Educational centers teaching journalism and media studies in Iraq have increased dramatically since 2003, which observers find promising in the country’s opening.

After the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, under which independent journalism was strictly censored, many independent media centers opened in Iraq, the majority of which are based in Kurdistan Region due to the security situation of other parts of the country.

The centers oversee media courses which have been attracting a large number of journalists in recent years.

Some of the most prominent media centers include:

• the Dutch “Press Now”;
• the Independent Media Center in Kurdistan (IMCK);
• the Independent Media Center in Baghdad (IMCB); and
• the Institute for War and Peace (IWP),

in addition to other local organizations linked to international bodies.

The representative of the IMCB, Kholud Ramzi, said, “These centers organize courses to teach the basics of the press and media and admit graduates of Iraqi universities from various parts of the country.” Last year, only graduates from a limited number of Iraqi provinces were admitted to the center.

The majority of the organizations give four to six sessions per year, according to official statistics of the Union of News Organizations in Iraq, involving dozens of Iraqi journalists.

Student Manaf Taleb, 25, told AKnews that he had participated in lengthy sessions of teaching journalism and media that are held in Kurdistan. At the completion of the courses Taleb said he realized what the press was and what its importance and accuracy meant.

“I got certificates that qualified me to work in the field of journalism and the media.” Taleb said with joy.

Another trainee, Ayoub Hasan, 25, said he learned a lot from the journalism training and that he loves his career as a journalist.

“I am a graduate of the Faculty of Science – Department of Chemistry – but I entered the field of journalism, and participated in the course for eight months at the Institute of Journalism of the Independent Media Center in Kurdistan,” said Hasan.

“I felt it served me a lot in my professional career, I am ready to participate in other sessions that develop my abilities in journalism and media.” said Hasan.

(Source: AKnews)

The government of Nepal has lifted the ban on Nepalis working in Iraq.

An estimated 30,000 Nepalis working in Iraq were facing the prospect of deportation after the US asked its contractors to send home expatriate workers whose countries impose a travel ban in Iraq.

“We took the decision for the sake of Nepalis already working in Iraq,” said Purna Chandra Bhattarai, Joint Secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Labour and Transport Management. “However, workers will not be allowed to go there just yet without a further assessment of the situation of Nepalis in Iraq.”

The ban was introduced in 2004 after 12 Nepalis working in Iraq were killed. The incident has not deterred Nepalis from taking up jobs in Iraq at relatively high wages. An estimated 2.7 million Nepalis work abroad.

(Sources: BBC, Nepali Times)

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Asiacell Communications LLC becomes first Iraqi company to implement a full-fledged enterprise e-recruitment solution to attract, engage and hire exceptional telecom professionals.

“Recruiting exceptional talent is a challenge globally. The challenge is even bigger when you are trying to hire quality people in Iraq, especially expatriates. We have to compete with telecom companies worldwide for the same set of top industry professionals and we have to do it right to be successful,” says Akam Falah Jamil, HR-Expatriate Services Section Head at Asiacell, explaining the need for a fundamental shift in the way they recruited people.

For Iraq’s largest mobile telecoms , the only company to provide network coverage in all 18 governorates, this change in attitude is a refreshing but bold approach to manage their existing challenges. Asiacell is now the first company in Iraq to have successfully implemented a state-of-the-art e-recruitment solution with the aim of hiring exceptional talent.

The e-recruitment solution they have implemented in partnership with Hiring Solutions is on par with the best solutions used by Fortune 500 companies. It also has the added benefit of features built specifically for the Middle East market, such as Arabic interface and Milestone Trackers for visas, medicals, etc. The intelligent solution automates the entire recruitment process from job requisition to on-boarding, among other things.

Akam says, “We wanted a solution that helped us recruit the best local and global talent while simultaneously improving the cost-per-hire and time-to-hire. We wanted to be proactive in our approach to recruitment, build our own private database that could be shared across multiple business units and we wanted the solution to be up and running in a matter of weeks.”

Hiring Solutions was chosen because it had a consistent track-record for delivering all of the above in the Middle East and Africa region. By mid-July, the solution was already up and running and recruiters as well as line managers were trained to use the solution effectively.

James Padkin, Director, Client Services at Hiring Solutions, says “A high-end software is just a small part of a successful e-recruitment solution. This is why, we have provided Asiacell with a solution that not only automates and streamlines its hiring processes but also provides smart sourcing strategies, builds a powerful employer brand, enhances the candidate experience and ensures that recruiters focus on quality candidates rather than waste their time on administrative tasks and reading thousands of CVs.”

About Asiacell

Asiacell, the first mobile telecommunications company in Iraq, was established in the city of Sulaimaniya in 1999 by the well-known entrepreneur Mr. Faruk Mustafa Rasool. It is today the only national Iraqi telecom network to provide coverage for all of the country’s provinces in the north and the south and is the largest private Iraqi company, serving over 7.8 million subscribers and connecting the Iraqi nation together.

About Hiring Solutions

- “Changing the way the Middle East recruits”

Hiring Solutions is the leading provider of enterprise e-recruitment solutions in the Middle East and Africa. Its world-class Sniperhire software platform is used by over 200 businesses in 42 countries to lower costs and reduce time while hiring exceptional talent.

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