PROJECTS

Cultural Practices

June 23, 2026, 2:43 a.m.

Traditional Cultural Practices

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has contributed more than $389 million to the Genocide Recovery and Persecution Response initiative, which aims to assist ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq in healing and rebuilding their communities following the genocide perpetrated by the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). This assistance combines short, medium, and long-term efforts to meet these populations' immediate, life-saving, and recovery needs; restore access to essential services; rehabilitate critical infrastructure; improve job access; support local businesses; and mobilise local and national actors to prevent future atrocities.

USAID recognizes the need to find the importance of local partners. In the project "Support to Traditional Cultural Practices in Northern Iraq" funded project by USAID, the University of Duhok is the main local partner. 

Project Information

Title of Project: Support to Traditional Cultural Practices in Northern Iraq

Sector: Agriculture and Sociology

Country: Iraq

Lead Institution: Laser Pulse Consortium and University of Notre Dame (UND)

Partner(s):

Final Budget: $5M, Funded by The U.S. Agency for International Development - USAID

Project Length: 3.5 years 

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this project is to identify and re-establish the agro-based cultural practices of major minority groups in Northern Iraq who were affected by ISIS. This project included an initial period of deep ethnographic research and comprehensive data collection to understand agricultural practices impacted by ISIS occupation and of particular cultural significance to local communities and ethno sectarian groups. This phase will be followed by an implementation period to help in re-establishing the identified agro-based cultural practices. (UND, Purdue, IU).

➤ LASER PULSE; Support to Traditional Cultural Practices in Northern Iraq