Building Peace: Stories from Iraq

Peace is often understood as the absence of conflict. Yet for many people in Iraq, peace takes many forms. 

It is the opportunity to learn, work and provide for a family. It is a safe place to belong. It takes shape when people recover from hardship, reconnect with others and begin to look towards the future with confidence.

For Adnan, peace took root in a greenhouse. For Hasna, it meant water reaching her field again. For Rana, it began with a return to the classroom.

Across Iraq, people are building peace every day with the support of the United Nations. Pooling together diverse expertise from various agencies, the UN in Iraq is laying the foundation for long-term sustainable development, even as the country grapples with the deep wounds of conflict. Everyday acts of reconstruction and connection may seem small, but they are the bedrock on which lasting peace can grow.

Peace Through Education and Inclusion

Education can open doors that conflict and displacement have closed. Inclusion helps people walk through those doors and take their place in the communities around them.

In Fallujah, Rana is finding her way back to school.

After more than two years away from education, Rana returned home carrying memories of displacement, profound loss and the uncertainty of an interrupted childhood. At a Government-run Falluja Community Centre supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), she found a safe place to begin again.

Through UNICEF-supported interventions, the Centre offers accelerated learning classes, psychosocial support, and legal assistance to help uprooted children obtain civil documentation, along with a space where students like Rana can learn, play, and slowly rebuild their confidence.

For Zainab, education became a bridge between communities.

A Syrian refugee who grew up in the Domiz 1 camp, Zainab excelled at school but faced the financial barrier of continuing her education. An Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) scholarship from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) enabled her to study political science at the University of Duhok, where she graduated top of her class.

She studied alongside Iraqi students. “I never felt different,” she says.

Today, Zainab wants to use her education to strengthen connections between refugee and host communities. What began as an opportunity for one student has become a chance to contribute, participate and help bring communities closer together. 

These stories remind us that education and inclusion are essential to the cycle of peace: schooling and belonging lead to stability, which in turn opens doors to investments in education and social cohesion. 

Caption: Education can open doors that conflict and displacement have closed. Inclusion helps people walk through those doors and take their place in the communities around them. Photo: © UNICEF/UNI513813/Jalal
 

Peace Through Entrepreneurship and Decent Work 

Education can broaden horizons. But people also need opportunities to turn their skills, ideas and hard work into a livelihood. A skill can become an income. An income can become independence. In Nineveh, Yaseen and Taha met during a training course in CCTV installation and maintenance at Mosul Vocational Training Centre. With funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) supports the centre by overseeing training, building workshop spaces and learning infrastructure, contributing to the curricula and connecting participants to employers.

Before they had even completed the course, Yaseen and Taha decided to start a business together.

They worked alongside an established company, gaining experience while building their own client base. They then promoted their services on social media and gradually earned customers' trust through reliable work, professionalism and competitive prices.

Their ambition now goes beyond finding a job. They want to expand their business, open a shop and provide for their families.

Caption: Stability is not only about rebuilding infrastructure or restoring services. It is also about transforming lives, strengthening relationships and creating the conditions for communities to move forward. Photo: © UN Iraq
 

Similarly, in Domiz refugee camp, Adnan Mohammed is also envisioning a new future through his work.

A Syrian refugee and farmer, Adnan has built his livelihood by growing vegetables in a greenhouse. As rising fertilizer and agricultural costs made farming harder, he adapted by using locally produced organic fertilizers and traditional pest-control methods.

The EU-funded JOBS project, implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), supported his work. Adnan was able to maintain his greenhouse, acquire small machinery and improve his farming practices, helping him meet buyer requirements and increase the value of his produce. 

The ITC coordinates field-based training, knowledge exchange between farmers and linking them to retail markets and buyers in other governorates. 

“When farmers come together, everyone brings their own experience. We learn from each other, share what we know and make better decisions.”

In Fallujah, Anbar, peace looks like water reaching a farmer’s field again. Displaced by conflict in 2014, Hasna Suhail returned home with nothing and turned to farming to restart her life. 

Through the World Food Programme (WFP)’s modern irrigation support, she now grows wheat, alfalfa and vegetables, and has launched a fish farm that feeds her family and community. Nearby, Khudair Ali Jurdy restored the orchard he lost to war after canal rehabilitation brought back his irrigation water, and composting training now strengthens his soil and yields.

Delivered over three years ago, these interventions continue to sustain thousands of families — proof that investing in peace pays dividends for years to come.

Caption: Education can broaden horizons. But people also need opportunities to turn their skills, ideas and hard work into a livelihood. Photo: © UN Iraq
 

Peace Through Protection and Reconciliation

Sustaining peace in the long term depends on safety and protection. In Baghdad, a women’s shelter is helping create safe spaces for Iraqi women and girls. 

With support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the shelter provides safety alongside accelerated learning and skills development in areas such as embroidery, drawing and handicrafts. This not only provides women with a means of income, but also restores hope and a sense of normalcy through art. 

In addition to protection, avenues for reconciliation also need to be prioritised.

During a visit to Al Jad’ah Camp, a community leader from Al Qa’im spoke against the return of families who were previously living under the ISIS occupation. The memories of conflict remained painful for the leader, who suspected those families of participating in the crimes committed during the conflict. Then his sister was called into the room. They had been separated for seven years during the conflict. When they saw each other, they embraced.

The leader started recognising that some of the women and children in the camp had endured loss and displacement. After returning to his village, he encouraged tribal and community leaders to consider the return of women and children who were not responsible for crimes.

One encounter did not erase years of pain. But it changed the way one person saw another, fostering reconciliation.

Building Peace Together

These stories share a common foundation. Stability is not only about rebuilding infrastructure or restoring services. It is also about transforming lives, strengthening relationships and creating the conditions for communities to move forward. 

Building peace starts with people. And every day, across Iraq, it can be seen in a livelihood taking root, a child returning to school or water flowing back to a field.