Revitalizing the Nineveh Plains: Shlama Foundation solar energy project brings electricity and water to Alqosh and Telesqof

ALQOSH, TELESQOF, Nineveh Plains, Iraq – After entering into a solar co-op project with USAID, aid organization of north Iraq Shlama Foundation has finished its first solar project in the Syriac towns of Alqosh and Telesqof: “The lights are on in Tesqopa and the water is running in the farms in rural Alqosh!” it proudly states on the Shlama twitter page.

Thanks to the new solar systems Shlama was able to install with the help and funding of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), homes and farms in Alqosh and Telesqof are now assured of the continuous supply of electricity and water.

The lights are on in Tesqopa and the water is running in the farms in rural Alqosh! Check out some of the solar systems we have completed in homes and farms thanks to support from @USAIDMiddleEast pic.twitter.com/wnJTVgn7kL

— Shlama Foundation (@ShlamaF) March 26, 2021

In 2019, U.S. government sponsored USAID announced its New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) aid program. The NPI in Iraq intends to find a more diversified, innovative, and local base for humanitarian aid by strengthening capacity and commitment by partnering with local operating networks of community- and faith-based organizations. The biggest tranches to recipients under USAID’s NPI in Iraq are for International Organization for Migration and Samaritan’s Purse (together $18 million) to support the return and recovery of displaced religious and ethnic minority communities in the Nineveh Plains and Western Nineveh Province.

Smaller grants (totaling $4 million) under the NPI are for six local organizations in Northern Iraq to help religious and ethnic minorities recover from the genocide and atrocities perpetrated by ISIS terrorists and destruction brought about by ISIS: Philadelphia Organization for Relief and Development; the Catholic University of Erbil; Top Mountain; Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights; Beth Nahrain Organization for Woman; and Shlama Foundation.

The USAID grant for Shlama Foundation included the pilot project for training solar engineers to conduct assessments, design specifications, and install solar panels on 100 homes, solar water pumps on 30 farms and solar streetlights in community spaces.

Also Read: Beth Nahrain Organization for Women and USAID continue their partnership