It’s late afternoon in a camp for displaced Iraqis, near Dohuk in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Bright sunlight reflects off every surface — the even rows of beige tents, the steady flow of white 4x4s, the sliver of a lake in the distance. Squinting children with bulging backpacks walk home from school while older men sitting in the shade play dominoes.

A group of young women, compact cameras in hand, walk past the domino players. Suddenly, one of the young women sees the scene and stops.

Bushra, 16, strides confidently toward the game and asks to take a portrait of one of the players — a dignified Yazidi man whose blue-grey eyes are framed by elegant black eyeglasses. He obliges and Bushra crouches down next to him and starts taking photos.

Bushra and other young women are enthusiastic participants in a UNICEF-supported photography workshop. With funding from the Government of Italy, and facilitation by partners RDO, the aim of the workshop is to empower young Yazidi women through photography.

“Bushra is an entirely different person,” says Nuha Serrac, coordinator for the workshop. “At first, if we asked her a question, her face would go red as a tomato. She wouldn’t even lift her head to give a response. Now look at her. She’s walking up to people on her own and taking their picture!”