On 11/29/2023, Peace and Freedom Organization, in coordination and cooperation with the team of defenders from the Voices of Justice Network in Nineveh, conducted a visit to the Nineveh Governorate Office and met with the Deputy Governor Hassan Al-Alaf, and the Assistant Governor for Organizations and Displaced Persons Affairs, Omar Ali, in addition to a visit to the office of Deputy Governor Sirwan Rozhbiyani. As part of the advocacy campaign activities held within the Power of Voices/Transformative Justice project in Nineveh.

The visit team presented a policy paper centered around digital transformation in administrative procedures related to compensation transactions to the governorate office. The paper and the proposed recommendations focused on placing a QR Code mark on official documents issued by the departments concerned with compensation, such as death and birth certificates, which requires a set of financial and logistical resources, beside the capabilities of employees. The paper reviews the available resources and opportunities, in addition to some challenges, solutions and recommendations in this regard. Decision makers in the Nineveh Governorate Office welcomed this proposal, and it was agreed that a meeting in the governorate would be coordinated with the departments concerned with compensation in the presence of the Peace and Freedom Organization, in order to discuss Methods of development and all requirements for marking the QR code, and conducting a study and revealing the financial requirements to proceed with this step, as decision makers promised to allocate an amount from the governorate’s budget for the year 2024 for this work.

In addition to that, decision makers in Nineveh Governorate responded to equip the Compensation Department with their logistical needs, such as the Internet, computers, and others, to speed up and develop Its working procedures.

The Peace and Freedom Organization also presented a set of recommendations related to enhancing the protection of the dignity and safety of citizens who have official documents needs, especially those from vulnerable groups, by appointing a group of female employees who were recently hired in the Nineveh Governorate Office to the departments concerned with compensation, with the aim of directing and serving these citizens to proceed more smoothly and conveniently, answering their administrative inquiries. The PFO Advocacy team agreed for providing training to new employees on the rules of conduct and the Iraqi law of discipline for state employees.

The decision makers promised to work on and welcomed the proposal appointing female employees in dealing with citizens in compensation work, in order to reduce cases of extortion.

Among the results of the visit, a few days after, decision-makers followed the proposals of the Peace and Freedom Organization and the Voices of Justice Network on digital transformation, as the Planning Assistant in Nineveh Governorate issued an official letter to conduct training courses on digital transformation tools for all departments in the governorate.