IWFF launches Website

Iraqi Women's Fellowship Foundation (IWFF) launches Website



Visit the new IWFF website to learn about work being done to advance the education of Iraqi women. The FPCD strongly supports the IWFF as education is an important and vital tool in strengthening post conflict situations.

Brief Description and Status

There is an urgent need to build the capacity of the Iraqi people in engineering and applied sciences to meet the enormous reconstruction and development needs of their country. The conflict has severely disrupted education. Many professionals have been killed, and others have fled, leaving the country with a serious undersupply of skilled human capital.


Women have a vital role to play in filling this need and in rebuilding the economy. Fortunately, Iraq has a small cadre of well educated women who can step into this breach, but more need to be prepared to play their role in the country’s recovery. Women have demonstrated their capacity to participate professionally, becoming heads of households and principal income-earners. Women have also become a political force, obtaining the right to hold at least one quarter of all Parliamentary seats, and forming a cross-party coalition to strengthen their voices for peace, stability and equal rights.
The Iraqi Women’s Fellowship Foundation (IWFF) plays a pivotal role in the development of much-needed engineering and applied sciences skills, by providing Iraqi women with access to top-rated US universities. It further reinforces the Iraqi government’s restoration of women’s rights. The program has two elements:


An up to one-year faculty visiting scholarship to top universities in the US, to upgrade their knowledge and teaching skills, or undertake research.
A four-year student program in undergraduate study at American university campuses in the Middle East.


The response from US universities has been magnificent. In academic year 2009-10, the program has successfully placed qualified women faculty from Iraqi universities at Berkeley, Stanford, and UC San Diego, and Smith College has plans to host one additional Iraqi women scholars for the spring semester. In the second year (2010-11), the IWFF has plans to begin its student program. Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon in Qatar have agreed to enroll five qualified Iraqi women students, and universities in the US will host seven Iraqi women faculty.


First year (2009-10) funding to launch the program has been granted by the US Department of State, which expects the IWFF to partner with interested private and public entities to sustain and build the program. Over the five year program period, fellowships will be provided to 40 faculty and 20 four-year undergraduate students, for a total of 120 fellowship years. Second year costs are $ 375,000 and $415,000 for student and faculty programs respectively. Five year program costs are $8 million, of which 87% goes directly to educational costs. Partnerships are being sought to continue building the program.


For more information please contact:

Mary Oakes Smith
President
Iraqi Women’s Fellowship Foundation
Washington, DC


Email: mosmith@iwffoundation.org

Tel: 202 342-6600
Fax: 202 338-8988
Web: www.iwffoundation.org

FPCD Partner Rachael Paulson Receives Important Award for Water Work in South Africa

Humanitarian Rachael Paulson Receives National Ground Water Association Honorary Member Award

Rachael Paulson, founder of the humanitarian organization Hands on the World Global, has received a 2009 Honorary Member Award from the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) for her work in helping provide safe drinking water in South Africa and other developing nations.

This award is presented to persons of eminence outside the groundwater industry who have contributed a special service. It will be presented in December at the NGWA 2009 Ground Water Expo and Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Paulson founded Hands on the World Global in 2006 with the following goals:

• Purpose: Meet the basic needs of water and food for the security of people in developing countries who suffer from the aftermath of conflict or disaster.
• Philosophy: Develop local leaders and show indigenous people they can make a difference in their lives and in the lives of others.
• Mission: Make schools and clinics in developing countries safe havens that provide food and water security along with educational outreach to an entire community or village.

“Rachael has been an avid activist in the support of clean water and sanitation education for schools in South Africa, having directed the installation of a number of wells and pumps. She has a relentless devotion to this cause,” said Art Becker, a National Ground Water Association director.

Echoing Becker’s comments were George Strycker, past president of the New Jersey Ground Water Association.

“Without a doubt, Rachael’s persistence, commitment and determination to help others are amazing and inspiring. By reaching out to us for support and advice, she has allowed us to help in our own small way,” Strycker said.

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NGWA, a nonprofit organization comprised of more than 13,000 U.S. and international groundwater professionals—contractors, equipment manufacturers, suppliers, scientists, and engineers—is dedicated to advancing groundwater knowledge. NGWA’s vision is to be the leading groundwater association that advocates the responsible development, management, and use of water.


Visit www.howglobal.org for more information.
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