Within the framework of the participatory grant-making (PGM) program, a group of active youth participants in Halabja Province produced a video on how to combat hate speech and unite voices for social coexistence. This video was prepared with the participation of several prominent figures in the province, ranging from professionals to decision-makers. It is worth mentioning that the entire script and video recording were done by the youth participating in the PGM program. After production, the video was shared on all the renowned Facebook pages in Halabja province. As shared by participants, the video was positively received by most citizens, who expressed their wish for similar initiatives to continue. In this regard, the widespread issue of extremism and hate speech remains a sensitive social problem with a continuing negative impact in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI). The KCIL considers this effort an important step in raising individual awareness about combating this phenomenon. It also supports young people in committing themselves to such initiatives, which are based on the message of abandoning hatred and promoting unity.
The PGM Program is one of the key steps launched by the KCIL within the framework of the “Justice resilience initiative (JRI) project which is funded by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (IFA). The main intention of the program is to support and strengthen the decision-making capacity of young people so they can find solutions to current problems in their local communities from their own perspective.