The Iraq Leadership Fellows (ILF) program concluded its 2025 activities on October 12 with a three-day intensive training workshop for participants from its eighth cohort. This year’s program was made possible through the continued support of DT Institute, a partner that has been with the initiative since its inception in 2017.
The focus of the workshop was on the practical aspects of leadership, learn by doing and self-development. The sessions were conducted by Hussam Fakhoury, Zainab Qassim, and Mohammed Al-Moumin of the ILF Capacity Building Team, and IRIS Senior Fellow Dr. Sameh Al-Muqdadi. The sessions covered a range of important leadership skills. This included negotiation, conflict management, delegation, gaining trust, and communicating effectively. The advanced modules that participants explored included Problem Solving & Decision Making, Managing Polarity, Leading Tough Conversations, The Art of Listening, and System Thinking.
Fellows reflected on their own leadership practices and collaborated across tracks to tackle complex social and political challenges in Iraq through interactive group exercises, simulations and joint sessions. The program ended with a certification ceremony for those who have undergone all aspects of the fellowship. In keeping with ILF’s mission, the workshop created a dynamic environment that is collaborative, practice-oriented, inclusive and develops renewing Iraqi leaders with the skills and networks to affect change in their communities.
Before the final workshop, fellows took part in an earlier training on Leadership Purpose and Philosophy and completed five mentorship sessions based on Adaptive Leadership, equipping them with the tools for this last practice-focused workshop.
