26. November 2025 – Latest
CULTIVATING RESILIENCE: CLIMATE-RESILIENT LIVELIHOODS FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED WOMEN AT OUR BACK TO LIFE GARDENING COURSE
Iraq is currently facing a wide variety of challenges linked to climate change and environmental degradation, including rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, more severe droughts, growing water scarcity and more frequent sand and dust storms. These environmental pressures have far-reaching consequences for local communities as they need to adapt to these changing conditions.
However, many lack the financial resources, technical knowledge, or institutional support required to adapt to these changes. This can lead to widening economic disparities, and a growing dependence on humanitarian assistance. Ultimately, adapting to a changing climate becomes both a physical and economic challenge.
Our BACK TO LIFE project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq supports internally displaced women and girls – survivors of war, destruction, and genocide – in rebuilding independent and self-determined lives. Operating within two camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), our BACK TO LIFE Women’s Empowerment Centers have provided women of all faiths with a safer space to process traumatic experiences and develop new skills. To promote economic empowerment, the project offers hands-on vocational training. This includes skill-building activities such as handicrafts and gardening, led by specialist trainers.
In collaboration with the University of Dohuk, our Gardening Course places a strong emphasis on the cultivation of locally available crops while promoting climate-adaptive agricultural practices. It equips female IDPs and women from local communities with the knowledge and skills needed for environmentally sustainable agriculture. Participants receive training in resilient farming techniques such as forest nursery and growing foods in green houses as well as food processing. Their training combines theoretical and practical lessons in the classroom, laboratory, and field settings.
The participants can use their newly acquired skills in daily life by growing and producing fresh and eco-friendly products for their own consumption, as well as for income generation. Foods produced during the course include vegetables from the green house, pickles, molasses, jam, olive oil, vinegar, juices, cheese, yoghurt, and other dairy products, for example. By fostering agricultural production for sale, the project will help families, particularly women, to generate additional income. By strengthening their economic independence, the project enables participants to regain agency and lead self-determined lives.
Conducting this kind of project is essential for the region because it promotes environmentally responsible production methods and supports communities in adapting to shifting climatic conditions. In doing so, it helps women affected from war and forced displacement to secure long-term, climate-resilient livelihoods in an increasingly unpredictable environment.
Thank you to the Federal Foreign Office for supporting BACK TO LIFE.