Below is a brief overview of USIP's present and planned programming in Iraq. USIP programs place particular emphasis on participation and empowerment of marginal and disadvantaged groups, including the disabled, women, and minorities.
A critical part of the program is USIP's field office in Baghdad, which provides essential input and guidance to program development, as well as support for the implementation of these programs. The office also began the first series of Arabic translations of USIP publications.
- Intergroup Dialogue Workshops – USIP is bringing together government officials and civil society representatives from all of Iraq’s ethnic and religious groups for training in order to create a cadre of Iraqis prepared to facilitate interethnic dialogue.
- Iraqi Institute of Peace – USIP supported the start-up of an Iraqi institution committed to religious tolerance and ethnic coexistence, moderate Islam, and Sunni/Shia and Christian/Muslim dialogue.
- "Iraq and Its Neighbors" Dialogues – USIP is publishing a series of studies and is sponsoring non-official meetings in order to improve mutual understanding and cooperation in the region. The project has produced reports on Iraqi relations with Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia; more case studies are forthcoming.
- Interethnic, Intercommunal, and Interreligious Violence Prevention Grants – USIP is empowering Iraqi civil organizations through targeted grants to promote interreligious and interethnic dialogue; improve interethnic cooperation at the community level; strengthen moderate Islam; and develop educational materials and training programs that advance ethnic and religious understanding and tolerance.
 Read more about work to reduce sectarian violence in Baghdad
- Constitution Making – USIP worked with Iraqi Constitutional Committee members, the Committee staff, Iraqi civil society groups, community leaders, government officials, and the United Nations to maximize transparency and broad public participation in Iraq’s constitutional process. It also brought together representatives of Iraqi minority delegations, women, the disabled, and other groups pressing for constitutional human rights protections to discuss their participation in the process.
- Rule of Law Promotion – Through targeted grants, USIP is facilitating the work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and educational organizations in Iraq in promoting the rule of law and helping Iraq account for past human rights abuses.
- Civil Society and Leadership Development Grants – USIP seeks to promote understanding and the practice of democracy in Iraq at the community, regional, and national levels by supporting research, training, and educational projects in such areas as conflict management, coalition building, and negotiation through selected grants to Iraqi civil society organizations. USIP has placed particular emphasis on participation and empowerment of marginal and disadvantaged groups, including the disabled, women, and minorities. Recent grants have supported the development of Iraq’s first women’s radio station, established a television program aimed at nurturing child and youth participation in discussions about Iraq’s political future, and facilitated workshops and conflict resolution training for over 250 residents of Kirkuk from the four main ethnic communities.
- National Security Officials Training – USIP conducted a series of Washington, D.C.-based workshops in conflict management, negotiation, and mediation skills for senior national security officials responsible for providing professional continuity in the ministries of the new Iraqi government. Among the trainees were the Iraqi government spokesman and the judge who presided over Saddam’s arraignment. Much of this training has involved the sophisticated computer-supported SENSE simulation about how to build a strong and prosperous democracy following a bitter conflict; USIP has enabled select Iraqi trainers to deliver SENSE and other training to their fellow citizens.
- Iraq Higher Education Reform – USIP's Education program completed a weeklong program of workshops in July 2005 on conflict and peace analysis, in its continuing effort to help rehabilitate the Iraqi higher education sector.
- Conflict Resolution Education – USIP supports a broad transformation in the teaching of conflict resolution in higher education throughout Iraq; translates reports, books, and articles on conflict resolution into Arabic; and supports public education initiatives at Iraqi universities.
- College and University Faculty Workshops – USIP conducts a series of faculty workshops to assist Iraqi educators in developing the knowledge base needed for the creation of democratic institutions and a healthy civil society by engaging them in issues related to the teaching of subjects such as democracy, comparative governance, human rights, conflict analysis, and the practice of conflict resolution.
- "The Iraq Experience" Project – USIP completed a phased project aimed at learning from experiences in Iraqi post-conflict reconstruction. It has distributed 4,000 copies of the award-winning “Iraq Experience” DVD to U.S. government personnel engaged in Iraq reconstruction, produced three special reports on lessons identified from the Coalition Provisional Authority’s experience in promoting security, governance, and economic reconstruction, and conducted 120 interviews of returning U.S. government personnel as background for a practitioners guide to post-conflict operations.
- The Iraq Working Group – USIP regularly convenes government and non-government officials, Congressional staff, think-tank specialists, academics, and journalists to discuss key developments and policy issues in Iraq. Recent Working Group sessions have included expert panels on the Iraqi constitutional process, Kirkuk, the insurgency, and lessons learned from the Coalition Provisional Authority’s (CPA) experiences with security, governance, and reconstruction. Iraq Working Group events, and other events related to Iraq and the Middle East, are featured on our events page.
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