QANDIL is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, non-political, and non-religious Swedish humanitarian aid organization that was founded in 1991 in Stockholm, Sweden. Initially focusing on raising awareness on the rights of the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, QANDIL’s operations gradually extended to providing humanitarian aid in other parts of the country as well. QANDIL has traditionally been funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). However, various UN agencies have recently become QANDIL’s most important funders as well. Through its wide range of humanitarian activities and joint projects in the three governorates of Duhok, Erbil, and Suleimaniya over the last few years, QANDIL has now grown to become one of the biggest implementing partners of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. QANDIL has also received funding from UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, and many other smaller donors and the private sector. With its head office in Stockholm, where the 7-member Board of Directors resides and meets, QANDIL currently has offices in Duhok, Erbil, and Suleimaniya, and employs more than 250 full-time staff. QANDIL’s operations in Iraq are led by a team of professional staff in the Country Management Office (CMO) based Erbil.
