CDOnewsletter

Newsletter April 2015 
Issue No. 1 
C 
D 
O
Civil Development Organization
Focus on:
Challenges managing
the IDP crisis in Sulaymaniyah
Education in emergency
IDPs and Food Security

CDO Newsletter April 2015
2
Letter from the Director…
!
CDO is an independent, non-
governmental and non-profit
organization registered with the
Kurdistan Ministry of
Humanitarian Aid and
Cooperation in 2001 and under
the NGOs Directorate in
Baghdad in 2011.
!
!
General Director: 
Bakhtyar Ahmad Salih
 
 
Head Office: 
Piramagrun Street 11 
Sulaymaniyah 
Kurdistan Region of Iraq
 
Contacts: 
bakhtyarahmad@yahoo.com
www.cdo-iraq.org
!
!
© CDO 2015
Cover photo: internally
displaced Iraqis in Arbat Camp
!Parts of this publication may be
reproduced as long as the purpose is
not for profit and CDO is
acknowledged.
!
!
Dear readers, 
!
we are pleased to restart our monthly newsletter, an opportunity
to talk about the commitment of CDO, pointing out activities and
achievements of our work.
!
We have been working in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq for
16 years, providing a valid humanitarian support for Syrian and
Iranian refugees, Iraqi internally displaced persons and the host
community in collaboration with UN agencies, national and
international NGOs, playing a key coordinating role in project
implementation.
!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank again all our partner
organizations that, giving us the possibility to work jointly,
allowed CDO to grow throughout the years, being able to
address larger number of beneficiaries and to become one of the
leading NGOs in the Sulaymaniyah province.
!
The daily passion, the direct involvement and the experience of
CDO have been the ingredients and the essential resource to
promote a just and safe environment for vulnerable groups of the
society, as well as an asset in assisting and protecting people at
risk through short-term emergency relief and long-term support
and integration initiatives.
!
Being April my last month as General Director, CDO is now
going through a transitional period. Starting from next month, I
will continue to ensure full support to CDO, its staff and its new
Director, Bakhtyar Salih, as Head of the Trustee Committee. 
 
Looking at all the achievements gained so far, I sincerely wish
the best luck to the new Executive Board and a new successful
chapter of the story of CDO with new further objectives to reach.
!
Enjoy your reading,
Atta Muhammed Ahmed
!
!

 
3
Operational Context"
Background on the crisis
TO RELIEVE THE SUFFERINGS AND TO PROVIDE LIFE SAVING SUPPORT
The conflict in Syria has now entered into its fifth year forcing the population to flee violence and
to seek refuge and security in Kurdistan. On the other hand, the intensified armed conflict in Iraq
continues to displace civilians massively across the Region. 
"
Today the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is hosting 97% of the Syrian refugees and about 820,000
Internally Displaced Persons (the largest internally displaced population in the world). This
number may increase even further leading to alarming development gaps and security risks. 
"
While basic public services continue to be severely weakened by the massive influx of thousands
of refugees and displaced, the effects of the escalating violence and the challenges faced, have
also an enormous impact on their physical and mental wellbeing.
A new wave of instability
and violence directly
affected 2,199 families,
displaced from Iraq’s
central Ramadi District within the governorate of
Sulaymaniyah. Face this new emergency situation,
authorities in Kalar have approved the use of Qurato
Camp (a new camp with capacity for 1,000 families).
The CDO-UNHCR team has been assessing and
reporting the basic needs of this new wave of
displaced persons as well as providing registration
services to the new arrivals. During the last week of
the month, the number of displaced from Ramadi
stabilized and thousands family’s returns have been
reported.
Ramadi Displacement
As one of the biggest implementing partner
of UNHCR in the Sulaymaniyah province,
CDO and its PARC team (Protection
Assistance and Reintegration Center)
contribute to the IDP and refugee response providing
humanitarian assistance in different sectors and in
almost all the districts and sub-districts of the
Sulaymaniyah province, including Arbat Refugee Camp
and Arbat IDP Camp.!
"
CDO humanitarian response:!
"
• protection monitoring (including checkpoints)!
• registration services in different locations!
• legal assistance!
• sexual gender based violence!
• child protection!
• vulnerability assessments!
• community services!
• food distribution!
• cash assistance!
• core relief item and non-food item!
• wash!
• health support!
• livelihoods assistance!
• information management

