Iraqi Kurdistan

Arriving in Kurdistan

JDA registered in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2017 and opened an office in Erbil. JDA came to support families who had fled to the Kurdistan Region after ISIS swept through northern Iraq in 2014, among them Yazidi and Chaldean Christian families, many of whom were living in camps or could not return home. JDA also worked with the University of Duhok.

Ninewa and Duhok were among the governorates most affected by the conflict. Even when villages were safe again, families who returned faced damaged homes and land and few ways to earn a living.

RIVAL

RIVAL (Returnees, IDPs and Vulnerable Iraqis Attain Livelihoods) was a two-year livelihoods program funded by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), and carried out by the Dutch organization ZOA and JDA. Because farming is the backbone of life in the target villages, RIVAL focused on rebuilding agriculture. Most of JDA's activities were in Sumel district of Duhok governorate and Telkaif district of Ninewa governorate. The RIVAL 2 program brochure names Hamdinaya and Telkaif districts in Ninewa and Sumel district in Duhok as the program area, and says the work was mainly with displaced Yazidi and Chaldean families.

The program had three goals:

help displaced families return home for good, through cash-for-work jobs, small business grants and start-up income;
give displaced people, returnees and small farmers emergency work in agriculture, along with greenhouse and field-crop training and inputs;
help women and small livestock herders rebuild their flocks, with grants to buy sheep and training in fodder.

Cash-for-work crews cleaned and renovated public facilities and streets in 14 villages and helped farmers prepare their land for the next season; JDA's timeline also lists cash-for-work in Batnaya. Working with a local agricultural company, JDA trained farmers to restore and run greenhouses.

Project staff standing and kneeling beside a banner reading Returnees, IDPs and Vulnerable Iraqis Attain Livelihoods Project — Project staff beside the banner “Returnees, IDPs and Vulnerable Iraqis Attain Livelihoods Project”. RIVAL, May 2019.

A young woman painting a blue dove on a wall while workers in orange vests repair the wall top beside a project sign — Painting a peace mural while a crew in safety vests repairs the wall. The sign reads “Implemented by Joint Development Associates,” 2018 to 2019. RIVAL, May 2019.

A man in an orange safety vest and work gloves holding a garbage bag, talking with project staff in ZOA vests — A cleaning crew worker talks with project staff. RIVAL, May 2019.

A row of zucchini plants with a drip irrigation line along the ground in a greenhouse — Zucchini with drip irrigation in a greenhouse. RIVAL, May 2019.

Dense rows of leafy vegetables growing inside a long plastic greenhouse — Vegetables growing in a greenhouse. RIVAL, November 2019.

Two older men seated on a sofa, one signing papers on a clipboard — Signing project paperwork. RIVAL, May 2019.

See all 48 Iraqi Kurdistan photos in the gallery

Results

Year one

JDA's 2019 annual report says the first year of RIVAL served 2,296 people. It provided 790 cash-for-work jobs, ten small business grants and start-up income for 250 people. Workers renovated 1,500 meters of drainage channel in Beban village, and infrastructure was repaired for 281 households. Grants helped 260 people, almost all of them women, buy sheep and lambs, and 150 men were trained in fodder use.

JDA's October 2019 cash-for-work report gives more detail. The 790 jobs went to 140 women and 650 men in 14 villages. Workers cleaned public facilities and streets, removed garbage from town centers, renovated the sewer system in Beban, Bozan and Hatara villages, and renovated two schools. JDA provided the tools, machinery and materials.

Year two, 2020

In 2020 the Kurdish government's COVID-19 curfew forced JDA to pause the work several times, but RIVAL still met its goals for the second year. JDA's 2020 annual report lists 1,828 people served:

547 cash-for-work jobs, mostly cleaning Sharya town, installing street lights on the main road, and restoring the Alqosh cemetery;
100 COVID-19 cash grants for basic food and supplies;
342 people trained in greenhouse growing, and 215 given field-crop inputs and training;
300 livestock grants and 239 people trained in fodder management;
85 grants for income generation and small businesses.

Over the two years, the 2020 report says, JDA worked with more than 4,000 returnees, displaced people and host community members in Duhok and Ninewa governorates.

JDA's post-distribution monitoring survey for the second year, which interviewed participants from Sumel and Telkaif districts, found that:

94 percent of the women who received livestock had kept them;
99 percent of small business and income grant recipients believed their business was sustainable;
89 percent of women participants reported a greater say in household decisions;
every cash-for-work participant surveyed had worked the full 20 days, at eight hours a day.

The program's name is given slightly differently in different JDA documents; this page uses the version on JDA's RIVAL page.

Batnaya and Telskuf

ISIS destroyed homes in the Chaldean village of Batnaya and desecrated its church. In nearby Telskuf, St. George's Chaldean church was damaged, then rebuilt and dedicated in December 2017. Abuna Salar was the priest overseeing Batnaya, Telskuf and Alqosh.

Ruined houses and heaps of rubble along a dirt road under a blue sky — Destroyed homes in Batnaya after ISIS. April 2017.

A two-story house with its walls blown out and rubble piled in front — A destroyed home in Batnaya after ISIS. April 2017.

A large building with its roof and upper floor collapsed, beside a green field — A destroyed building in Batnaya after ISIS. April 2017.

A banner with an image of a saint on horseback reading Welcome in Grand opening for St. Gorges Church — The banner at the reopening reads “Welcome in Grand opening for St. Gorges Church.” St. George Chaldean church, Telskuf. December 2017.

Church leaders in vestments, one in a gold mitre, with altar servers in white and red before a large cross — Church leaders and altar servers at the dedication of the rebuilt St. George Chaldean church, Telskuf. December 2017.

A large crowd filling a courtyard below balconies hung with the welcome banner — Crowds fill the courtyard for the reopening of St. George Chaldean church, Telskuf. December 2017.

See all 21 Batnaya, Telskuf and church photos in the gallery

Photos

Workers in safety vests weeding between crop rows, with hills behind — Agricultural cash-for-work under RIVAL, Sharya, Duhok governorate, July 2020.

Workers in safety vests clearing cut plants from a dry field with rakes — Cash-for-work under RIVAL, Sharya, Duhok governorate, July 2020.

A crew on a bucket truck installing a street light beside a road — Installing street lights through RIVAL cash-for-work, Iraqi Kurdistan, July 2020.

Workers preparing soil with hoes beside plastic hoop greenhouses — Greenhouse work in Iraqi Kurdistan, photo dated April 29, 2019.