Un Ponte Per inaugurated a new civil society centre in Baghdad: a space created to provide operational support to local Iraqi organisations throughout the capital's governorate.

"I am very proud of this great achievement," said Bahman Qadir, our Iraqi colleague who coordinates the Tatweer project, an ambitious programme we have been running since June 2020.

"After starting the second phase and establishing the centre, we managed to involve more than 50 local organisations in Baghdad and the surrounding provinces. The centre will be a crossroads for the exchange of experiences and good practices between organisations,' Bahman added in the aftermath of the new centre's inauguration. An achievement made possible by the synergy with many local Iraqi partners, such as the organisation Al Mesalla.

Today, Iraqi society is facing a phase of strong contraction of rights, which is why the role of civil society organisations becomes crucial: to bring about change from below, to promote respect for human, social and environmental rights as well as equal participation in community and political life for both men and women.

In order to be more effective, however, local organisations need support, to be able to make their way through the meshes of a complex bureaucracy and build autonomous and horizontal spaces of viability. This external support must be respectful of the country's specific cultural and social processes.

'We want to empower Iraqi civil society organisations to have a greater impact in promoting human, civil and environmental rights; to enable them to respond effectively to the needs of the community, and to collaborate fruitfully with the authorities,' Bahman continues.

"Iraqi organisations in fact need to increase their advocacy capacity, provide adequate space for young people and women in leadership, the opportunity to learn how to operate, and the availability of spaces where they can meet and grow together. With this objective, already in the first phase of the Tatweer project, we opened centres in Erbil, Basra and Mosul. Now finally also in Baghdad,' he tells us.

Open spaces together are safe spaces for exchanges of good practice, meetings, workshops and seminars. In the new space, we have already started an intensive training course for local organisations on good administrative governance, strategic planning, fundraising, and writing proposals to independently access international cooperation funds. In addition, we will be providing a series of legal and expert advice sessions on administrative, logistical and procurement issues, as well as financial and human resources management in the coming months. All this is designed so that Iraqi organisations can stand on their own two feet and our support is no longer needed.

"Our main objective is to support civil society in the creation of realities and structures that represent them to create positive social change, so that they work effectively, transparently, democratically, and with respect for human and labour rights. Since we started, we are succeeding in accompanying so many people,' Bahman concludes with great satisfaction.