2008

• USIP begins the Iraq Provincial Reconstruction Teams Project for the Oral Histories Project on Stability Operations. The project conducts interviews through 2009 with exiting PRT team members to capture civilian-military best practices from the “surge.”
• To help build the capacity of the Iraqi government, USIP trains staff of the Ministry of Human Rights and the Implementation and Follow-up Committee for National Reconciliation officials as well as key Council of Representatives (COR) members—including the heads of the COR committees on national reconciliation and human rights—on conflict resolution methods, negotiation, problem solving, and truth and reconciliation. The training builds bridges between these thematically related organizations, who prior to the event had never sat in the same room together.
• In conjunction with the USIP-sponsored Baghdad University (BU) Peace and Human Rights Education Center, the Institute trains a group of BU faculty in teaching human rights. The workshop begins the process of building a cadre of trained human rights teachers. It also provides faculty with practical techniques and resources for teaching human rights and fostered networking among human rights educators from different universities.