Shano Mohammed at the Nobody's Listening — Yazidi Women exhibit

Together, we are building a more just, meaningful, and prosperous future.

Championing women and girls surviving war and violence, securing their rights to quality education and economic independence.

Join the Circle Support our Mission

11% Women's labour force participation in Iraq — 3rd lowest on earth World Bank / ILO, 2024

44% Young women in MENA outside employment, education, or training ILO, 2024

1.2% Regional VC reaching female-founded companies in 2024 Wamda Capital, 2025

2063 Projected year of parity in national parliaments UN Women / IPU, 2026

0%3rd lowest on earth

SICO begins in the hardest case that exists.

Of every economy for which the World Bank publishes data, only Yemen and Afghanistan record a lower rate of women's participation in the labour force than Iraq. The world average is 49.1% — more than four times higher. The Iraqi rate has not moved since 2020.

World Bank, modelled ILO estimate, 2024. See the full ranking

114 : 100

Women per 100 men enrolled in higher education worldwide. Education is no longer the barrier.

UNESCO, 2024

Young women in the region who are in no employment, education, or training. For young men, 19.4%.

ILO, 2023

Share of regional venture capital reaching female-founded companies in 2024 — some USD 28 million.

Wamda Capital, 2025

Share of all development assistance that reached women's rights and women-led organisations, 2014–2023.

Oxfam, from OECD DAC data

The challenge

Across much of the world, women now complete tertiary education at rates equal to or exceeding those of men. The institutions that translate qualifications into professional standing have not adjusted accordingly.

The consequence is a measurable and persistent distance between what women have earned and what they are able to use. It is visible in graduate admissions, in labour force participation, in the allocation of early-stage capital, in the authorship of published research, and in the composition of legislatures and executive boards. In each case the constraint is not the supply of qualified women. It is the absence of the pathway, the platform, the introduction, or the capital that would allow a qualification to function.

Founding phase

SICO is in its founding phase. This site sets out the Organization's mandate, pillar architecture, governance model, and evidence base. Results will be published as they are generated, against the measurement framework set out under Our Work.

The evidence

Four measures of the same failure

Educational attainment has risen. Participation has not. Each figure below is drawn from a named institutional source and dated; where a commonly repeated statistic could not be traced to a primary source, it has been excluded rather than reproduced.

Young people in no employment, education, or training

Nearly half of young women in the region are outside every system at once — more than double the rate for young men in the same countries.

Young womenYoung men

Young women, Arab States

46.3%

Young women, MENA

44.2%

Young men, MENA

19.4%

ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth, 2024, reporting 2023 data.

View data table

Young women, Arab States	46.3%
Young women, MENA	44.2%
Young men, MENA	19.4%

of regional venture capital reached female-founded companies in 2024 — 12 dollars in every 1,000.

Female-foundedAll other allocation

Wamda Capital, reported 2025. Roughly USD 28 million. In 2023 the share was below 0.5%; through April 2025, 0.2%.

Women researchers, by field

Across the Middle East and North Africa, women are 29% of all researchers. Engineering and technology record the lowest share of any discipline examined.

Medical & health sciences

42%

Humanities

40%

All fields, regional average

29%

Engineering & technology

31%

Scientometrics, 2023. From 1.7 million papers by 1.1 million authors, 2008–2020.

View data table

Medical & health sciences	42%
Humanities	40%
All fields, regional average	29%
Engineering & technology	31%

Women in national parliaments, and the distance to parity

Representation has risen steadily since 1995. On the current trajectory, parity in national legislatures arrives in 2063.

ObservedProjected to parity

UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, January 2026.

View data table

1995	11%
2026	27.5%
2063 (projected)	50%

Full evidence base and sources

Five domains

Where the distance is measurable — and addressable

The Organization organises its work around five domains of opportunity. In each, the obstacle is specific, documented, and removable through institutional means.

The obstacle

No route to recommenders within international institutions. No application infrastructure. Limited scholarship navigation and examination access.

The institutional response

Graduate pathways: candidate identification, application support, essay development, examination preparation, and scholarship access through to funded placement.

The obstacle

Management experience that ceases to be legible beyond the institution in which it was acquired. No sponsorship into the bodies where decisions are taken.

The institutional response

Structured mentorship with practitioners, academics, and diaspora professionals, combined with leadership development delivered by certified faculty.

The obstacle

Credentials that meet employer requirements but do not convert into employment. No channel through which employers identify qualified candidates.

The institutional response

Employer partnerships, professional readiness programming, and structured access to remote and international labour markets.

The obstacle

Operating enterprises financed from personal income. No early-stage capital, no co-founder pool, no investor access, and no accelerator that recruits in the region.

The institutional response

Founder programming, catalytic microgrants, investor introductions, a co-founding module, and accelerator placement.

The obstacle

First-hand expertise in subjects that are researched, published, and legislated upon without the participation of those closest to them.

The institutional response

Editorial mentorship, publication placement, commissioned research, and platform development through the Strategic Intelligence Unit.

Our approach

A method designed to compound

The Organization operates a four-stage model. Each cohort reduces the cost and extends the reach of the next, so that capacity grows without proportional growth in expenditure.

SICO PROCESS diagram. Four stages arranged around a central blue-and-gold globe. Stage 01 Identify (top-left): Recruit and select through university partnerships, civil society networks, and referral pipelines. Stage 02 Invest (top-right): Deliver integrated programming including fellowships, catalytic grants, expert advisers, mentorship, leadership development, and structured publication pathways. Stage 03 Connect (bottom-right): Place participants into graduate programs, employment, capital markets, and publication. Stage 04 Compound (bottom-left): Alumnae return as mentors, faculty, employers, and investors.

