How to improve community cohesion in Iraq

In recent years, ZOA Iraq has worked extensively in the conflict-affected city of Mosul and other areas of Iraq. The violent history has led to deep divisions in the society and damaged trust between different groups. To address these issues ZOA developed a community cohesion curriculum that focuses on community building, communication and conflict resolution.

19 July 2024

Interventions for Community cohesion

Training curriculum and evaluation tool

Since 2019, ZOA has trained over 2.300 young people using this curriculum. To evaluate the impact of these interventions on community cohesion ZOA, in collaboration with IICBS, designed the Perceived Community Cohesion tool.

This tool assesses individual’s perception of their connectedness to the community, and the levels of respect and tolerance they experience.

Although ZOA has phased out of Iraq earlier this year, the local organisation Kanaf is committed to continuing the work on community cohesion. The developed materials are available for interested organisations in Iraq.

For enquiries you can contact Kanaf coordinator Sarah Al- Heyalley at kanaf.organization@gmail.com or ZOA HQ Peacebuilding advisor Corita Corbijn at c.corbijn@zoa.ngo

Download the Questionnaire User Guide

Download the Curriculum Trainer's Manual