2022/2023 Annual Report
SEED Foundation — Protecting, empowering, and supporting the recovery and reintegration of survivors of violence and others at risk across Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Who We Are
SEED Foundation is a women-led, local non-governmental organization in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), committed to protecting, empowering, and supporting the recovery and reintegration of survivors of violence and others at risk. Following a survivor-centered, trauma-informed approach, SEED delivers holistic services to clients, including case management, mental health services, psychosocial support, legal services, cash assistance, and shelter; trains frontline service providers; and undertakes policy and advocacy initiatives to strengthen laws, policies, and practices and promote human rights.
MISSION
TO PROTECT, EMPOWER, AND SUPPORT THE RECOVERY OF SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE AND OTHERS AT RISK
Between 2022 and 2023, SEED worked across the region delivering life-saving protection services in six service delivery centers, and undertook training and capacity building, technical assistance, and community engagement in and for schools, universities, government agencies, and more, in Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok, Halabja, Germian, and Raparin.
VISION
A prosperous Kurdistan with equal opportunity and protection of rights for all.
VALUES
Integrity - Committed to doing the right thing and being accountable.
People-Focused - Belief in equality and invested in people.
Commitment - Striving for sustainable change. We're here for the long run.
Impact - Delivering quality, by combining international expertise and local know-how to achieve results.
Teamwork - Collaboration, because together we can achieve more.
Objectives
Service Delivery
SEED promotes the empowerment and recovery of survivors of violence and at-risk individuals through transformational, comprehensive care, including case management, mental health services, psychosocial support, legal services, cash assistance, anti-human trafficking services and shelter.
Training and Education
SEED strengthens the capacity of first responders and service providers working on gender-based violence (GBV), trafficking in persons (TIP), protection, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) through our unique blended learning approach, which fosters classroom learning, with a key component of hands-on capacity building through on-the-job coaching.
Policy and Advocacy
SEED works to achieve sustainable institutional change and social development by engaging diverse stakeholders through advocacy, technical assistance, and awareness-raising to strengthen rights and protections for all.
Operational Excellence
SEED ensures operational excellence by working to consistently strengthen SEED's organizational capacity, management, and approaches, and by fostering a collaborative and supportive working environment.
Where We Work
SEED also provided services remotely in parts of Halabja, Germiyan, and Raparin.
Service Delivery
SEED delivers holistic trauma-informed services to survivors of violence and those at risk, including case management, mental health services, psychosocial support, legal services, cash assistance, anti-human trafficking services, and shelter. SEED believes in high quality, survivor-centered, and trauma-informed care, and provides comprehensive and multi-layered services.
In 2023, SEED operated six service delivery centers and offices across Kurdistan, including three urban centers in Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok, SEED's STEPS Center, shelter for trafficking survivors, and two camp-based centers in Qadia Camp for IDPs and Bardarash Refugee Camp. SEED also provided services remotely in parts of Halabja, Germiyan, and Raparin.
people reached through service delivery
Clients received case management Services
Clients received mental health services
Clients participated in psychosocial support activities
"I was feeling so trapped and alone, and thinking about things like ending my life. SEED case managers helped me get the care I needed,"
Mustafa, Yezidi IDP
"Thanks to SEED, my mental health has improved and I am now able to cope better with the difficulties life presents. I am also now less afraid and am able to live a normal life without fear stopping me from it,"
Syrian refugee, Bardarash Camp
girls and young women graduated from SEED Girls in 2022 and 2023.
SEED Girls empowers adolescent girls and young women as they navigate social barriers, risks, and the challenges they face during adolescence, while fostering a sense of belonging and connection with peers.
"My dream is to become a doctor, and I hope all my friends reach their dreams. Every girl should have faith and believe in themselves because this will support us to reach our goals,"
Pinar, 14, Erbil
men and boys graduated from SEED's Health Families, Strong Communities and Together for Peace programs
Health Families, Strong Communities
supports men and boys to develop their skills to build healthier relationships with the women and girls in their lives, and improve family communications.
Together for Peace
program helps mitigate the destructive consequences of war by supporting men in finding non-violent ways of dealing with their past and current situations, improving their health, psychosocial well-being, and economic well-being.
Before intervention, 35% of fathers and sons agreed with the statement that 'men should use violence to get respect'. After intervention, only 9% agreed.
After the intervention, 83% of fathers and 81% of sons reported that they used coping strategies they learned during the program when they experienced anger or difficult emotions.