Our work

Six pillars operating as one organization

Each pillar addresses a distinct obstacle, is independently fundable, and is operationally interlinked with the others. Participants share faculty, evidence, networks, and institutional credibility across all six.

Expert Academy

Education and intellectual development

Education, leadership development, graduate pathways, research training, and writing infrastructure — bridging the distance between degrees already held and careers available internationally.

Workforce and Market Access

Professional advancement

Career development, professional mentorship, remote work infrastructure, and employer partnerships that convert credentials into employment domestically and internationally.

Innovation and Venture Studio

Entrepreneurship and capital

Founder programming, sector accelerators, capital partnerships, an investor network, a co-founding module, and a microgrant facility providing early-stage capital.

Strategic Intelligence Unit

Knowledge and policy

Original research, policy engagement, and economic mobility analysis, including a flagship annual workforce report. Establishes participants as authorities in the subjects they live.

Communications and Public Voice

Platform and publication

Editorial services, a publishing pipeline, a documented archive, and expert visibility programming that carries participants' expertise to international audiences.

Global Partnership Lab

International expansion

Partnership design, institutional matchmaking, diaspora network development, and the replication vehicle through which the model extends to additional operating contexts.

Full pillar detail

Where we work

A global mandate, delivered from the hardest case

SICO's mandate is not restricted to a single country. The obstacles the Organization addresses are documented across low- and middle-income economies, in post-conflict settings, and among diaspora populations in higher-income countries.

Program delivery begins in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region — a deliberate choice. Of the 180 economies for which the World Bank publishes data, only two record a lower rate of women's participation in the labour force. Iraq is not a representative case. It is close to the limit of the problem, which is why a model proven there will hold anywhere it is subsequently taken.

The country also holds the conditions that make the model work: a large and disproportionately female tertiary-educated population, and an almost complete absence of institutions connecting that population to international education, employment, and capital.

Headquarters

Washington, D.C., United States

First operating context

Iraq and the Kurdistan Region

Delivery model

Virtual and hybrid, with in-person convening

Working languages

English, Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi

Women's labour force participation: Iraq against the world

Iraq records the third-lowest rate of women's participation in the labour force of any economy measured. Only Yemen and Afghanistan rank below it. The world average is more than four times higher.

Lowest recorded ratesWorld average

Yemen

4.7%

Afghanistan

5.1%

Iraq

11.0%

Syria

12.8%

Iran

14.1%

Algeria

14.3%

Jordan

16.0%

Egypt

18.5%

World average

49.1%

World Bank, modelled ILO estimate, 2024. Rates for women aged 15 and above. Regional aggregates excluded from the ranking.

View data table

Yemen	4.7%
Afghanistan	5.1%
Iraq	11.0%
Syria	12.8%
Iran	14.1%
Algeria	14.3%
Jordan	16.0%
Egypt	18.5%
World average	49.1%

Join the Circle

Begin a conversation with the Organization.

SICO is in its founding phase and is engaging directly with prospective funders, institutional partners, advisors, volunteers, and applicants. Enquiries are answered by the Executive Director's office.

Become a Founding Member Explore Membership

Strategic Impact and Capital Organization · Washington, D.C.

SICO is an international nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. Its mandate is to identify and remove the institutional obstacles standing between women and the education, employment, enterprise, leadership, and policy roles their qualifications warrant.

SICO is built to turn talented women — especially those who have survived war and displacement — into decision-makers, founders, and published voices.

Partner with us Our Work

SICO — Strategic Impact and Capital Organization, Washington, D.C.

Mission Statement

SICO acts as a global catalyst investing in visionary women whose leadership and opportunities are restricted by conflict and systemic exclusion.

By equipping them with advanced skills, expanding their access to sustainable resources, and connecting them with high-impact international networks, we amplify their visibility and ability to dismantle structural barriers and tackle urgent challenges. In doing so, we enable these leaders to drive lasting change and shape the future of their communities and beyond.

We are dedicated to building robust institutional pathways that accelerate the ascent of women into critical decision-making roles, establishing a more equitable and resilient global future.

Vision Statement

To build a global ecosystem for women leaders to reshape governance, pioneer equitable economies, and secure a prosperous future for all.

We envision a world where powerful and talented women—who survive and navigate not only war and intersectional, protracted crises but also systemic adversity and structural persecution—are supported and globally connected to realize their potential and stand at the forefront of critical decision-making spaces.

Strategic Partnership

Find common ground. Build lasting partnerships.

SICO partners with institutions, individuals, and companies to build an ecosystem that brings people, ideas, and sectors together.

Let's talk Enquiries answered by the Executive Director's office · shano@sicointernational.org

Who we work with

Four ways institutions engage with SICO.

Universities & Research Institutions

Graduate pathway agreements, joint research initiatives, and credential partnerships that open doors for SICO participants worldwide.

Graduate pathways · Joint research

Employers & Corporations

Structured hiring commitments, remote work access agreements, and professional readiness programmes connecting participants to global labour markets.

Hiring · Internship · Mentorship

Foundations & Funders

Catalytic and programme-level partnerships with institutions that want to invest in systemic change rather than individual grants.

Founding circle · Named programmes

Technology & Platform Partners

Software licences, platform access, and in-kind technology contributions that extend SICO's reach across geographies and time zones.

In-kind · Integration · Co-design

Government & Multilateral Bodies

Policy alignment, data-sharing arrangements, and programme co-delivery with international organisations and government counterparts.