"
4
"
At a glance: CDO, April 2015
New registrations
1
10
100
1.000
10.000
100.000
IDPs
14,651
Iranians
11
Syrians
262
Renewed registrations
1
10
100
1.000
Syrians
761
Iranians
31
14,651 new registered IDPs
Referred registrations
1
10
100
1.000
10.000
2,402
Legal assistance
1
10
100
1.000
Cases and Consultations
IDPs
294
Refugees
491

"
Millions of women in Iraq have been internally displaced, ﬂeeing war and persecutions.
Thousands have been forced to leave their originary homes and sought safety in the
Sulaymaniyah province of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.!
!
By partnering with UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) - the lead UN
agency for “delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth
is safe, and every young person's potential is fulﬁlled” - CDO chose to have a
focus on women and young girls, the most vulnerable groups who often live
the most intolerable situations.!
"
Throughout its work, CDO adopts a human rights based approach, aiming at educating
and empowering IDP women about their human rights. We work to provide them with
the tools and the assistance they need in order to be aware of:!
"
how to lead healthy and productive lives!
how to live free of violence and abuse.!
"
"
6
The Displaced Iraqi Women 
seek for safety and support
➡ To build knowledge and capacity
➡ To respond to the needs
➡ To promote awareness

"
The daily presence of CDO, in Arbat IDP Camp and Saed Sadiq District,
enables the staff to have a direct insight into the life of those women.
Having a direct and stable relationship with our target is at the core of the
mission of CDO and crucial to the success of our work. It allows us to
understand the complexities of the environment and to assess the needs of
our beneﬁciaries.!
"
"
"
"
7
635"
women"
"
REACHED"
 
in Arbat IDP Camp"
and"
Said Sadiq District"
 
(April)
"
CDO response:
"
• listening and counseling!
• community meetings!
• health sessions!
• social and recreational
activities!
• trainings!
• need assessments!
• SGBV cases!
• psyco-social support!
• cash assistance!
• legal assistance!
• health support!
• core relief item and non-
food item distribution!
• referral
April focus on:"
"
domestic violence"
post-natal care"
educational activities

"
"
Following the recent measles outbreak in Arbat IDP Camp and in view of the upcoming
World Immunization Week by WHO (World Health Organization), CDO decided to
dedicate one of its health sessions, regularly held both in Arbat IDP Camp and Said Sadiq
district, on the importance of being immunized against diseases.!
"
“Measles and Measles Vaccine”!
"
The session was held in Arbat Camp by a physician, and aimed at providing accurate
information about measles, a highly contagious but also vaccine-preventable disease, as
well as promoting the importance of immunization and the use of vaccines to protect
people against the disease. Attenders have been then encouraged to vaccinate themselves
and their children against measles. Indeed, refugees and internally displaced persons,
living in camps, can receive vaccinations at the camps’ health centres.!
!
"
"
"
"
"
Based on the facts that health problems related to malnutrition, that includes both
undernutrition and overweight, are an increasing threat - foodborne diarrhea is quite
common - the health session, held in Arbat IDP Camp, provided women and girls with
some tools to improve their nutritional health. Speciﬁcally, evidence-based diet and
nutrition information.!
"
“Your food is your medicine and your medicine is your food”!
"
Nutrition is a crucial part of health and development, and clearly linked to food security.
Indeed, food use - the appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care - is
one of the three pillars of food security. Raising awareness on the relation between
nutrition and health, is one of the steps to gradually further food security. 
8
Raising awareness on the importance of immunization
Key Challenges:!
While immunization is considered one
of the most cost-effective health
interventions, some factors still prevent
the possibility for everyone to access
and afford immunization:!
- insufﬁcient supply of vaccines!
- lack of access to health services!
- shortage of information
Health… a link to food security

"
Today, thousands of school-aged children, both refugees
and IDPs, are displaced within the Sulaymaniyah province,
unable to return to school and not enrolled in formal
education. Hundreds of schools are in need of repair. The
result is a denied access to the opportunities that education
can provide.!
"
Uneducated children are more vulnerable to a future of
poverty and violence; they lack the skills needed to
contribute to the reconstruction and development of a
peaceful society.!
"
Education in emergencies saves and sustains lives, builds
skills, supports peace-building and development.!
"
The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
(INEE) Minimum Standards provides tools to enhance the
quality of educational preparedness, response and
recovery, to increase access to safe and relevant learning
opportunities and to ensure accountability in providing
these services. 
9
Education in Emergency!
A life-sustaining and life-saving key to cope with the traumatic experiences of
the ongoing humanitarian and displacement crisis.
!
!
• Right to protection from physical harm
• Right to protection from psychosocial
distress
• Right to protection from family
separation
• Right to protection from exploitation and
gender-based violence. 
 
