Last week, our executive director Erik sat down with Ahmed Ali to discuss the challenges facing Iraq’s education system, and the value of programs like PHOTOVOICE IRAQ: Picturing Change.  Ahmed is not only an Iraq analyst and scholar whose work has been published in Foreign Policy Magazine and the Arab Reform Bulletin and whose commentary is featured on international news, he also has the rare distinction of being a former EPIC staff member!  We’d like to share the conversation with you.

For ease of viewing, here’s an outline of the conversation:

1. (:46) Iraqi School System

2. (2:36) Pedagogy in Iraq

3. (3:48) Value of Photovoice

4. (5:31) Youth Development

5. (6:47) Participatory Research

6. (8:20) EPIC’s Long-Term Goals

For more from Ahmed Ali, follow him on Twitter @IraqShamel or check out his blog.