UN agencies · Development banks

Diaspora & Civil Society

Network activation, community intelligence, and cross-border professional connectivity through diaspora organisations and civil society networks.

Professional networks · Diaspora orgs

What a partnership with SICO looks like in practice.

SICO does not issue open calls for proposals. Every partnership is negotiated directly and structured around a shared theory of change.

The Executive Director's office handles all enquiries personally. If there is a basis for working together, we will find it.

Initial conversation

A brief exchange to understand shared objectives and whether there is a natural fit.

Structured alignment

We map your institution's interests against SICO's programme architecture and identify where co-investment creates the most value.

Partnership agreement

A formal arrangement with clear deliverables, reporting standards, and recognition agreed between the parties.

Ongoing relationship

Partnerships are treated as relationships, not transactions. Partners receive regular reporting and direct access to leadership.

Every significant partnership began with a single conversation.

Let's talk

Theory of change

From inputs to systemic outcomes

The Organization operates a compounding model in which each cohort strengthens the system that supports the next, reducing dependency on external philanthropy over the program's lifetime.

Inputs — what the Organization provides

Fellowships and catalytic grants · mentor and expert networks · leadership and editorial development · convening and visibility infrastructure · early-stage capital.

OUT

Outputs — what is produced

Graduate applications and admissions · mentorship relationships sustained · published analysis placed · enterprises capitalised · employer partnerships established.

Outcomes — what changes

Positions secured in institutions of consequence · enterprises operating and employing · research entering the policy record · earnings sustained over time.

SYS

Systemic — what shifts

Employer expectations revised · funder models reconsidered · a demonstrated supply of qualified candidates where institutions previously reported none.

The measure: crossings

The Organization's principal indicator is the number of participants who move from qualification to position within a defined domain, disaggregated by domain and elapsed time. Activity measures — participants reached, sessions delivered — are reported but are not treated as evidence of outcome. The measurement framework is published in advance of results.

Governance

Governance and institutional structure

SICO is governed by a Board of Directors with responsibility for institutional oversight, financial stewardship, and safeguarding. The Board is supported by three advisory bodies: a Founding Advisory Council providing strategic and specialist counsel; an International Advisory Council drawn from universities, research institutions, and women's leadership organisations; and a Regional Advisory Network providing operating-context expertise and institutional relationships.

Executive leadership is exercised by the Founder and Executive Director, supported by program directors and a core operational team covering legal, finance, communications, development, and partnerships.

Legal status

SICO operates under an interim legal structure while its application for recognition as a tax-exempt charitable organisation is processed. The Organization will publish its determination status, governing documents, and annual financial statements as they become available.

Financial architecture

Philanthropic support

Foundations, family offices, individual supporters, named scholarships, and corporate social investment.

Institutional partnership

Universities, research institutions, employers, and technology partners, contributing in kind and through co-funding.

Earned revenue

Executive education, professional training, advisory services, and commissioned research, from year two.

Long-term sustainability

A mission-aligned commercial subsidiary, alumnae giving, and an institutional endowment, from year three.

Revenue diversification is treated as a structural requirement rather than an aspiration. No single funder determines the Organization's programmatic direction.

Shano Mohammed at the World Bank, Washington D.C.

We are building pathways that will change lives.

There is always something you can do.

Do you want to make a purposeful impact? Think SICO.

Let's have a conversation See the Six Pillars

Founder & CEO

Shano Mohammed

World Bank Headquarters, Washington D.C.

Peykar Welat statue, Erbil — Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Where We Work

A global mandate, delivered from the hardest case.

Program delivery begins in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region — a deliberate choice. Only Yemen and Afghanistan record a lower rate of women's labour force participation. A model proven there will hold anywhere it is subsequently taken.

Our Approach Learn More

Operating Context

Washington, D.C.

First Context

Iraq & Kurdistan

Delivery

Virtual + hybrid

Languages

EN · AR · KU

Pillars

Partnership design and memoranda of understanding
Institutional matchmaking
Diaspora network development
Replication into additional operating contexts
Government and multilateral engagement
Cross-border delivery partnerships

Founding cohort

Four tracks proving the model

The founding phase concentrates on four tracks delivered to a founding cohort of participants, establishing demand, quality, partner fit, mentor network viability, and measurable outcomes before the full architecture is brought into operation.

Policy and Public Leadership Fellowship

Structured editorial mentorship from writers, analysts, and policy practitioners, establishing a pathway from expertise to publication, commentary, and institutional platform.

Outputs: opinion articles, policy briefs, commissioned essays, publication placement.

Global Graduate Pathways

Preparation and support for internationally competitive graduate admission, with institutional assistance at each stage from candidate identification through funded placement.

Outputs: applications submitted, examination preparation, scholarship access, admissions secured.

Mentorship Network

Structured access to academics, practitioners, policy specialists, and diaspora professionals — relationships formalised, maintained, and expanded with each cohort.

Outputs: mentor matches sustained, institutional introductions, long-term access relationships.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Founder development, incubation, and acceleration, supported by a network of founders, investors, and advisers, a co-founding module, and a microgrant facility.

Outputs: enterprises founded and capitalised, co-founder matches, grants awarded.

Measurement

What the Organization counts

The measurement framework is published in advance of results. Indicators are outcome-based and disaggregated by domain; activity measures are reported separately and are not presented as evidence of impact.