(Save the Children Alliance “Child
Protection in Emergencies”)
!
!

 
10
“ Being a teacher in an emergency
requires not only the right
preparation to cope with
pedagogical difficulties, but also a
suitable knowledge of the
background and the context the
beneficiaries come from, a specific
attitude and a strong empathy
towards them, their needs and their
hardships, that might be not only
pedagogical.” - CDO Facilitator
Children REACHED 
in April:
1,699
Education experts from Ministry of Education, UN agencies,
international and local NGOs, Education Cluster members joined
together to agree on minimum standards for educational access,
quality and accountability in emergency settings in Iraq, during a
five-day contextualisation workshop held in Erbil (19-23rd April).!
!
As a working NGO active in child protection strategy and
emergency response, CDO took part to the workshop with the
purpose of strengthening collaboration with partners, and
working to the same educational standards.!
Child Friendly Spaces!
!
Thousands of refugee and IDP children are not attending school
due to the ongoing crisis. CDO is currently running two Child
Friendly Spaces (a project by Save The Children International), one
in Arbat Refugee Camp and one in Chamchamal District. As
well as aiming to protection, providing activities and support for
children, child friendly spaces foster child development too.!
!
All individuals have a right to education, regardless of crisis and
conflict, including the unlucky ones who do not have the
possibility to be regularly enrolled in formal educational courses
because of different constraints. This is why, through the Child
Friendly Spaces, children without access to school are provided
with an opportunity to enjoy informal education.!
!
During emergency situations, education is a powerful tool that
empower children in several aspects of their life, having a positive
impact in the short term as well as in the long term. The benefits
are both on the psychological and on the pedagogical side.!
!
Indeed, through the two child friendly spaces runned, CDO is able
to provide 5 days a week:!
!
• physical safety!
• psychosocial activities, seeking to build on children’s natural
resilience and ability to recover as well as to develop their pro-
social behaviours!
• numeracy and literacy education!
• recreational activities!
• group sport!
• free play on the outdoor area!
• informal health and hygiene teaching!
!

CHALLENGES MANAGING 
THE IDP CRISIS IN SULAYMANIYAH
Together with the Institute for Regional and International Studies at the
American University of Iraq (AUIS), CDO organized a one-day closed
roundtable discussion to focus on the challenges managing the IDP crisis in
the Sulaymaniyah governorate.
The roundtable was held at the American University of Iraq
(AUIS), April the 28th, and focused on legal status, security,
registration, protection and access to basic services for
IDPs in Sulaymaniyah.
!
For years, since the Iraqi civilians started to ﬂee violence from their
places of origin, CDO has been addressing the needs of thousands of
internally displaced persons in the Sulaymaniyah province by
providing legal assistance (including SGBV), protection, registration
services, a call center service, a referral system and by costantly
monitoring locations and checkpoints, as well as conducting regular
assessment visits.!
11
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is
now contending with a complex
emergency situation on an
unprecedented scale. Refugees
and Internally Displaced
Persons represent about 20%
of the population in Kurdistan.
228,000 are the individuals
displaced in the Sulaymaniyah
Governorate.
AUIS

!
As the humanitarian situation remains extremely
challenging, CDO has been stressing the
importance of having a structured exchange of
points of view, a productive dialogue about some
of the most pressing issues stakeholders face in
addressing the needs of the Iraqi civilians in
Sulaymaniyah.!
!
Hence, the efforts to create a common platform of
discussion between decision makers from
different sectors, including UN agencies, local and
international NGOs, top officials from various
bodies in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, as well
as representatives of the Iraqi displaced persons.!
!
The displaced are exhausted, traumatised by
persecution and threats faced in their country of
origin. They are anxious to find safety. In order to
move to safe locations, many of them have walked
for days without food and water, facing again
violence, discrimination, entry restrictions.
Moreover, once the journey to safety is completed,
for any person forcefully displaced, the list of challenges is again still
long: how to register, how to secure an income and basic needs, how
to access education and health facilities. !
!
The most evident result of the roundtable
reveals an increase in legal assistance needed in
areas of displacement. Large number of IDPs are
missing civil status identity cards, nationality certificates, ration cards,
passports, property deeds, birth certificates, marriage registration
documents. These gaps in documentation mean barriers to accessing
not only government benefits and services but also safe territories. In
addition, costs related to the process of replacing the documents
(including transportation, fees, and other additional costs) represent another challenge.
Shared advice include a greater support from the Iraqi Central Government to the IDPs in
the Kurdistan Region who are missing documentations as well as the need to increase data
sharing between the different bodies working to address the crisis.!
 
