According to its mandate, the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq needs to “coordinate principled, collective NGO action in order to foster development, address humanitarian needs, and promote respect for rights in Iraq”. In order to effectively coordinate collective NGO action, NCCI organizes monthly meetings to coordinate and share information on issues pertaining to NGOs in the current emergency, both in Erbil and Baghdad. On 19th January NCCI held the first general coordination meeting in Baghdad. The meeting was attended by seven international NGOs. As this was the first general coordination meeting of the new year, the meeting started with an update on NCCI’s coordination efforts in Iraq, such as the Baghdad Safety and Security Group and the Admin/HR Working Group.…

In response to the rapid IS advance in 2014 and the following humanitarian crisis, many NGOs - including the majority of NCCI’s international members - expanded their activities in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. As NCCI’s first and foremost objective is to provide services and assistance to its members, NCCI expanded its operations in Erbil as well. In June 2014, the NCCI Erbil office was strengthened with new staff members to ensure that NCCI was able to adequately respond to members’ needs in Iraqi Kurdistan. The next phase of NCCI’s expanding activities in the Kurdistan region followed in January 2015 with the opening of a new Erbil office. This new office is better suited for NCCI’s future operations and is located in…

The NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) started the new year with a safety and security coordination meeting on Monday January 11th at Mercy Corps’ Baghdad office. Safety and security coordination meetings are held regularly in Baghdad to discuss current security and access issues and to share relevant information among NGOs operating in areas outside of the KR-I. Representatives of eight international NGOs attended the meeting, which started by discussing the current security situation in a number of Iraqi provinces. Also discussed were ongoing military operations and security measures directed against various armed groups. Ongoing violence and confrontations between security forces and armed groups remain a threat to NGOs and civilians in Iraq, and often impede access to various areas.…

Dear NCCI Members and other humanitarian partners, The NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq wishes everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 2014 has been an intense and fruitful year for NCCI. During the past year, NCCI - in cooperation with its members - came forward with a new strategic outlook for the coming years. Following the annual General Assembly held in March, NCCI decided to review its strategic approach. As the first step of this review, NCCI launched a survey assessing members’ opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of its current approach, while at the same time identifying expected upcoming issues. The data from the survey, combined with the input received at the general assembly, were then discussed…

On Wednesday December 3rd the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) held the last monthly general coordination meeting of 2014. The NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq organizes these monthly meetings in order to coordinate and share information on issues pertaining to NGOs in the current emergency. Twenty international and national organizations attended the meeting in the NCCI office in Erbil. The twenty NGOs that attended the workshop discussed issues related to enhancing cooperation between different humanitarian actors in Iraq in the fields of security, advocacy and administration. In this framework NCCI provided the attendees with a brief on the different options for in-country security trainings for NGOs and on the new registration requirements for international NGOs in the Kurdistan Region…

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. NCCI, in collaboration with UNESCO, conducted the third and last capacity building workshop in Erbil between 4-6 December 2014 to develop the capacities of NNGOs and education staff from the provinces of Basra, Missan, Thiqar, Wassit,…