Domain	Primary indicator	Secondary indicators	Reporting interval
Advanced education	Funded graduate places secured	Applications submitted; admissions offered; scholarship value awarded	Annual
Leadership	Appointments to senior or decision-making roles	Mentor relationships sustained beyond 12 months; board and advisory seats held	Annual and at 24 months
Economic participation	Placements sustained at 12 months	Earnings at 12 and 24 months; repeat employer partnerships	Annual and at 24 months
Enterprise	Enterprises capitalised	Capital raised; employment created; survival at 24 months	Annual
Policy and public voice	Analysis published and placed	Citations recorded; speaking and advisory invitations extended	Annual

Safeguarding, informed consent, and data protection procedures govern all participant data collection. Participants retain the right to withhold identifying information from any published reporting.

Evidence

The evidence base for the Organization's mandate.

Every figure below is attributed to a named source and dated. Where a commonly cited statistic could not be substantiated against a primary source, it has been excluded rather than reproduced. This page is maintained as the Organization's reference record and revised as new data is released. Last revised 9 September 2026.

International students in United States higher education, by place of origin

The United States hosted 1,177,766 international students in 2024/25. No country of the Middle East or North Africa appears above fifteenth place, and Iraq does not appear among the twenty-five largest places of origin at all.

All other originsMiddle East and North Africa

India

363,019

China

265,919

South Korea

42,293

Canada

29,903

Vietnam

25,584

Nigeria

21,847

Saudi Arabia

12,702

Iran

12,656

Iraq

—

IIE Open Doors, November 2025. Selected origins shown; ranks 7 to 25 omitted for legibility.

View data table

India	363,019
China	265,919
South Korea	42,293
Canada	29,903
Vietnam	25,584
Nigeria	21,847
Saudi Arabia	12,702
Iran	12,656
Iraq	Not in top 25

Educational attainment: the barrier that has already fallen
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Women per 100 men enrolled in higher education worldwide	114	Gender parity in enrolment has been achieved in every world region except sub-Saharan Africa. Women nonetheless hold approximately one quarter of senior leadership positions in academia.	UNESCO, 2024
Post-secondary attainment, women against men, Jordan	40 : 30	Among the 1985 birth cohort, nearly 40% of women hold post-secondary qualifications against just over 30% of men. Tunisia records 33% against 23%; Egypt 28% against 26%.	Demographic Research, 2020
International students hosted by United States institutions	1.18m	1,177,766 in 2024/25. India and China account for 53% of the total. Saudi Arabia (12,702) and Iran (12,656) each represent 1.1%; Iraq does not appear among the twenty-five largest places of origin.	IIE Open Doors, November 2025

Labour market outcomes: the barrier that has not
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Young women in no employment, education, or training, Middle East and North Africa	44.2%	Against 19.4% of young men in the same countries. The figure rises to 46.3% across the Arab States.	ILO, Global Employment Trends for Youth, 2023 data
Employment-to-population ratio, young women	6.4%	Arab States, 6.0%. Fewer than one in fifteen young women is in work — half the global rate for young women, and below pre-pandemic levels.	ILO, 2023 data
Youth unemployment among young women	35.4%	Against 21.5% among young men. Arab States: 38.5% against 25.7%. Projected to rise to 36.2% by 2025.	ILO, 2023 data
Women's labour force participation, Middle East and North Africa	~19%	Against a world average of 48%, and 71% among men in the same region — a gap of 52 percentage points, the widest of any region. The rate has been flat since the early 2000s.	World Bank, 2023

Knowledge production and research
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Women's share of researchers in the Middle East and North Africa	29%	Derived from 1.7 million papers by 1.1 million authors, 2008–2020. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan record the lowest shares at 14–27%.	Scientometrics, 2023
Women's share of researchers in engineering and technology	31%	The lowest share of any field examined, against 42% in medical and health sciences and 40% in the humanities.	Scientometrics, 2023
Women's share of researchers worldwide	~33%	Approximately one in three of the world's researchers is a woman.	UNESCO Institute for Statistics

Capital, enterprise, and legal rights
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Regional venture capital reaching female-founded companies, 2024	1.2%	Approximately USD 28 million. In 2023 the share fell below 0.5%, or USD 19 million; through April 2025 it stood at 0.2%. The trend is downward.	Wamda Capital, reported 2025
Global venture capital allocated to all-female founding teams, 2024	2.3%	USD 6.7 billion of USD 289 billion invested globally, against 2.1% in 2023. Parity is not projected before approximately 2065.	Founders Forum Group, 2025
Legal rights available to women relative to men	67/100	Across 190 economies assessed — roughly two thirds of the rights afforded to men. No economy grants women equal economic opportunity.	World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2026
Supportive frameworks required to exercise those rights	47/100	Enforcement scores 53 of 100. Safety provisions stand at approximately one third of what is required, with enforcement at 20% of potential. Ninety-one economies have no law prohibiting gender-based credit discrimination.	World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2026
Potential economic output lost to the gap between law and implementation	15–20%	Estimated cost to national economies of the distance between women's legal rights and their practical exercise.	World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2026

Leadership and decision-making
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Women's share of seats in national parliaments	27.5%	As at 1 January 2026, against 11% in 1995. Parity is not projected before 2063.	UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Countries with a woman Head of State or Government	28	Sixteen as Head of State and twenty-one as Head of Government. Parity in the highest executive positions is projected to require a further 130 years.	UN Women, January 2026
Women's share of Cabinet ministers heading ministries	22.4%	Fourteen countries have 50% or more women in these positions.	UN Women, January 2026
Years required to close the global gender gap at current rates	123	68.8% of the gap is closed. The remaining distance is concentrated in economic participation and political empowerment.	World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2025

