Projects

· Competence Development Program

· SeconStep

· Kirkuk’s MediaSchool

Competence Development Program

· Amanda Clinton’s Adventure in Kurdistan

· A System Poised for Change

· The 1st KOMAK Summer Institute, Kurdistan

SecondStep

- in cooperation with Committee for Children (CFC)

“Hengaw Be Hengaw” is the Kurdish name of an educational curriculum designed to address children’s development of social and emotional skills in preschool/kindergarten and in primary/secondary schools. This program has been translated from the American curriculum Second Step, which was developed in 1992 by the non-profit organization Committee for Children (CFC) in Seattle, USA.

KOMAK translated the program into Kurdish and has also adapted it to Kurdish conditions, after initially signing an agreement with Committee for Children (CFC), which is an unconditional demand from the organization in order to proceed with translation and implementation of all materials. Another demand is that all personnel who are to teach the implementation of the program must participate in a teachers’ training course to learn how to use the curriculum.
In addition to Kurdistan, CFC has contracts with 15 other partner organizations that have developed their own versions (translations) of this program.

MediaSchool in the city of Kirkuk

- KOMAKs MediaSchool in Kirkuk is a media education project for youth implemented 2007-2008 in cooperation with the Swedish Forum Syd / SIDA.

MediaSchool started 21 of mars 2007 and 29 of September the same year the first lessons where hold. Teaching is hold five days a week for 5 mixed groups and the pupil’s ages are between18-30. The whole study time contains 1000 hours, and those lessons contain IT, media programme and language teaching such as Kurdish and English.

To be sure about the quality of the education, MediaSchool holds a knowledge test for every student, where it’s able to document and control where in the teaching program a certain students current placing is. There is also support for those who have problems to catch up.

During these student hours the student are in the programme allowed to go for study tours at least 5 times, for instance to newspapers offices, radio stations and TV stations. Our students also have experience practice, and several of our students are working as programme leaders at a local radio station nearby our school.

The Kurdish Government has thanks to the good quality of the education programme, attracted attention to the MediaSchool project, which is a good example for the rest of the Kurdish citizens. Half of Kurdistan’s children have been disabled to finish school because of war.

MediaSchool can with the right commitment and resources give the children of Kurdistan and those who never were able to have a proper school attendance, a better condition to find a work and a better place in the society.