On August 19-22, 2022 the Institute of Regional and International Studies (IRIS) hosted the second session of the Iraq Leadership Fellows 2022 in Beirut. During the session, fifty fellows in both the Political Candidate Track and Social Activist Track, received training on cutting-edge skills in leadership and community organizing.
The fellows, who come from all of Iraq and KRI provinces, went through three days of extensive training by international capacity-building specialists on Building Political Coalitions, Negotiation Skills, Innovation and Problem Solving, and Managing Diversity among other topics. Training in the Political Candidate track was led by ILF Advisory Board Member, Nussaibah Younis and ILF Trainer Hussam Fakhoury while the Social Activist track was led by ILF Trainers Zainab Qassim and Humam Rajab. On the last days of the workshop, the program hosted the renowned Lebanese journalist and political activist, Layal Bou Moussa, and the Director of Kullun Irada Organization in Beirut, Diana Menhem. Both guests talked about their experience in activism and how the overcame the challenges they faced. During the Q&A, fellows were comparing the guests' experience with their own, trying to see if similar approaches can be followed considering the similar contexts of both Iraq and Lebanon.
The ILF 2022 is the 5th class of fellows of the program. Since its inception in 2017, the program has been supported by Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung and DT Institute.
