NCCI has worked with UNESCO, the National Executive Body for Literacy and the Non-formal Education Department in Kurdistan on developing the legal and technical frameworks to enable the education authorities to engage in efficient partnerships with NNGOs for the implementation of the Literacy and Non-Formal Education Campaign in Iraq. This cooperation is a part of the “Coordinating national NGO Participation in the Implementation of the Literacy and Non-Formal Education Campaign in Iraq” project, which itself forms part of the LIFE project implemented by UNESCO.

Based on this cooperation a working document was composed. This document includes advanced systems for NNGOs’ accreditation, representation, role identification and monitoring and evaluation. The accreditation system consists of online components for NNGO self-registration and self-assessment, and offline components for the education departments’ verification process. The representation system builds a structure for facilitating partnerships with over 200 NNGOs. The document was endorsed by the two Ministers of Education in Erbil and Baghdad. This document is unique and a pioneer in enabling such progressive partnership between a government department and NNGOs in Iraq.

NCCI, in collaboration with UNESCO, conducted a workshop in Erbil between 11-13 November 2014 to develop the capacities of the education departments’ staff regarding the legal and technical frameworks mentioned above. The workshop incorporated several pedagogic tools such as Power Point presentations, tests, case studies, simulated role-plays, plenary discussions, sub-group assignments and field visits, and resulted in an agreed work plan.

In the coming two weeks, UNESCO and NCCI will conduct three more workshops to build the capacities of 60 NNGOs and 24 education staff on these frameworks.