James Thornton, British Consul-General of Erbil met with Dr. Choman Hardi, the director of CGDS, and Dr. Twana Hassan a researcher at CGDS on June 15, 2021. After highlighting the current projects of CGDS and its priorities, Dr. Choman emphasized on the significance of gender-related projects for Kurdistan. She also explained how has the covid-19, especially funding cuts from the UK government, impacted the project of masculinity, which was a big multi-year project funded by the UKRI. Almost two-third of that ambitious project, she mentioned, was cut by the UK government. Other issues discussed in the meeting included the importance of strengthening connection between the civil society and the General Consulate, focus on women empowerment, building the capacity of gender centers at the universities, investing in education as an effective way of improving human rights and gender equality. At the end of the meeting, Mr. Thornton thanked Dr. Choman for the discussions and suggestions. He reasserted his support for the CGDS objectives and broader human rights issues in Kurdistan.
Image description: Three people are seated in a ground floor room. A man with white hair and glasses is seated in a brown chair, facing away from the camera and toward two people seated on a brown sofa: a woman with dark curly hair on the right, and a man with short dark hair to her left. On a small round table in front of the sofa is a painted cactus, an open notebook, and a cell phone. In the background, a window with sheer drapes looks out onto a parked white car; behind the sofa is a bulletin board with dozens of what appear to be post-it notes.