Iraqi and International Scholars Focus on Rebuilding Sustainable Communities in Iraq at UMass Boston Conference, July 23-26
Iraq’s deputy minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research will discuss the war’s impact on women in the war-torn nation when she delivers the keynote remarks at a four-day University of Massachusetts Boston conference of Iraqi and international scholars, according to organizers at the College of Public and Community Service.
Beriwan M. Khailany is one of several leaders traveling from Iraq to attend the four-day conference Rebuilding Sustainable Communities in Iraq: Policies, Programs and Projects, which will be held in the Campus Center. Khailany, a geologist by training, will deliver the keynote address “Between the Ousted Regime and the Democratic Government: The Impact of Change on Iraqi Women,” at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 23.
“The central objective is to provide an intellectual forum for scholars and practitioners from Iraq, and everywhere else in the world including the U.S., to explore how the reconstruction of Iraq can be carried out in a way that promotes social justice, economic and political sustainability, and the full participation of all stakeholders,” CPCS Dean Adenrele Awotona said about the conference, which began to take shape two years ago.
Other Iraqi participants in the conference include:
- Dr. Rajaa Al-khuzai, a physician and founder of the Iraqi Widows Organization; former member of the Iraqi National Assembly & Constitution Drafting Committee
- Dr. Abdul Hadi Al Khalili, a neurosurgeon who is the cultural attaché at the Iraq Embassy in Washington D.C.
- Riadh Tappuni, former coordinator of the Iraq Task Force and leader of the Urban Development & Housing Policies Team at the United Nations
- Idris Hadi Salih, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and the former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in the Iraqi Government in Baghdad (2005-06)
- Mishkat Al Moumin, former Minister of the Environment in the Interim Iraqi Government, and current professor at George Mason University
The goal of the working conference is to create proposals to rebuild infrastructure, schools, community supports, and the economy in Iraq. Action plans will be shaped on day four and derived from keynote addresses, about 20 papers that will be presented at the conference, and panel discussions that include lessons learned from the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast. Final copies of the action plans should be ready this fall (October) and will be distributed to Iraqi leaders both inside and outside of the government as well as charitable and non-profit organizations working in the country.
“The world now is a very small village so our intent here in the college is to forge a very strong link to local and international communities. The idea is to think locally and act globally and also to think globally and act locally,” Awotona said. “We have a moral obligation to assist dislocated communities everywhere as they search for the most appropriate and sustainable ways to rebuild their lives after disasters.”
The conference has led to the creation in June (2007) of the college’s Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters, which will focus on a new issue each year starting with children and families in 2008. The center will work closely with researchers, academics, policy makers and organizations across the globe to determine how select communities can be rebuilt after natural and man-made disasters that include wars, pollution and poverty.
“Iraq just happens to be the first in a series. The center is going to be looking at the whole gamut of disasters,” Awotona said. “We really want UMass Boston to be at the forefront of the discussion and research, internationally, in this particular area.”
The full schedule of the conference, supported in part by the Boston Foundation, is available at www.cpcs.umb.edu/rsci/index.html. Details about the Center for Rebuilding Sustainable Communities after Disasters can be found at http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/rebuilding/.
The College of Public and Community Service is one of the five campuses that make up UMass Boston. Created in 1972, the college strives to provide students with the tools necessary to work toward social justice, serve the community, and enhance the quality of life for inadequately served populations. For more information, go to the college web site at www.cpcs.umb.edu.
UMass Boston prides itself on providing challenging teaching, distinguished research and extensive public service to Boston and the Commonwealth since its creation in 1964. Through its six colleges, the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies and the Division of Corporate, Continuing, and Distance Education, UMass Boston offers undergraduate and graduate study to 12,400 students in more than 150 fields. To learn more, please visit www.umb.edu.