Manar Al-Zybaidi was trained by IWPR in August 2016 on campaigning and advocacy as a part of the Baladna Tariqna project.
She came up with an idea for a campaign to improve negative attitudes towards Iraq’s gypsy community.
In Al-Fawar village in Al-Diwaniyeh governorate, 180 km south of Baghdad, some 400 gypsies were living in dire conditions amid discrimination, isolation and persecution. The village had been without a school since 2003.
In early 2017, supported by IWPR, Manar mobilised a team of volunteers to teach 75 children basic literacy so as to enable them to enter mainstream schools. UNICEF also decided to support Manar’s initiative.