"In the past, when a woman went outside to work, we considered it harmful, and that only men should work outside. But now, after participating, we see that a woman has a right to work outside, and support her family with her husband. All decisions should be shared between both to have a successful family,"
— HFSC Program Graduate
"After attending these sessions, my husband has become noticeably more flexible in his thinking and decision-making. He now actively involves me in making family decisions, which has created a stronger sense of partnership and collaboration between us,"
— HFSC Program Graduate's Wife
Legal Services
Clients received legal services
"I am happy to have the legal documents I needed to support my children so they can go to school and have basic rights. Because of these documents, we can be treated properly and are not in danger of being put in jail for having no documentation,"
— Nasrin, SEED client
"Following displacement, each of us came from different villages, each with its own customs and traditions. Despite these differences, we've come together, formed connections, and formed friendships,"
— Together for Peace Program Graduate
"My husband used to be angry quite often. When that would happen, he often resorted to violence against his children. Since participating in the sessions, he has not used violence against his children. His interaction with his children also became more positive overall,"
— Together for Peace Program Graduate's Wife
Cash & Shelter
Clients provided shelter
Clients received cash assistance
Average amount per person
Total cash assistance provided
Anti-Trafficking Services
Survivors of trafficking served
Survivors and those at risk of trafficking repatriated
from which survivors were repatriated
Comprehensive Care and Safe Repatriation through Legal Support for Survivors of Trafficking and Debt Bondage
Over the summer, SEED received a referral from KRG of 36 survivors of sex trafficking, comprising 32 Syrians and four Iraqis, all at high risk. These survivors were rescued by the KRG but urgently required comprehensive support; SEED provided safe accommodation with 24/7 security by DCVAW personnel as well as emergency care, including medical care and mental health support with a trained psychologist. SEED, in collaboration with the KRG, successfully repatriated 35 of the 36 clients, including four Iraqis who safely returned to their home city; the last client is undergoing resettlement procedures in cooperation with the IOM while remaining safely accommodated at SEED's STEPS Center.
"SEED Foundation rescued us from a life which felt like we were dying,"
— A rescued survivor
Training
SEED's training and education programs are designed to help increase the capacity of frontline responders, and equip them to better serve the needs of survivors and those at-risk of violence, both now and in the future. SEED utilizes a tailored, interactive, highly practical, and hands-on learning approach.
Hours of training delivered
Total no. of people trained
KRG officials trained
NGO staff trained
NGOs training graduation | PRM Program. Erbil, Iraq, 2023
Judicial Workshops | DRL Program. 2023
"This workshop was important because it illustrated the definition of human trafficking, along with its status in the Kurdistan Region, the relevant stakeholders which are devoted to prevent it, and the correct ways to combat it - none of which are familiar to our society. Therefore, conducting such workshops is crucial to enhance social awareness about this crime, train the focal points of the relevant institutions, and, eventually, to prevent and combat human trafficking,"
— Juvenile and Women Reformatory Facility Staff, Sulaimani
"The training enabled us to offer support to GBV victims and survivors by establishing a trustworthy connection and upholding their confidentiality. Initially, we used to share a survivor's situation with our colleagues, but the training enlightened us about the significance of maintaining client confidentiality,"
— GBV Training Participant
Knowledge in Action – Responding to TFGBV:
After participating in SEED's TFGBV workshop, Zinah* met an 11-year-old girl who had sold her phone, unknowingly still carrying photographs of her on it. The owner of the shop who had purchased the girl's phone began threatening to digitally alter and share her images. Once Zinah became aware, her knowledge from the workshop came into play and she swiftly intervened. Zinah educated the shop owner about the legal implications of his actions, explaining the consequences of sharing pictures without consent, which could result in a six-month prison term and fine of three million IQD. Following Zinah's intervention, the shop owner promptly deleted the pictures, securing the young girl's dignity and privacy.
Policy & Advocacy
SEED works to achieve sustainable institutional change and social development by engaging diverse stakeholders through advocacy, technical assistance, and awareness-raising to strengthen rights and protections for all. By combining grassroots and grasstops strategies for a 'whole systems' approach, scaffolding interventions to build on incremental progress over the long term, and nurturing strong, reciprocal partnerships with government and civil society actors alike, SEED advances impactful reforms in legislation, regulation, policy, and practice.
SEED's Approach
Advocacy
To persuade stakeholders toward action and influence decisions
Awareness Raising
To inform, educate, and shape public opinion
Technical Assistance
To persuade stakeholders toward action and influence decisions
Policy and advocacy initiatives conducted
Legal, policy, regulatory, process, and practice changes achieved
- 2 in legislation
- 1 in regulation
- 8 in policy
- 13 in practice
Individuals reached through online awareness campaigns
National Leadership
National Leadership and International Representation on TFGBV
SEED led the National Interagency TFGBV Task Force through 16 meetings in 2022 and 2023, growing membership from 43 to 72 members. A key achievement was the launch of the 'You and Your Conscience' campaign in September 2023, reaching over 50 million people through social media, TV ads, and Instagram Reels.
