AVSI's presence and commitment in Iraq date back to 1991. We carried out emergency health activities until 1996 and educational projects from 2003 to 2006.
In 2014, we started operating in Iraqi Kurdistan to tackle one of the present-day most complex humanitarian crises and we stand alongside the many Iraqi families displaced by the war.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011 and the following ISIS occupation of several cities in Iraq in 2014, the number of Iraqi internally displaced persons (IDPs) has been steadily increasing.
When ISIS invaded several areas in Iraq, hundreds of people were forced to flee, losing their homes and livelihoods.
This is why so many of AVSI's projects in the country have the underlying goal to strengthen the Iraqi people’s socio-economic resilience by helping them build new revenue-generating businesses.

AVSI’s projects in Iraq do that by providing livestock to host communities, which helps them undertake business ventures together with IDPs.
AVSI also empowers the youth in Iraq, offering vocational training that enables them to find employment in a competitive job market.
Moreover, AVSI launched a mentorship program with Italian doctors for medical professionals in Iraq, providing them with specialized training.

Yazidis are an ethnic and religious group made up of several hundred thousand people, who were victims of genocide by the Islamic State in northern Iraq in August 2014.
After ISIS crossed the border into Syria, the Yazidis were kidnapped, killed or forced to leave the Sinjar, the territory they were living in.
This crime attempted to wipe out forever all traces of this ethnic minority, their culture and religion. More than 2,000 women and girls are still missing.
AVSI in Iraq offers support to the Yazidis through projects that encourage cooperation between them and host communities to start small business activities related to livestock and agriculture.  
For example, AVSI has helped the Yazidi community establish mushroom production and greenhouse ventures. In the Sharia district, the organization has renovated caves to create suitable environments for displaced Yazidis to engage in mushroom production.

Moreover, AVSI has set up greenhouses in the Ba’adra district specifically for Yazidi women. These greenhouses have fostered the production of various plants and vegetables. 

AVSI Iraq supports the local community through several projects aimed at making their business flourish again after ISIS invasion.

Thanks to the support of BPRM, AICS, and GIZ, AVSI works to enhance the local economy by providing:

AVSI Iraq through a project funded by AICS has renovated 6 schools in the Bashiqa and Sinjar districts of the Nineveh governorate in partnership with UPP, FOCSIV, and YBDO. The schools were affected by the ISIS invasion as their structure and appearance were in terrible condition. General renovation of the buildings was carried out, both in the infrastructural part and from an electrical and hydraulic point of view, and new facilities were built. Additionally, they were supplied with new desks, new boards, and office equipment. These changes had a positive impact on the 3569 students and the 166 teachers who are attending these schools. 

The Distance Support Program was introduced in Iraq in 2015, in response to the Iraqi crisis and the occupation of several areas of the country by ISIS. At that time, AVSI’s main focus was to support displaced children and their families, ensuring they had their basic needs met, providing food and access to education. In 2018, when many families decided to return to Qaraqosh, AVSI continued accompanying them with educational, nutritional and medical support.

In 2021, the Distance Support Program has been extended to the Duhok area in order to support the Yazidi community. Currently, the Distance Support Program in Iraq helps 389 children - all of them IDPs between 4 and 14 years of age - in Erbil, Qaraqosh and Duhok.

In 2023, AVSI Iraq launched a project to assist the Iraqi medical and nursing staff at Al-Hadbaa Hospital in Mosul in performing bone marrow transplants. The goal is to increase the capability of the local doctors to perform transplants independently by the end of the project. This project is a successor to a similar one that was implemented at Hiwa Hospital in Sulaymaniyah back in 2016, resulting in over 300 transplants carried out autonomously by local doctors.