Quality Management, Procurement and Logistics Management, Administration Management, H/R Management, Security Management and Programmatically in Donor Relations, MEAL Management, Advocacy, Multi-Sectorial Programming, AAP, Humanitarian Policies, Standards, and Protocols, PCM, Program and Portfolio Management, Change Management, Proposal and Reporting, Coordination, etc.

Affiliations

WRO is actively involved member of the GBVIMS Taskforce, and members of the MHPSS, protection, GBV, child protection, education, health, livelihoods and social cohesion clusters, sub-clusters, and working groups. Furthermore, WRO has previously had the honor to act as the Chair on the Executive Board of the NGO Coordination Committee of Iraq (NCCI), Co-Chair of the Iraq Adolescent Girls Taskforce, and observer member of the Iraq Humanitarian Pool Fund (IHPF) and the Iraq Humanitarian Country Team (HCT). In addition, WRO has been a part of and is an immense advocate of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security in Iraq.

OUR APPROACH

Our Vision

WRO vision is built on the principles and believes in collaborate and collective action of grass-roots civil society, international organizations and individuals investing in the communal needs of refugee, IDPs and host communities to forge social cohesion and peaceful coexistence.

Our Mission

WRO’s mission is to engage as humanitarian aid workers to provide effective and efficient humanitarian aid and development support and empower individuals and communities to become agents of change where every woman, man and child have access to social justice, gender equality and a dignified life free from violence and discrimination.

Our Mandate

1. Secure a stronger commitment by local governments and international donors to place women’s rights and gender equality and child protection as an integral part of the broader development policy.

2. Ensure that women’s voices are equally represented in decision making forums at all levels of government.

3. Advocate and lobby to reform the legal system to protect all women from all types of discrimination, harassment, and violence.

4. Increase economic empowerment opportunities for women to support their families and work towards their independence as agents of change.

5. Raise awareness on women’s issues amongst the local population and create a space that encourages dialogue and collective action to work towards the advancement and protection of women’s rights

OUR CORE VALUES

Integrity
Progress
Respect
Empathy
Dependability
Commitment

Accountability
Passion
Courage
Trust
Reliability
Inclusivity

WRO’s Commitment To Humanitarian Action Standards and Principles

HUMANITY

Human suffering must be addressed wherever it is found. The purpose of humanitarian action is to protect life and health and ensure respect for human beings.

IMPARTIALITY

Humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress and making no adverse distinction on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political opinion.

INDEPENDENCE

Humanitarian action must be autonomous from the political, economic, military or other objectives that any actor may hold with regard to areas where humanitarian action is being implemented.

NEUTRALITY

Humanitarian actors must not take sides in hostilities or engage in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.