From Shelter to Showcase: How 900 Women Reclaimed Their Futures with SAFE SPACE

In March 2025, Mercy Hands invited government representatives and members of the local community to an exhibition of products made by women in shelters across Baghdad. It was a culmination of an eight month-long project which aimed to tackle violence against women and girls and support women in shelters in Iraq. 

Globally, violence against women and girls has surged in recent years, and Iraq is no exception: nearly 1 million women are at risk of some form of violence and around 26% of Iraqi women report having experienced violence at the hands of an intimate partner, with many more cases believed to go unreported (IOM, 2023). 

One main issue which leads to this underreporting, is that most women request to speak to female officers, rather than male officers. So when Mercy Hands launched its ‘Safe Space’ project in July last year, ensuring female first-line responders were involved was crucial.  

The goal of the Safe Space project was clear: Strengthen Assistance for Female’s Empowerment in Shelters, Protection and Community Education (SAFE SPACE). Safe Space’s first aim was therefore, to improve the referral pathways for victims of violence in Baghdad. Mercy Hands trained 407 first-line responders, over half of whom were women, in recognising the symptoms of abuse, case management, referral to shelters and more. This included police staff, court staff, doctors and other medical staff, with attendees reporting an 86% increase in knowledge. 

Next, we trained over 102 community police officers, helping them build the skills they need to better support female victims of violence. In Iraq, community police play a unique role, acting as a bridge between the public and the police. They're unarmed, come from the communities they work in, and focus on being approachable and visible: making them a crucial ally for combating violence across Iraq.

We also ran awareness sessions with 402 community members to highlight the vital role of shelters in society and reduce stigma around the women and girls living in them, in addition to covering perhaps the most crucial topic: preventing violence through spotting the signs of abuse. The sessions didn’t only provide information, but also shared practical tools like referral paths and contacts, increasing the community’s capacity to respond to violence. In the long term, these sessions help shift attitudes and start to challenge the deeper root causes of violence against women and girls. 

Next, we focused on building the skills and capacities of shelters and their staff in Baghdad. Mercy Hands chose six shelters to work with: a centre for survivors of human trafficking, a safe house, a shelter for women with disabilities, a juvenile justice centre, and two orphanages. After assessing their needs, we delivered sanitary products, repair materials, craft items, furniture, toys and other equipment requested by the shelters to help them to continue to run. 

We then implemented a full training program for 91 staff members across those shelters, to ensure that the benefits of the project would continue long after it had ended. The sessions helped staff strengthen their ability to support women and girls who’ve experienced violence, covering things like mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), child protection, conflict resolution, communication and trauma healing. 

Group MHPSS sessions were then held for 249 women and girls in the six shelters to provide safe environments for participants to address trauma and build resilience. Participants were divided into groups and received weekly MHPSS sessions, facilitated by newly trained shelter staff. 

In the final phase of the project, 155 women and girls living in the shelters took part in vocational training, learning skills like sewing and tailoring, painting, recycling, and makng handicrafts. Increasing the women’s skillsets was not only vital for creating opportunities, but, in their own words, increased their “trust in themselves”, and gave them a space to express themselves for people outside shelters through their art products. 

From March 10th a 3-day exhibition was held in Baghdad, in partnership with the Women, Family and Child Department of the Baghdad Governorate, to showcase the handicrafts and artwork made by women in the shelters during their vocational training. The event drew quite a crowd - over 100 people attended just on the first day, including the Swiss ambassador, the Governor of Baghdad, and representatives from MoLSA, the Ministry of Youth, the Women Affairs Department and the Baghdad media channel. The goal of the exhibition was to get the wider community involved in supporting women in the fight against violence and as well as to push for laws that would let them sell their handmade products - giving them more financial independence and helping keep creative programs in the shelters going strong.

With Safe Space now officially completed, Mercy Hands continues to draw inspiration from its successes in our new projects we design and implement to empower women and girls across Iraq. 

Our stance on violence against women and girls is clear: we will not stop until it stops.