Conflict and post-conflict settings
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Women's share of negotiators in formal peace processes	7%	Women were 14% of mediators and 20% of signatories, falling to 7% of signatories once Colombian agreements are excluded. Participation in UN-led processes declined from 23% in 2020 to 18% in 2024.	UN Women, 2024–25
Women's share of parliamentary seats in conflict-affected countries	20%	Against 27% globally. In elected local government the share is 18%, against 36% worldwide.	UN Women, October 2025
Peace and ceasefire agreements referring to women, girls, or gender, 2024	31%	Against 12% between 1990 and 2000. Gender provisions were confined to four processes across three countries.	UN Women, 2025

Where the funding goes
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Share of all official development assistance reaching women's rights and women-led organisations, 2014–2023	0.1%	Of USD 148 million in global gender, peace and security aid in 2023, USD 4.7 million reached local women's rights organisations — 3.1%. Total development assistance that year was USD 289 billion.	Oxfam, from OECD DAC data, 2025
Share of development assistance reaching women's organisations in fragile and conflict-affected settings	< 1%	Fewer than 10% of aid commitments make gender equality a principal objective, and dedicated gender-focused funding represents less than 5% of overall assistance.	Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, October 2025
Increase in military expenditure across 84 countries, 2024	$1.5tn	Recorded in the same year that aid for gender equality and peace declined by 7.1%.	SIPRI and UN Secretary-General, cited by Oxfam, 2025

First operating context: Iraq and the Kurdistan Region
Indicator	Figure	Detail	Source
Women's labour force participation — third lowest of any economy measured	11.0%	2024. Only Yemen (4.7%) and Afghanistan (5.1%) record lower rates. Syria follows at 12.8%, Iran at 14.1%, Algeria at 14.3%. The world average is 49.1% — more than four times the Iraqi rate — and the regional average 17.7%. The Iraqi rate has been effectively unchanged since 2020: 10.9% in 2020, 11.2% in 2022, 10.9% in 2023.	World Bank, modelled ILO estimate
Women's share of researchers	14–27%	Iraq records among the lowest shares in the region, against a regional average of 29%.	Scientometrics, 2023
Women in the Council of Representatives	84/329	25.5% of seats. Article 49(4) of the Constitution reserves one quarter of seats for women, and the quota accounts for effectively all of that representation. No woman has served as Speaker since the first woman entered parliament in 1980.	Inter-Parliamentary Union
Married women reporting spousal violence	46%	Share of currently married women exposed to at least one form of spousal violence. The scorecard does not state its survey year; the figure is reproduced as published.	UNFPA Iraq, undated scorecard
Children out of school	3.2m	Girls are under-represented at both primary and secondary level. In conflict-affected governorates more than 90% of school-age children are outside the education system.	UNICEF Iraq

Note on method

Figures are reproduced as published by the cited institution and are not adjusted, rounded upward, or combined across incompatible methodologies. Modelled estimates are identified as such, and a source that does not state its own survey year is described that way rather than assigned one.

Where a figure in common circulation could not be traced to a primary source, it has been omitted rather than reproduced. Claims removed on this basis include the share of students from the Middle East and North Africa in United States higher education who are women, the region's ranking by engineering capacity, and women's share of authorship in national policy research. Each is widely repeated; none could be substantiated. The Organization treats the integrity of its evidence base as a condition of its credibility, and publishes what it could not verify alongside what it could.

Our team

Leadership and advisory circle

The Organization is led by a founder with operational experience at scale in the sector it addresses, supported by an advisory circle drawn from law, research, communications, enterprise, and multilateral practice.

Join our mission

Executive leadership

Founder and Executive Director

Shano Mohammed

Founder and Executive Director

Washington, D.C.

Shano Mohammed is an international development and global partnership professional with over a decade of progressive experience across the world's most complex geopolitical and fragile settings. Specialized in navigating high-stakes socio-political landscapes, she has spent her career driving the end-to-end strategy, compliance, and lifecycle execution of large-scale, cross-functional programming within major multilateral organizations.

Throughout her tenure with the United Nations across Iraq and the broader Middle East, Shano directed an expansive USD 26.6 million portfolio spanning durable solutions, women's economic participation, community stabilization, governance, security, and sustainable livelihoods. Her operational leadership includes steering a USD 5 million durable solutions program that directly impacted over 55,000 displacement-affected individuals, alongside mobilizing and supervising six nationwide teams during critical ISIL and post-ISIL transition to recovery phases.

While managing high-level stakeholder coordination and inter-agency cooperation, Shano has bridged grassroots field realities with global institutional policy priorities and expanded the organization's partnership network. She has successfully led high-impact joint longitudinal projects and partnerships with elite global entities, including the World Bank, Yale Law School, Georgetown University, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Deltares; contributed research on Iraq and Syria to the World Bank's MENA Regional Unit; and supported the UN's Global Data Institute in Berlin.

Shano holds a Master of Arts from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she was honored as a Kuwait-America Foundation Scholar. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from Cornell University, and works in Arabic, Kurdish, Farsi, and English.

Georgetown SFS · Kuwait-America ScholarUN · 10+ yearsUSD 26.6M portfolioCornell · PMPArabic · Kurdish · Farsi · English

Advisory circle

Advisers and program leadership

The advisory circle brings legal, research, operational, and editorial depth to the founding phase. The Founding Advisory Council, International Advisory Council, and Board of Directors will formalise and expand this group as the Organization moves into operation.

Skalla Mohammed

Recruitment Strategist, Iraq

Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Leading outreach and recruitment to connect Iraqi women directly to SICO's programming, translating the organization's mission into on-the-ground participation, including recruiting the first cohort of Iraqi women into SICO's pipeline.

