Inside Kurdistan

April Cuenca is from the Philippines. She moved two Erbil about two years ago and is a grants manager in Shareteah Humanitarian Organisation (SHO). She is also a certified yoga teacher, certified in trauma informed yoga, sound healing and therapy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We met the Kurdish-Belgian director Sahim Omar Kalifa in Zakho and we talked about his movies Baghdad Messi and Land of heroes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stella Martany is a fixer and journalist based out of Erbil. Like many fixers in KRI, she got her start covering the war against ISIS in Mosul, but she joins me today to talk about how she's developed since then, explaining the differences between reporting during and after the war and the challenges with both. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isadora Gotts is a Ph. D. student whose background is primarily focused around Mosul's shifting economy after the 2017 liberation. She has now expanded her research towards focusing on the city's economic and cultural outlook as whole, with a particular emphasis towards its municipal planning and layout as well as how its economy affects and interacts with other cities like Erbil. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's an Inside Kurdistan Pride extravaganza! Today we're joined by Lilith, an advocate and KRI transplant to come give us some of the best stories fun facts of past civilizations' queer icons.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the second episode of our fixer series, Nasir talks about his background growing up in and leaving Iran, his work in Syria during the war from 2014-2018 and his continued work in KRI, specifically with his work as a translator and remote fixer during the past year's uprising in his home country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Halan Akoiy is a fixer and producer in KRI and Iraq. He began his career covering the ISIS conflict in Mosul and has since branched out into delving into the cultural relations and history that defines contemporary Iraq and Kurdistan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Barwari is a former KRG and Iraqi Federal Government Minister whose work in public planning after the fall of the Ba'athist regime in the country helped to define both Iraq and KRI in the following decades.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With job recruiting becoming more decentralized and the influence of Artificial Intelligence growing, it's important to examine how the cultural values of a region may affect a vital aspect like employment. Carwan Rasoal is the founder and CEO of Genvalues, a job recruitment site that puts an emphasis on the ethical values of an employee- specifically with regards to ecological conservation, rather than purely skillset.   To learn more about Carwan and Genvalues, visit: https://genvalues.com/    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brenda Hershey is the president and  founder of TRY Global- be sure to check out their information below. https://www.tryglobal.org/ Upcoming training in Erbil (May 26-27): https://www.tryglobal.org/iraq  Donate to Syria project: https://gogetfunding.com/help-folks-in-northeast-syria-bring-trauma-recovery-yoga-to-their-communities/  Our research study: https://www.tryglobal.org/research Our Youtube channel (with practices in English, Arabic, Badini, Sorani and Ukrainian): https://www.youtube.com/@tryglobal8452/playlistsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Below are some of PLAY 97.1's programs, check them out here: "The Morning Show" is live three times a week at 8 AM and brings both local and global updates on entertainment and the media world alongside new music releases and artist updates, presented in local, easy-to relate-to Kurdish. Every week the show is joined by an interesting guest and the topic becomes the guest's project. Hip Hop On Tuesdays is live once a week in the afternoon and brings  both old and new Hip Hop updates, presented by a local upcoming Hip Hop artist who gives the show its own signature. Alongside the live shows, PLAY Radio produces various social media segments that are mostly aimed at bringing entertainment news and the general pop culture of the world while promoting local pop art and talent.   Also, here's some of Rasan's past ad-work: https://youtu.be/Qg8EmPrVyTA https://youtu.be/SBebWk1JjqQ https://youtu.be/WnQ6kbJgYCg  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artin Barawi is the club manager and founder of Suli Football Friends.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Water is one of the most important growing topics in Iraq and KRI, and the most important aspect of understanding the water crisis of the region is understanding the historical decisions, from both the public and private sectors, that has allowed for pollution, drought and disease to spread and affect hundreds of communities whose futures are now at stake. Nabil Musa of Waterkeepers is an advocate, artist and expert on water (mis)management. To learn more about Waterkeepers, as well as PAIA agency, where he also works, check out the links below on our website. Waterkeepers: https://kurdistanin.net/blog/sulaimani%27s-water-keepers PAIA: https://kurdistanin.net/blog/paia-agency  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Understanding the importance of climate change is difficult without understanding the larger economic political and cultural systems that have allowed the planet to get to the point where it is today. Intersectionality is a philosophical approach toward understanding the relationship between an unlimited number of different factors that indicate why a certain individual, community or country may have advantages or disadvantages. Enje Jawher explains why intersectionality is vital towards understanding the solutions towards KRI and Iraq's current environmental predicaments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While we've touched on mental health through many different perspectives in the region, we've never actually covered one of the chief perpetrators of mental health issues in Iraq and KRI. The past 20 years of conflict has touched every single person in this region and the effects of first and second-hand trauma are complicated and vary on each individual's story. Center for Victims of Torture provides care for not just those who have suffered from abuse due to terror and war but were affected from conflict in ways that indirectly affected their financial, familial or personal wellbeing.   If you, or someone you know may need assistance for conflict-related trauma services, please visit: https://www.cvt.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Children's rights is a difficult topic to cover in this region. This is largely due to a lack of centralized legislation around the topic. There are labor laws, education laws and criminal laws, but there is no centrally codified legislation that protects children in Iraq. This leads to a variety of different human rights infringements here, child labor serving as a prominent and growing example. Noor Musa is an expert on child's rights in Iraq and Kurdistan. Her past work with Save the Children has made her a specialist in a variety of different topics, also including child imprisonment, abuse and marriage. We discuss these along with her own background and interest in Iraq's legal system regarding children.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are three major categories to focus on with regards to real estate in Iraq and KRI. The first two are financial and infrastructural, the money that changes hands here and the development plans that have rapidly changed certain areas of the cities in the region. But the third category - environmental sustainability - often goes overlooked. While water and electricity are quickly becoming leading topics in the country, it's important to focus on exactly how these development plans will evolve to meet the challenges of the next decade. Muslim Mohamad is focused on developing Passive Houses - housing that meet high standards for efficiency and have zero net energy waste. We discuss the challenges he's had starting his business in Sulaimani, and his own insight on the future of housing for the next generation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lelo majeed is the first woman to complete the Sandhurst Military Training Program for international military personnel. We discuss her training as well as the current situation with the Peshmerga forces and the political developments of the past six months due to the uprising in IranSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are three major factors to consider when discussing real estate in Iraq: money and infrastructural issues often dominate the conversation. But the importance of environmentally sustainable construction is increasingly dominating the conversation around development in the country. Passive House construction is based around the concept of a single home having net-zero ecological footprint. Muslim Mohammad has been working in Sulaimani trying to build the Passive House culture in KRI and Iraq.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The idea of digital records is a fundamental cornerstone for well established, developed democracies all around the world. It's easy to take digitalization for granted. But the struggle to implement a digital system for areas such as migration, education and health is Deputy Minster Hiwa Afandi's task in the Kurdistan Regional Government. We discuss some these struggles, as well as digitalization's role in combating corruption oil and real estate sectors, and the growing topic of AI in the public sector.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.