Build the skills, networks, and confidence to shape your community.
Youth Connect is a structured 10-month journey delivered by Ishtar Center in partnership with the British Council. You'll move from learning to research to action — designing and leading a real Collective Action Project alongside local authorities, civil society, and your peers.
Not a course. A journey from enquiry to action.
Youth Connect is not another training. It's a facilitated process through which you progressively build the confidence, the practical skills, and the relationships you need to bring about real change in your community.
This year's pathway focuses on civic engagement and youth-state relations — exploring how local governance works, where young people are excluded from civic life, and how meaningful change becomes possible when youth and institutions sit at the same table.
Four phases. One outcome.
Each phase builds on the last, guided by skilled facilitators and mentors throughout.
- 01
Identity & Belonging
Cultural onboarding events and facilitated workshops to build trust and a strong cohort identity.
- 02
Collaborative Research
Investigate a civic issue that matters to you — mapping assets, consulting your community, building evidence.
- 03
Collective Decision-Making
Sit alongside municipal officials, civil society, and community leaders to agree shared priorities for action.
- 04
Collective Action
Design and deliver a seed-funded Collective Action Project with ongoing mentoring and stakeholder support.
Open to young people across Baghdad and Najaf.
- Aged 18 to 35
- Based in or connected to Baghdad or Najaf
- We actively encourage applications from young women
- Applications from young people with disabilities are welcomed and supported
- Able to commit for the full 10 months (June 2026 – March 2027)
- Any background — law, social sciences, STEM, arts, or none of the above
What you'll walk away with.
Ten months of mentorship, training, real civic work, and a community that doesn't end when the programme does.
An accredited certificate you can stand behind.
Graduate with an official certificate co-issued by Ishtar Center and the British Council — a credible signal of the research, advocacy, and leadership skills you've built over ten months.
A network of 100 changemakers.
Join a tight-knit cohort of motivated peers from Baghdad and Najaf — lifelong friendships, future collaborators, and people who get what you're trying to build.
Direct access to civic leaders.
Closed-room sessions and one-on-ones with public officials, journalists, researchers, and civil-society veterans you'd struggle to reach on your own.
Hands-on training that sticks.
Practical workshops in policy research, public speaking, project management, advocacy, and digital storytelling — led by practitioners, not lecturers.
Fully funded participation.
Travel, accommodation, meals, and learning materials are all covered. Your only investment is your time and energy.
Launch a real civic initiative.
Work in teams to co-design and ship a real-world project addressing a challenge you care about — with seed funding and mentorship to back it.
A platform for your voice.
Showcase your work at our public forum, get featured across our channels, and step into the national conversation on youth and civic life.
A lifelong alumni community.
Once you graduate you stay in. Priority access to future fellowships, grants, hiring referrals, and the next generation of Ishtar Center programmes.
Ready to apply?
Submissions take about 5 minutes. We'll be in touch as part of our July onboarding events.
Start your applicationDelivered in partnership with the British Council
Youth Connect is shaped and delivered by Ishtar Center in partnership with the British Council, drawing on decades of global experience in youth-led civic engagement and cultural relations.