SEED works with government, civil society, and communities to advocate for stronger laws and policies, provide technical assistance to institutions, raise public awareness, and build more effective systems that deliver lasting protection for people and their rights.
Creating lasting impact goes beyond responding to emergency needs. It requires strengthening laws to uphold rights, equipping institutions to put those rights into practice, and improving coordination between government, civil society, and communities to ensure effective communications, cooperation, and joint action.
Across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, people can face barriers in accessing their rights and protection. Where laws and policies are in place, limited resources, technical capacity, and coordination often make them difficult to implement in practice.
Real change requires more than laws alone. It requires strong, well-functioning systems to implement them, including institutions with clear procedures, courts that hear cases, social workers trained to respond, sufficient budgets, and coordination across agencies. Working alongside government institutions and civil society, SEED works to turn policy into practice—helping build the skills, procedures, and partnerships that keep change going over the long term.
Through integrated case management, shelter, mental health and psychosocial support, cash assistance, and legal services, SEED helps survivors of GBV achieve safety, healing, and justice—while challenging the norms and structural barriers that sustain violence.
SEED provides child-centered services that prioritize early intervention, psychosocial well-being, positive parenting, and family strengthening—equipping children and caregivers with the tools to build safe, nurturing environments for healthy development and growth.
SEED provides emergency shelter, comprehensive case management, legal representation, mental health and psychosocial support, cash assistance, and repatriation support to survivors of human trafficking and those at-risk—addressing the full spectrum of needs from immediate safety to long-term recovery and resilience.
SEED provides evidence-based individual, group, and family therapy—including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and trauma-focused interventions—alongside case management, legal, and cash support, ensuring mental health care is integrated across every stage of recovery.
SEED advances stronger legal and institutional frameworks for justice and protection, supporting reforms that translate rights into meaningful protections.
Our work has contributed to the passage of three landmark laws enshrining survivor rights, the establishment of Iraq’s first anti-human trafficking framework, and government regulations governing shelter care and transitional housing for survivors of violence.
SEED launched Iraq’s first government and civil society-led Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Sector Coordination Group (SCG) and supported its expansion to underserved areas.
Our work has also strengthened community-based child protection mechanisms and developed nationally adopted tools, including human trafficking screening protocols.
SEED established the Iraq National Online Violence Task Force to strengthen collaboration between NGOs, civil society, and government entities and improve efforts to prevent and respond to online violence—ensuring survivors and those at risk are protected, supported, and empowered.
Explore Our Work to End Online ViolenceSEED works to ensure that the experiences, priorities, and rights of survivors inform the laws, policies, and systems intended to support them.
Our advocacy contributed to the enactment of the Yazidi Survivors’ Law, securing reparations for thousands of conflict-affected individuals. Through research and advocacy on survivor needs, SEED has also helped advance reforms and support services that respond to the realities faced by vulnerable communities.
