WFP Iraq focusses on the following innovation workstreams:
- Innovation sourcing and financing
- Acceleration programmes
- Innovation management, scale up and national ownership of innovations.
- Acceleration support for external ventures
WFP Iraq has focused on fostering innovation as a key enabler for the Livelihoods and Resilience portfolio, as the country office’s operations have transitioned from humanitarian response to development in the past two years.
Core Activities
SheCan
SheCan links donors, lenders, funders, and investors with smallholders and microentrepreneurs, using WFP's global operations to promote digital financial inclusion and women's economic participation.
Empact
Empact is a digital platform that supports food-insecure youth to unlock their true potential by connecting them to online gig work globally. It equips students with in-demand tech skills and matches their newly found talent with IT vacancies in private sector companies and online job marketplaces.
Eyouth Iraq
Eyouth Iraq aims to enhance the skills, knowledge, and access to the job market of 2,300 youth by providing online capacity-building training in Arabic, English, and Kurdish and connecting them to job opportunities. This will ultimately support their economic and social integration.
Takachar
Takachar provides small-scale, low-cost and portable machines that can be loaded into the back of tractors and deployed to farms. Crop residues are fed into the machine and roasted in a controlled way that prevents the emission of particulate matter, volatile matter, CO and NOx, and turns the crop residue on-site into valuable bioproducts such as biofuel, fertilizer and activated carbon. This innovative system self-regulates its temperature and requires no external fuel or heat, making it cost-effective. Moreover, Takachar broadens smallholder farmers' livelihood and business prospects to generate additional income by selling these on-demand bioproducts on the market.