As part of the Youth Connect Project, Public Aid Organization (PAO) continued its efforts to empower young people and strengthen their role in community development through a series of specialized activities held in Anbar, Nineveh, and Baghdad during December 2025. The project is implemented with the support of the British Council and focuses on enhancing youth leadership, participation, and decision-making.
In Anbar Governorate, PAO organized a specialized training workshop dedicated to selecting youth initiatives and designing their implementation mechanisms. This workshop followed the completion of a training program and a dialogue session with decision-makers, ensuring alignment between youth priorities and local needs. The workshop adopted the Inverted Triangle Method to identify priority initiatives based on the results of a prior community needs survey. Survey findings and percentages were presented and discussed with volunteers, providing an evidence-based foundation for decision-making. Participants were then divided according to experience and sex, and two priority issues were selected and analyzed using the Problem Tree Approach, leading to the design of practical, relevant, and feasible youth-led initiatives.
In Nineveh Governorate, PAO held a discussion session with the youth team in Mosul on Tuesday, 23 December 2025, as part of the same project. The session focused on selecting youth-led initiatives to be implemented in Mosul to strengthen young people’s role in community development, while also refining the tools, plans, and implementation frameworks needed to ensure the success and sustainability of these initiatives. This activity reflects PAO’s ongoing commitment to supporting youth potential and enabling young people to drive positive and lasting change within their communities.
Meanwhile, in Baghdad, PAO organized a youth gathering on 19 December 2025, bringing young participants together for an interactive and reflective training on writing initiative proposals. The session aimed to prepare youth to lead initiatives in the upcoming phase of the project by enhancing their skills in project design, planning, and presentation.
Across all activities, participants emphasized the importance of youth-led action, inclusive participation, and structured planning in achieving meaningful and sustainable impact. Through the Youth Connect Project, PAO continues to invest in young people as key agents of change, supporting their leadership and empowering them to contribute effectively to social development and community resilience in Iraq.
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