Investing in Livelihoods

After surviving genocide and persecution, the Christians and Yezidis of Iraq have begun returning to their towns and areas where they once ran businesses. Yet today, they face a new and growing threat. Iranian-backed militias have gained significant control over much of the Nineveh Plains, creating a volatile and often hostile environment for minority communities. These militias not only undermine local governance but also engage in land seizures, intimidation, and political exclusion — leaving Christians marginalized in their own ancestral homeland.

Compounding the security risks are severe economic challenges. Most returning families find their homes and businesses destroyed, with few opportunities for employment or meaningful economic recovery. Without job creation and substantial revitalization efforts, the cycle of poverty, migration, and instability will persist — threatening the future of these historic communities.

Sustainable peace requires more than just security; it demands the restoration of livelihoods and the creation of a healthy business environment where families can rebuild and thrive.

Shai Fund’s project restores and restarts businesses as a means of transforming the economic situation in devastated towns and villages, while combatting poverty. This project gives returning minorities, who often are excluded from chances for long term peace through economic development, the opportunity to work and earn a living, which is one of the most effective ways for them to rebuild their lives with dignity and purpose. It assists religious minorities resettling in their liberated cities by funding small and medium sized businesses through specific grants in order to strengthen these beleaguered communities, to promote economic self-reliance and sustainability, and to rebuild their future in order to thrive in their homeland.

The devastation caused by ISIS in 2014 has left the Nineveh plains scarred by violence, genocide, and displacement. The deep trauma and desperation of this, displaced thousands of Christian families, to neighboring countries. Many businesses were lost and destroyed in the terror attacks, making it incredibly difficult to return to the land a rebuild their lives. Along with this, the lack of resources and economic opportunity in the region has impeded the restoration of communities, it has become a struggle to meet basic needs, making it impossible to invest in restore jobs.

Shai Fund is able to give people hope and the practical ability to rebuild their lives by reaching these communities with jobs and revitalization of the economy. This project uses businesses to help fight poverty, and in turn makes the returning minorities self-sustaining. It combats further displacement and emigration from Iraq as it anchors them back in their towns. Importantly, it combats attempts to exchange populations via colonization linked to population displacement, continued harassment, and forced sale of their lands and businesses due to the inability to survive the significant hurdles they are facing, following the genocide.