On May 3 2021, Dr. Rita Columbia, the UNFPA Country Representative for Iraq, met with President Bruce Ferguson, CGDS Director Dr. Choman Hardi, Deputy Director Dr. Lynn Rose, and UNFPA Project Manager Dr. Hawar Ameen. Dr. Columbia, an expert in public health and sexual and reproductive health, took up her position as UNFPA Country Representative in July 2020. Since fall 2020, CGDS has been an implementing partner with UNFPA for a five-year project that focuses on gender-based violence and women’s equity. Also present at the meeting were Ms. Azhee Amin, UNFPA Program Analyst, Ms. Naz Ahmed, UNFPA Humanitarian Associate, and Ms. Salwa Moussa, UNFPA Communications Specialist. We talked about the work that CGDS has completed, implementing research effectively , and possible future collaboration between UNFPA and CGDS.
Image description: Eight people sit at a square, brown, wooden table. Clockwise from the left, we see two women and two men, and, on the other side of the table, four women. Everyone is looking at the second woman in on the right side of the table. All eight people wear masks. Behind the table we see two vertical banners, one in English and one in Kurdish, proclaiming gender equality. There are bottles of water, boxes of tissues, cell phones, tablets, and papers on the table.