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
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
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