A Walk Through Hope:

HERA’s Women’s Factory and Job Training Facility in Kurdistan

HERA’s 2016 employment and job training initiative in Kurdistan focuses on creating sustainable, well-paying jobs for women escaping ISIS violence

“I had to take down the Facebook post,” Ahmed said, calling through a spotty Whatsapp connection. “Too many women messaged me for work. I am sorry, but we need to expand before we can help them all! For now I took down the announcement.”

Ahmed was calling from Northern Iraq, roughly 20 kilometers from the frontlines of the ISIS conflict. He had posted to Facebook with pictures from HERA’s newly opened job training and employment facility in the Kurdish Region of Iraq, or KRI. The facility trains and employs at-risk women — both refugees from nearby Syria and internally-displaced persons, or IDPs, who fled from elsewhere in Iraq. Currently over 40 women are employed at the factory. Several job training courses are offered each month, funding permitting.

The facility is a key component of HERA’s veterans-run work on the front lines of the ISIS conflict, making a significant step in improving the livelihood of displaced women in the region.

The KRI has been on the front lines of the ISIS conflict as well as the sectarian conflicts preceding it. Kurds have absorbed both violence at the front lines and waves of fleeing people. According to Aram Sheikh Mohammed, Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, as of October 2015 some “3.2 million people have been displaced in Iraq, and the Kurdistan region has adopted the majority of that figure… they have made up 35% of the recent population of the region.” It is estimated by the Iraqi Federal Government that the KRI hosts at least 1.8 million IDPs and refuges.

This influx of IDPs and refugees, coupled with a severe economic crisis, has left employment opportunities in the KRI scarce. The economic crisis has been caused by a number of factors — including the ongoing costs of the war against ISIS, the Baghdad central government’s refusal to recognize Peshmerga forces as an official entity of the Kurdish Regional Government in its budgetary calculations, and the drastic decline in oil prices since 2014. Unfortunately, none of those conditions show signs of getting better.

Official estimates suggest that unemployment levels are at 25%. Because that figure does not generally include IDPs or refugees, the actual unemployment level is significantly higher. Even in the best of times, it can be difficult for women to find work in Kurdistan; in these times, it can be almost impossible. “There are no options for the women,” says Ahmed, one of HERA’s partners in Iraq. “Especially the refugee women. For them, there is very little.”

With a major offensive slowly ramping up to retake the city of Mosul, a sluggish global economy, and low oil prices, it is unlikely that the KRI’s economic woes will dissipate anytime soon. For women living inside massive IDP and refugee camps with no access to job training or education, it can be nearly impossible to care for a family without humanitarian or government assistance.

That’s where HERA’s facility comes in.

Located less than 25 kilometers from ISIS-controlled territory, HERA’s factory stands in stark opposition to the extremist interpretation of religion practiced by the group as a method of control. The factory is nestled in a hilly area of Kurdistan east of Duhok, protected from ISIS yet part of the front line effort to defeat the extremists.

The facility’s primary product is textiles. NATO-spec uniforms are made here for Iraqi and Kurdish security forces, along with other clothing items. The majority-women staff works alongside a small group of men, making the clothes, earning a stable living, and training the younger women alongside them.

Several days a month, additional training classes are held, ranging from sewing fabric to driving a car — services that enable women not directly employed by the facility to earn a stable living through other means. Drivers’ training for women is especially crucial in IDP and refugee communities. Women drivers allow other women to travel safely between locations, such as camps and medical facilities.

At HERA’s facility, staff and as volunteers from local support organizations train the women, many of whom witnessed the fight against ISIS firsthand. As HERA’s recovery operations bring women and children out of extremist captivity, these former captives are able to enter job training to start to rebuild their life.

Before ending his Whatsapp call, Ahmed paused. “By the way, do you know of other people in America who want something made in Iraq?” he asked. “We can produce more, you know.”

Written by: Davey Gibian and James Poulos of the Heraion Foundation