Iraq Programme

The Iraq Programme was launched in late 2006 in response to a targeted campaign of assassination and kidnap against Iraq's academics. Over 300 have been murdered since 2003 and thousands more have fled Iraq or are internally displaced. Through a number of complementary programme activities and in keeping with its mandate, CARA has sought to ensure that their skills and expertise are not lost to Iraq or the wider region.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme to facilitate up-skilling and capacity building amongst Iraqi academics living in exile post 2003. This programme is being piloted in Jordan with the intention of developing an outreach programme to Iraqi academics living in recent exile in other receiving countries in the Middle East.

The Research Fellowship Programme aims to enhance regional and Iraqi research and teaching capacities; to undertake and deliver innovative research outputs of immediate relevance to Iraq’s future; to nurture lasting international research collaborations and reengage selected Iraqi academics in exile.

UNESCO / CARA Fellowships for Iraqi Academics at Risk Within the framework of the ‘UNESCO Fellowship Programme for Iraqi Faculty Members’ funded by Her Highness Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education, UNESCO and CARA are collaborating to facilitate 12 UK university fellowship placements over the coming year.
These research and training opportunities, for a minimum period of 3-months, will support capacity building and the reintegration of Iraq’s academics as members of the international academic community following nearly two decades of international isolation and under-investment. Fellows are expected to complete their UNESCO/CARA. Fellowships by the end of June 2010.

UK Fellowship Scheme for Iraqi Academics was introduced in 2007 provided through with the financial support of Arcadia to support doctoral and post-doctoral placements in higher education or research institutions to ensure the continued positive engagement and contribution by Iraqi academics to their fields during this period of uncertainty. We are most grateful to Arcadia for its financial support of the CARA Fellowship Scheme.

CARA has worked closely with members of the CARA-faciliated UK Universities Network whose support and commitment to the sustaining of their fellow academics in need and the resurgence of Iraq's higher education sector has been invaluable to the development and delivery of the Iraq Programme activities.

Iraq Programme funders include Arcadia, Edina Trust, Network for Social Change, Open Society Institute, The Funding Network, The Philanthropic Collaborative, Sigrid Rausing Trust and UNESCO Iraq. We are equally grateful to those members of the public who have given so generously to the Iraq Emergency Fund.