November 7, 2008

ACDI/VOCA’s Rashid Attends Conference in U.S. and Meets U.S. Secretary of State

Nisreen Rashid, an officer of ACDI/VOCA’s USAID-funded Marla Ruzicka War Victims Fund since 2004, participated in the Iraqi Women’s Peace-Builders’ Conference sponsored by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Oct. 17-Nov. 5.

One of 10 women representing Iraq who attended the conference, Rashid served as a representative of a northern province and with other conference participants met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Department of State Under Secretary Paula J. Dobrianksy, Congresswomen Kay Granger (R-TX) and Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), and Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Samir Sumaidaie.

They also met with representatives from the World Bank, USAID and United States Institute for Peace donors and international NGOs.

During the 3-week conference, Rashid attended over 20 workshops on the challenges facing women in Iraq; understanding conflict and how to respond to it; women’s contributions to peacebuilding; strategic program design and organization development; gender, Islam and peacebuilding; among many others.

An outcome of the conference was the establishment of the Iraqi Women's Peace Builders' Network, which will develop projects for women or youth in Iraq that promote peace through job creation and capacity development.

Rashid was subsequently invited by the World Bank Group to attend Iraq Interim Strategy Note (ISN) discussion in Amman, Jordan, in December.

To learn more about ACDI/VOCA’s work in Iraq, please click here.