She brings policy research and youth-focused programming from the Nishtman Strategy Institute and a rare multilingual reach across Kurdish, Arabic, English, Turkish, and Farsi, with working knowledge of German.

Skalla is currently completing a B.A. in Politics and International Relations at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) in Erbil.

Recruitment Strategist, IraqB.A. Politics & International Relations, UKHNishtman Strategy InstituteKurdish · Arabic · English · Turkish · Farsi · German

Delovan Barwari, PhD

Adviser, Iraq–U.S. Institutional Partnerships

Washington, D.C.

Scholar of U.S. foreign policy and Kurdish affairs, and Director of Academic Affairs and Strategic Initiatives at the Kurdistan Regional Government, where he has built and sustained formal partnerships between KRG institutions and American universities, policy bodies, and federal agencies. Previously Editor-in-Chief of Kurdistan24 English and host of Kurdistan in America, the KRG's flagship policy podcast. Holds a doctorate from Virginia Tech's School of Public and International Affairs and a Master of Arts in Global Affairs from the University of Denver.

Ph.D. Virginia Tech SPIAM.A. Global Affairs, DenverKRG · Academic AffairsKurdistan24 · Editor-in-ChiefArabic · Kurdish · English

Maurice Hickman

Business Adviser

Washington, D.C. and Nairobi

Global operations and strategy leader with more than fifteen years building and scaling businesses across the United States, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Founder of Pathfinder Maven. Previously Group Head of Operations at Alistair Group and Managing Director for Uganda at Lori Systems. A United States Army officer awarded the Bronze Star.

West Point · Bronze StarDuke Fuqua MBA

Tara Gupta

Strategic Adviser, Enterprise Technology

United States

Founder and Chief Executive of Map Collective, where she built an autonomous supply chain mapping platform for regulated manufacturers delivering supplier visibility and regulatory traceability. A National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I, II and IIB awardee and an NVIDIA Inception member. Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy.

Founder & CEO, Map CollectiveForbes 30 Under 30Georgetown MBA

Avraham Spraragen

Director of the Academy, Research and Policy

Washington, D.C.

At SICO, Avraham directs the Academy's research and policy agenda, connecting the Organization's analytical work to institutions, practitioners, and the policy record. He is a J.D. candidate and Public Interest Law Scholar at Georgetown Law, focusing his work on international human rights law. He also serves as the Policy and Research Coordinator of the J Street Policy Center, a research center in Washington, D.C., that produces expert analysis on U.S. policy toward Israel-Palestine and the broader Middle East. He is a lifelong Hebrew speaker and has studied Arabic in Amman, Jordan, and Rabat, Morocco.

Avraham holds an M.A. in Arab Studies from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and a B.A. in Government from Cornell University. He also holds certificates in "Israel and Middle East Studies" from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in "Middle East and Conflict Studies" from Tel Aviv University.

Avraham was nominated by Georgetown Law and selected by the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation for the 2026 Sustained Impact Human Rights Fellowship at Human Rights Watch. Before law school, he was a Research and Writing Assistant at the Alliance for Middle East Peace. Avraham has also interned at the Middle East Institute, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and several other research and advocacy organizations.

J.D. Candidate, Georgetown Law · Public Interest Law ScholarM.A. Arab Studies, Georgetown SFSB.A. Government, CornellHuman Rights Watch · Squire Patton Boggs FellowHebrew · Arabic

Lindsey Parnas

Program Officer

Washington, D.C.

Gender researcher and program officer with a decade of programming across women's leadership, peacebuilding, and locally-led development. Most recently Program Officer for Women's Leadership at Counterpart International, where she ran a mentorship program pairing 650 mentees in Afghanistan with diaspora mentors. Previously with USAID's Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships Hub.

M.A. Arab Studies, Georgetown SFSSciences Po · UC BerkeleyUSAID

Pete Coleton

Adviser

Arlington, Virginia

Founder and President of Vector Airport Systems, which he established in 2005 and has led for more than twenty years, building technology that enables airports and governments to identify and track aircraft, recover landing-fee revenue, and manage noise. Advises the Organization on operating discipline, revenue design, and institutional durability.

Founder & President, Vector Airport SystemsWilliam & Mary

Dave Todaro

Leadership Trainer, Academy Faculty

Lewes, Delaware

Delivers the Organization's leadership curriculum covering executive presence, team leadership, performance management, and career development. An ICF-certified Professional Certified Coach with more than 600 hours coaching founders, senior leaders, and board members, and a CEC-certified team coach. A United States military veteran.

ICF-Certified PCCCEC Team CoachMaryland Smith

Bikram Sachdeva

Adviser

Virginia, United States

Bikram Sachdeva brings deep expertise in strategy, enterprise, and cross-sector partnership development to SICO's advisory circle. His counsel supports the Organization's institutional growth, stakeholder engagement, and program design across its founding phase.

Advisory Circle

Board of Directors

In formation

Five to nine members

The Board will hold responsibility for institutional oversight, financial stewardship, and safeguarding, with designated competencies in non-profit governance, legal and regulatory compliance, finance and audit, higher education or policy, and strategic philanthropy. The Organization is receiving expressions of interest.

Quarterly meetingsExpressions of interest welcomed

Join Our Mission

What we are building is a global ecosystem where life-changing visions become reality

So that women can exercise their full agency — academically, economically, politically, and globally.

Let's have a conversation Explore ways to join

Join the Circle

Four ways to join. Nine more ways to get involved.

SICO is building its founding cohort, its mentor network, its advisory councils, and its institutional partnerships concurrently. The Organization needs introductions, expertise, placements, and platform as much as it needs capital.