Speakers: Aso Fereydun (Governor of Sulaimani), Bakhtyar Salih (CDO), Osman Mustafa (Bureau of
Displacement and Migration, KRG), Chia Hussein Fares (Iraqi Bureau of Displacement and Migration),
Moqadam Ghazi (Asayeesh), Aziz Mina Sofi (Emergency Response Sulaimani Governorate), Tariq Hama
(Arbat Camp Manager), Salah Sedeeq Said (Access to Justice Program), Kandice Arwood (Heartland
Alliance), Salman Safdar (OCHA), Fawad Aamir (UNHCR), Devin Morrow (ACTED), Baxan Sadiq (CDO),
Representatives from the IDP Community in Sulaymaniyah. 
12
A full report with key
recommendations and
action points will be
published in our
website.
“ IDPs face 
several legal
challenges, mainly
relating to accessing
documentation ”

Limited income and lack of access to enough food represent the main threat to food
security in Kurdistan. Displaced Iraqis depend more and more on the Public Distribution
System (PDS) as it remains the main source of food for the poorest ones.!
Since november 2014, CDO works together with the World Food Program to deliver
food rations to thousands of internally displaced persons in the Sulaymaniyah
province. However, starting from April 2015, IDPs are coping by reducing food
rations due to the massive funding shortfall WFP is currently facing with. Despite CDO
and WFP are making huge efforts to assist all the IDPs, there is not enough food to address
the needs of all the beneficiaries.!
Specifically, one single family
food parcel will be distributed
for 2 months instead of 1 month.
WFP is no longer able to provide
additional rations for families
larger than eight members.
Moreover, as a strict targeting
operation has been crucial,
preference will be given to the
IDPs living inside the camp; for
this reason, not all the food
rations will contain the same quantity and type of food items. !
As it is essential to mantain the sense of trust built between CDO-WFP and the IDPs, a
new communication strategy has been implemented, aiming at informing our
beneficiaries on the challenges we are facing, the efforts we are making to continuosly
address their needs and the changes the food distribution process is coming across. !
CDO and WFP deliver the food rations without any discrimination; beneficiaries are
chosen in a transparent process based on needs. It is indeed important to correctly pass
this message to the displaced Iraqis. For this purpose, CDO-WFP project team organized
17 group discussions, in 16 different locations (distribution sites), with local authorities
and representatives from the IDP community, in order to explain the situation, collect their
reactions and recommendations.!
After the meetings, the results we came across showed that despite they acknowledge the
work CDO and WFP are doing to provide them the food assistance needed, they are well
aware that food insecurity will generate fear among the IDP community. Food is still their
most pressing need and the food rations will surely not be enough to fullfill the food needs
of a whole family for the whole month. Food voucher system is claimed as a possible
solution. However, WFP cannot change the assistance from food rations to vouchers at
least for the next 3 months. 
13
!
The massive funding shortfall threatens food security.!
Developing a communication strategy towards the IDPs

!
!
Project No. Beneficiaries Location
CDO-UNFPA 635 IDP Women • Arbat IDP Camp
• Saed Sadiq District
CDO-SaveTheChildren 
Child Friendly Spaces 
1,699 Syrian Refugee
Children 3-18 years
• Arbat Refugee Camp
• Chamchamal District
CDO-WFP 
Group Discussions
170 • IDPs
• Local Authorities
Suly center & districts
NFI, CRI Distribution 205 • IDP women
• Syrian Refugees
• Iranian Refugee
• Bardaqaraman
• Saed Sadiq District
• Other locations
CDO-UNHCR  
Registration
15,716 • IDPs
• Syrian Refugees
• Iranian Refugees
• Suly center & districts
• Arbat IDP Camp
• Arbat Refugee Camp
CDO-UNHCR 
Legal Protection
785 • IDPs
• Syrian Refugees
• Iranian Refugees
• Suly center & districts
• Arbat IDP Camp
• Arbat Refugee Camp 
19,210 
beneficiaries
REACHED 
in April
14
Beneficiaries reached 
April 2015

15
CDO partners:
CDO!
Civil Development Organization 
 
Sulaymaniyah 
Kurdistan Region of Iraq!
!
www.cdo-iraq.org

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