The Islamic State (ISIL) in Iraq was responsible for recruiting a large number of children and teenagers, around 2,000 of whom are currently incarcerated in Iraq due to being ‘perceived as’ being associated with the group. In Mosul alone, there are currently about 900 children and young people in detention, the majority under the terrorism law, out of which, only a fraction have been sentenced, and the majority remain under investigation. Authorities have limited experience trying to reintegrate children who are perceived as being associated with ISIL, particularly as these children face stigma upon returning to their communities, as they have been labelled as ‘terrorists’ or ‘violent extremists’. The Government of Iraq has expressed an urgent need to tackle this situation and this pilot is intended to develop HMG’s understanding of one potential avenue for programming to assist in their rehabilitation and reintegration, as well as prevent future terrorist radicalisation and violence.

The Project/what we are doing about this challenge:

The primary objective of this project was to test the effectiveness of vocational and life skills interventions in reducing vulnerability to involvement in Ideologically Justified Violence (IVJ) among former juveniles detainees and other at-risk youth in Mosul in order to produce results that can be used by HMG and/or international partners to shape elements of wider-scale programming aimed at preventing radicalisation and/or supporting youth reintegration. The programme implementer was required to delivery a pre-designed set of training interventions and assess any changes in a group of at risk  individuals’  IJV  vulnerability by employing proxy measures focused on their motivations, skills, and relationships in a work/training context. Adam Smith International was responsible for developing the monitoring and evaluation framework for the programme, as well as providing support around the overall strategic direction of the programme at Steering Board level.