How Areen Barzani Is Reshaping the Future of Kurdish Youth Through Education and Upskilling

Kurdistan’s young people face a clear challenge: building practical skills that match what employers need. Areen Masrour Barzani, founder of the Kurdistan Foundation, has set education and skills-building as core priorities through the foundation’s Jobs.KRD initiative. According to the foundation, Jobs.KRD has conducted over 30 training sessions, reaching more than 1,500 beneficiaries across the region. Topics include how to start a business, interpersonal communication, CV writing, interview preparation, digital skills, self-development, and entrepreneurship – subjects selected to improve employability and readiness for work.

These sessions are described as tailored to the “real demands of the job market,” developed with partners to strengthen capacity rather than provide one-off seminars. The emphasis is on practical, job-ready skills that can transfer across sectors and help new entrants compete for positions in both public and private organizations.

Rebuilding Pathways After Displacement

The foundation’s education work extends to communities that have been cut off from schooling. An Educational Rehabilitation for Rescued Yazidi Survivors program in the Shingal camps is designed for young people who were denied education during ISIS captivity. The plan focuses on foundational skills: Kurdish, English, mathematics, and science, with the aim of creating pathways to formal education or vocational training.

The program is delivered in partnership with national institutions and local organisations and is intended as a model for supporting survivors. Restoring basic educational continuity reduces long-term barriers to learning and social participation, providing a route back to employability and independence.

Addressing Irregular Migration Risks

The Anti-Irregular Migration Awareness & Reintegration Project targets areas where economic pressures and misinformation have led some youth to consider dangerous migration routes. This three-month initiative, run with the Ministry of Interior’s Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC), focuses on awareness, accurate information, and reintegration support for returnees.

By pairing skills development with risk reduction and reintegration, the project links education to real-world decisions facing young people in the Kurdistan Region. It also works to reduce the push factors that can lead to unsafe migration.

Building Civic Skills Through Volunteerism

Beyond classroom training, the Kurdistan Foundation uses Volunteer.KRD to mobilise and upskill youth as contributors to community life. In 2025, more than 500 young people completed short courses in public speaking (264 participants), crisis management (123), first aid (85), and social media (24). Training took place in Erbil, Duhok, Slemani, Zakho, Halabja, and Soran.

Volunteer.KRD’s mission is to foster a culture of volunteerism while protecting volunteer rights. This approach helps young people gain soft skills and leadership experience by participating in organised community work, while local institutions benefit from an organised pool of trained volunteers.

A Structured Platform for Scale

The youth and education agenda sits within a broader foundation framework that includes Jobs.KRD, Volunteer.KRD, Empower.KRD, and Climate.KRD. Each has its own mission but shares common pillars: skills and capacity building; unity, cultural pride, and global connection; employment and economic growth; and sustainability with active citizenship.

This structure allows programs to complement one another — training can lead to employment support, volunteering can build soft skills that enhance technical training, and environmental initiatives can open up new learning tracks. The publicly reported training counts, participant numbers, and geographic coverage give a clear picture of the scale and reach of the foundation’s work.