Join

Four ways to join the Circle

Each role carries a defined commitment and a defined return. All four are open now.

Become a Member

For individuals

Membership is a sustained commitment to the Organization's work — monthly, quarterly, or annual. Members receive the annual report against the published measurement framework, advance notice of published analysis, and a standing invitation to the Organization's convenings.

Three levels: Supporter, Sustaining Member, and Founding Circle. Founding Circle members are recognised permanently as having supported the Organization before its first cohort.

Become a member

Become a Volunteer

For professionals with time to give

Volunteers contribute professional skill on a structured, time-bounded basis — mentoring, editorial review, graduate application review, translation, research assistance, event support, or outreach. Matching, briefing, and coordination are managed by the Organization; commitments are agreed in advance and are not open-ended.

Typical commitment: two to six hours per month. Volunteers working directly with participants complete the Organization's safeguarding briefing.

Become a volunteer

Become an Advisor

For senior practitioners and academics

Advisors serve on one of three bodies: the Founding Advisory Council, providing strategic and specialist counsel through the founding phase; the International Advisory Council, drawn from universities, research institutions, and women's leadership organisations; and the Regional Advisory Network, providing operating-context expertise and institutional relationships.

Councils meet quarterly. Expressions of interest for the Board of Directors are also being received.

Become an advisor

Become a Partner

For institutions and organisations

Partnership is the Organization's principal mechanism for extending reach without extending cost. Partners commit institutional capacity — admissions pathways, interview commitments, research collaboration, publication access, capital, convening space, or professional services — under a written agreement with defined obligations on both sides.

Agreements are drafted by the Global Partnership Lab and reviewed annually against agreed outcomes.

Become a partner

Partnership

SICO partners across sectors

The Organization is open to partnership with any organisation that holds capacity its participants cannot otherwise reach. Partnership is not restricted by sector, size, or geography.

Universities and academic institutions Governments and public agencies Corporations and businesses Foundations and philanthropies Non-governmental organisations Research institutions and think tanks Multilateral and international organisations Media organisations and publishers Accelerators and investors Professional associations and networks Employers and industry bodies Diaspora networks and associations

What partners commit

Universities

Admissions pathways, application fee waivers, dedicated scholarship consideration, visiting fellowships, or joint research.

Employers and businesses

Interview commitments, remote and internship positions, mentorship from staff, or workplace giving.

Governments and public agencies

Program co-funding, exchange and scholarship access, convening, and policy engagement.

Foundations and philanthropies

Multi-year program support, co-funding with peer funders, and capacity-building grants.

Publishers and media

Commissioning and placement of work by fellows, editorial mentorship, and platform access.

Investors and accelerators

Capital access, accelerator places, investor introductions, and co-investment in participant-founded enterprises.

Ways to get involved

Nine ways to contribute that are not money

Every one of these is open now, and several are worth more to the Organization at this stage than a contribution of equivalent value.

★

Start a fundraiser

Raise support from your own network — for a birthday, a milestone, a race, a workplace team, or a campaign of your own design. The Organization supplies the materials: the evidence base, program descriptions, a short film brief, and copy you can use directly.

A personal fundraiser typically reaches people no institution can reach on its own, and introduces the Organization to an audience that trusts you.

Start a fundraiser

✎

Become a mentor

Commit to a structured, time-bounded mentoring relationship with a participant in your field — policy, research, editorial practice, engineering, enterprise, or technology.

Become a mentor

Serve as an editorial reviewer

Read and work a draft with a fellow preparing an opinion article, policy brief, or research paper for publication. Two to four hours per piece.

Become a reviewer

◇

Review graduate applications

Provide feedback on personal statements and research proposals for candidates applying to internationally competitive graduate programs.

Volunteer to review

→

Offer a professional introduction

Open a door the Organization cannot open on its own — to an admissions office, a hiring manager, an editor, an investor, or a research group.

Offer an introduction

◈

Host a briefing

Convene colleagues at your university, firm, or institution for a briefing on the Organization's evidence base and program model.

Host a briefing

◎

Refer a candidate

Nominate a woman whose qualifications exceed the opportunities available to her. Nominations are reviewed for every cohort.

Refer a candidate

文

Translate

Contribute translation between English, Arabic, and Kurdish — for program materials, published analysis, and the Organization's public communications.

Volunteer to translate

↗

Amplify the evidence

Cite the Organization's evidence base in your own work, share it with colleagues, or bring a figure from it into a meeting where it will change a decision.

Get in touch

Apply and careers

For applicants and prospective staff

Apply to a program. The founding cohort of participants across four tracks. Applications open in advance of the first cohort; the Organization maintains a register of prospective applicants who are notified when the window opens.

Working at SICO. The Organization recruits for program leadership, delivery, research, and operations as funding is secured. Positions are advertised here and through the mailing list. Expressions of interest may be submitted at any time.

SICO is an equal opportunity organization and maintains safeguarding and conduct policies applicable to staff, faculty, mentors, volunteers, and partners.

Join the applicant register

Contact

General and partnership enquiries

shano@sicointernational.org

Headquarters

Washington, D.C., United States

The Organization intends to establish a segregated, Zakat-compliant fund directed exclusively to participant support, with independent verification.

On determination

Workplace and payroll giving

Contribute through a workplace giving program or federal and state employee campaigns.

Tax treatment of contributions

SICO's application for recognition as a tax-exempt charitable organisation is in process. Prospective supporters are advised to contact the Organization before making a contribution so that the current tax treatment and the appropriate mechanism can be confirmed. The Organization will not represent a contribution as tax-deductible in advance of a determination.

