Delivering Transformational Services

SEED provides comprehensive, specialized services that protect rights, promote recovery, and support the safety and well-being of individuals, families, and communities across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

People supported through case management
People provided mental health support
People provided legal services
People supported through cash assistance
People provided safe shelter
Survivors of anti-trafficking supported

Responding to Complex and Interconnected Needs

Protracted conflict, repeated exposure to violence, economic insecurity, and the pressures of rapid social and technological change are among the overlapping drivers of poor mental health and the persistent prevalence of gender-based violence, abuse, and exploitation across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Survivors of violence — and those at heightened risk — may need immediate protection alongside legal support, mental health care, financial assistance, or help navigating essential services. Women and girls, children, survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking, and people experiencing poor mental health are often the most affected.

Yet accessing the right support can be difficult.

  • Stigma
  • Financial barriers
  • Limited awareness of available services
  • Gaps in specialized care

These leave many without the protection and recovery pathways they need — deepening vulnerability and prolonging hardship.

A young woman smiles while holding up a handwritten sign that reads HEALING.

Our Approach

SEED's services are people-centered, trauma-informed, rights-based, and tailored to the needs and circumstances of each individual. Rather than addressing challenges in isolation, we recognize how protection, mental health, legal, social, and economic needs can intersect. Our service delivery contributes to four interconnected areas of change.

Achieving Gender Equality and Ending Gender-Based Violence

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.

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Protecting Children and Promoting Their Development

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.

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Ending Human Trafficking and Upholding Survivor Rights

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.

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Improving Mental Health and Well-Being

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.

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Where We Work

SEED delivers specialized services across the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, working to ensure that individuals and communities can access the support they need.
Map of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq showing SEED's headquarters and centers in Erbil, centers and offices in Sulaimani, an office in Garmian, a shelter for trafficking survivors, and program activities in Duhok and Halabja.