About

I work in peacebuilding in Iraq. I joined the Iraqi Al-Amal Association in 2016 as a youth peacebuilding coordinator, running dialogue between young people from different ethnic and religious communities, and I have stayed. Today I manage projects and develop new ones across the association’s donor-funded portfolios in peacebuilding, human rights, transitional justice and civil society strengthening. Much of that work is quieter than the word peacebuilding suggests: teams, partners, plans, and rooms where people who distrust each other try to talk instead.

I also train and facilitate. That means workshops on conflict analysis, dialogue and project development for activists and local organizations across Iraq, and consultancy assignments for international organizations.

I hold an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Innsbruck (2024), in the program formally called Peace, Development, Security, and International Conflict Transformation. My thesis, Doing (No) Harm? Inequalities in The Non-Governmental Organizations Sector in Iraq, looks at the gap between international and local organizations in Iraq’s NGO sector and what more equal partnerships would take. My official name is Muntadher Hassan Al-Khaqani.

I am from Najaf and live in Baghdad. Before any of this had a job title, there were years of volunteering in Najaf with people my age, trying to get neighbors from different communities into the same room.

I write essays about what conflict actually costs and what it can quietly build, and I am writing a book, Beyond the Fear of Conflict.