SEED Signs an MOU with MOLSA to establish and activate the GBV Sector Coordination Group (SCG). Erbil, Iraq. 2022
Leading KRI-Wide Response to GBV Through the Sector Coordination Group
In 2022, eight years after the ISIS conflict began, Iraq transitioned from a humanitarian to development designation and the UN-led Cluster System for coordination of the response to key protection thematics was disbanded. In response to this transition, SEED partnered with KRG MOLSA to establish and activate the GBV Sector Coordination Group (SCG) -- a localized mechanism for coordinating GBV response across the Kurdistan Region -- thereby preventing a lapse in essential activities and services, and ensuring continuity of care for vulnerable populations. The GBV SCG, a new transitional model for joint government-NGO coordination, prioritization, and capacity strengthening, is designed to enhance the ability of all protection actors to leverage a coherent, effective, and survivor-centered response to GBV and enable the achievement of a strong protective environment for survivors and those at risk.
Countering Violent Extremism by Increasing Cognitive Complexity
Due to the pervasive history of conflict in the region and the negative impact of exposure to violence on cognition and intergroup relationships, in 2022, SEED's technical team partnered with Dr. Sara Savage of the University of Cambridge designed a new, SEED-owned Integrative Complexity (IC) Thinking curriculum -- Stronger Together. IC Thinking, an evidence-based method of countering and preventing violent extremism by enhancing cognitive complexity, has been used in multiple country contexts around the world. SEED's adaptation is designed to meet the socio-cognitive needs of boys and young men exposed to violent and extremist ideology during the ISIS conflict, including children who were held in ISIS captivity and exploited as child soldiers, and others who were displaced by ISIS. SEED piloted this program with boys and young men ages 14-25 in mixed cohorts to avoid stigmatization and facilitate reintegration of affected children within communities of origin; 100% of participants showed statistically significant improvements in their integrative complexity scores and demonstrated capacity to utilize non-violent, prosocial conflict resolution strategies.
Following this success, SEED worked to build awareness of this promising modality and advocate for its expansion. In partnership with Dr. Savage, SEED published an academic, peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Strategic Security, substantiating the impact of its pilot program, and delivered a series of high-level briefings on IC Thinking to senior KRG officials, highlighting the importance of addressing cognitive needs to facilitate the recovery and reintegration of children held in ISIS captivity and others exposed to extremist ideology and conflict. SEED's curriculum was ultimately adopted by implementers working with similar communities in Syria, advancing regional application of this modality and broadening recognition of SEED's leadership and commitment to innovation in supporting survivors.
"Children and women were severely influenced [by the ISIS war]. The things we experienced were unprecedented. Although we were young then, we've witnessed the most painful events, impacting our lives forever. After the program, when I talk, I feel more confident in myself. The most important thing is that I feel brave and confident when I speak to others,"
— Zheelah, a Yezidi Survivor of ISIS and IC Thinking Graduate
Individuals participated in IC Thinking adaptations across 2022 and 2023
Investing in Organizational Excellence
SEED Academy
In 2022-2023, SEED underscored its commitment to responsive innovation and excellence by fostering a culture of accountability and transparency, ensuring regulatory compliance, exhibiting strategic financial management, and enhancing strategic investments in recruitment and program development. SEED achieved this by investing in our team's capacities through SEED Academy, SEED's training program led by in-house technical experts. In 2022-2023, more than 150 staff had the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills in safeguarding, accountability to affected population, TIP, and communication skills for service providers. SEED supports staff in coping with effects of vicarious trauma through offering external counseling sessions and routine group well-being activities, promoting team building and personal wellness, and maintaining an organizational environment that allows employees to flourish and achieve their full potential to benefit themselves, the organization, and most importantly, SEED's clients.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning
SEED's Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) unit applies robust MEAL standards to all of SEED's programming, tracking the progress of programs, assessing effectiveness, and ensuring accountability to clients, communities, and donors, and identifying and sharing learning. SEED conducts regular internal and external evaluations to assess the impact of its programs and activities, and organized more than a dozen reflection sessions with all teams, documenting and sharing learning and ensuring a continuous cycle of improvement.
SEED's Accountability Framework
- Child Safeguarding
- Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Sexual Harassment (PSEA/SH) Policy
- Complaints and Response Mechanism
- Code of Conduct
The SEED Team, 2022-2023
Financials
SEED implemented thirteen programs between 2022 and 2023, funded by generous institutional donors, private foundations, corporate supporters, and individual in-kind and cash donations.
$6,496,477
$7,266,904
Income Breakdown
Expenses Breakdown
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