Creating and Building Youth Media Forums to Promote Coexistence and Peace Building in Iraq

Work on the implementation of the project “Creating and Building Youth Media Forums to Promote Coexistence and Peace Building in Iraq” began in October 2021 and will continue until September 2022. The project is implemented by the Civil Development Organization (CDO) in the Kurdistan Iraq in partnership with the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) in Jordan and Metro Organization in Sulaymaniyah, and is funded by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) in Iraq.

The project aims to enhance social cohesion in Iraq among the various components of Iraqi society by building the capacities of young journalists to produce media content that confronts hate speech and discrimination, and enhances the confrontation of extremist ideology and terrorism. The project seeks through organizing a number of discussion sessions targeting media institutions, media college professors, educational institutions, officials and relevant activists to discuss the current state of the media, gaps and opportunities and their impact on social cohesion and the reconciliation process in Iraq.

The project three specific objectives:

1. Tanoua website and linked social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram and YouTube are maintained and supported with a minimum of 500 media products (videos, articles, reports, web story, etc.) promoting and amplifying social cohesion and peace topics and issues in Iraq.
2. Young journalists and media professionals networks in Baghdad, Anbar, Ninewa, Salah alDin, Diyala, Najaf, Karbala, Dhi Qar and KR-I trained and capacitated on journalism ethics and standards, social cohesion issues in Iraq and how to address hate speech and violent extremism ideas on social media.
3. 12 round tables and discussion sessions organized for media outlets, professors of media colleges and related learning institutions and relevant officials and activists to discuss media’s current status, gaps, and opportunities and its impact on social cohesion and reconciliation in Iraq

The project targets 90 journalists from different social spectrums and minorities from the following governorates of Iraq: Baghdad, Anbar, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Diyala, Najaf, Karbala, Dhi Qar and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, who will produce 500 media products and publish them through a website dedicated to the project and social media platforms.

CDFJ’s role in this project is centered around the following:

1. Implementation of 4 training workshops targeting journalists, each workshop for a period of 3 training days. These trainings focus on journalistic ethics and standards, issues of social cohesion in Iraq, and how to address ideas, hate speech and violent extremism on social media.
2. Providing mentorship to journalists participating in the training to prepare information materials on promoting coexistence, building peace and rejecting violence and extremism in Iraq, and publishing these materials on the project’s website and social media platforms.
3. Preparing and writing a field study on the state of the media in Iraq focusing on the gaps between the media in theory and practice, and the ethics of journalism in Iraq, what can be improved? The role of the media in advocating social cohesion, peace and coexistence, youth and social media, hate speech, freedom of expression, etc. The study will be available in three languages, Arabic, Kurdish and English.