Baghdad, 21 February 2016– As the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, the Country Office in Iraq launched today a storytelling contest, #DevStories, with the objective of raising public awareness on development challenges the country is facing and the tangible impact of UNDP’s work.
Present in Iraq since 1976, UNDP is committed to supporting the Government and people of Iraq during their transition towards reconciliation, reform and stability. UNDP’s support ranges from promoting emergency livelihoods and community dialogue in districts impacted by the humanitarian crisis, to helping stabilize newly liberated areas through its Funding Facility for Immediate Stabilization (FFIS), to providing technical assistance in support of governance reforms and decentralization.
“Young journalists in Iraq are now provided with an opportunity to shed light on development challenges and people’s concerns, and contribute through words and images to changing the status quo,” said UNDP Country Director, Mr. Adam Abdelmoula.
UNDP targets journalists under 35 years of age who are engaged in print, electronic or broadcast media and want to contribute to raising awareness while gaining better recognition and visibility locally and globally.
Storytelling can be in the form of articles, photos, videos, graphics, or cartoons. Top stories that reflect real life narratives and convey the role of UNDP in creating opportunities and spreading hope will be published at UNDP Iraq online platforms, and can be used in corporate global portals. They will further be utilized for various communications products. The best storyteller of each of the five above mentioned categories will be invited to attend and cover select UNDP events in Iraq.
Information on the work of UNDP Iraq can be found at www.iq.undp.org. Stories can tackle UNDP’s role in resilience building, crisis response and recovery, stabilization, women and youth empowerment among other areas.
Young journalists can submit their multimedia products in English, and in Arabic and Kurdish with an English translation, by 10 March 2016 to Press.iraq@undp.org.
UNDP reserves the right to edit, modify or refuse to publish any of the submissions.