Where your support goes

What the founding phase establishes

The founding cohort

Participants across four tracks, with participant support covering application costs, stipends where required, and access costs.

The mentor and expert network

Recruitment, matching, and management of mentors and subject experts across policy, research, editorial practice, enterprise, and technology.

Institutional partnerships

Graduate pathway agreements with universities, employer commitments, and joint research arrangements with research institutions.

The evidence base

Measurement systems, safeguarding and data protection infrastructure, and the Organization's first published outcome reporting.

Institutional foundations

Legal establishment, governance formation, financial controls, and the compliance infrastructure required of an organisation of this standing.

Accountability

What supporters receive

Every supporter receives the Organization's annual report against the published measurement framework, including outcomes that fell short of target. Supporters at institutional level receive a written briefing twice yearly and direct access to the Executive Director.

What the Organization publishes

Governing documents, determination status, annual financial statements, safeguarding policy, and the full measurement framework are published as they become available. The Organization intends to maintain profiles with Candid and Charity Navigator once eligible.

What the Organization will not do

Represent an unverified figure as evidence. Publish a participant's identifying information without informed consent. Accept support conditional on programmatic direction that conflicts with the Organization's mandate.

Begin a conversation with the Organization.

Contact the Organization Non-financial ways to get involved

Under Formation

Connecting talent, capital, and opportunity across borders.

The SICO Diaspora Network will bridge Iraqi and Kurdish professionals based abroad with participants, institutions, and opportunities at home and across borders — serving as a living channel between diaspora expertise and the next generation of women building careers, publishing research, and scaling enterprises.

Expressions of interest

The Network is being designed. Your voice can shape it.

SICO is inviting diaspora professionals — executives, academics, policy practitioners, entrepreneurs, and civic leaders — to register their interest in joining the founding circle of the Network. Those who register will be the first consulted on its design, the first invited to participate, and the first to be connected with SICO participants and institutional partners.

Expressions of interest are reviewed directly by the Executive Director's office. There is no commitment required at this stage.

Express interest in joining

Under Formation — Expressions of Interest Now Open

SICO Mentors Network

A global circle of mentors shaping the next generation of women leaders.

The SICO Mentors Network is being established to connect exceptional professionals and experts with SICO participants navigating graduate education, career transitions, and early-stage enterprise.

Founding

The Network is accepting its founding cohort of mentors now. Those who register will shape the model itself.

Personal

Every expression of interest is reviewed directly by the Executive Director's office. No committees. No automated responses.

Who we're looking for

Professionals and experts whose experience can change the trajectory of a career.

Academia

Researchers & Faculty

Senior academics who can guide participants through graduate applications, research design, and publication pathways.

Industry

Executives & Directors

Leaders in the private sector who can open professional networks and advise on career strategy in competitive markets.

Policy

Policy & Public Sector

Officials, professionals and experts in international organisations, government, and multilateral bodies who understand how systems work.

Enterprise

Founders & Investors

Entrepreneurs and investors who can support participants building early-stage ventures and navigating capital markets.

The Network is accepting its founding mentors.

Founding mentors will be matched with participants based on field, geography, and ambition. They will also have the opportunity to shape the mentorship model itself — the matching process, the commitment structure, and the cohort design.

The commitment is purposeful and structured to produce visible professional outcomes for the women you support. No commitment is required at the expression of interest stage.

Register your interest

Submit a brief expression of interest by email. No formal application or CV required at this stage. The Executive Director's office will be in touch within two weeks.

Express interest in joining shano@sicointernational.org

Championing women and girls surviving war and violence, securing their rights to quality education and economic independence.

SICO begins in the hardest case that exists.

Founding phase

Four measures of the same failure

Young people in no employment, education, or training

Women researchers, by field

Women in national parliaments, and the distance to parity

Where the distance is measurable — and addressable

Advanced education

Leadership

Economic participation

Enterprise

Policy and public voice

A method designed to compound

Six pillars operating as one organization

Expert Academy

Workforce and Market Access

Innovation and Venture Studio

Strategic Intelligence Unit

Communications and Public Voice

Global Partnership Lab

A global mandate, delivered from the hardest case

Headquarters

First operating context

Delivery model

Working languages

Women's labour force participation: Iraq against the world

Begin a conversation with the Organization.

Mission Statement

Vision Statement

Find common ground. Build lasting partnerships.

Four ways institutions engage with SICO.

Universities & Research Institutions

Employers & Corporations

Foundations & Funders

Technology & Platform Partners

Government & Multilateral Bodies

Diaspora & Civil Society

What a partnership with SICO looks like in practice.

Initial conversation

Structured alignment

Partnership agreement

Ongoing relationship

Every significant partnership began with a single conversation.

From inputs to systemic outcomes

Inputs — what the Organization provides

Outputs — what is produced

Outcomes — what changes

Systemic — what shifts

The measure: crossings

Governance and institutional structure

Legal status

Philanthropic support

Institutional partnership

Earned revenue

Long-term sustainability

We are building pathways that will change lives.

A global mandate, delivered from the hardest case.

The six pillars in detail

Expert Academy

What it delivers

Workforce and Market Access

What it delivers

Innovation and Venture Studio

What it delivers

Strategic Intelligence Unit

What it delivers

Communications and Public Voice

What it delivers

Global Partnership Lab

What it delivers

Four tracks proving the model

Policy and Public Leadership Fellowship

Global Graduate Pathways

Mentorship Network

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

What the Organization counts

The evidence base for the Organization's mandate.

International students in United States higher education, by place of origin

Note on method