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Iraq

Iraq Update Jun 2005 Issue No. 8

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DFID's reconstruction news

Iraqi Transitional Government

Progress is being made on the transformation of political life in Iraq despite continuing high levels of violence. The first democratically elected Iraqi government in 50 years has now taken office. After lengthy negotiations between National Assembly members, the new Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari and most of his Cabinet were officially sworn in on 3 May. The government is representative of the main religious and ethnic groups in Iraq and includes amongst its ministers 17 Shia, 8 Kurds, 6 Sunnis and a Christian. Six of the Ministers are women.

The first priorities of the Transitional Government will be to tackle vital issues such as security, reconstruction, economic reform and corruption. DFID is providing technical advice to the Prime Minister's Office and the Council of Ministers' Secretariat on managing the organs of central government, and advising the Finance Ministry on effective "pro-poor" economic reform measures.

The Transitional Government will remain in office until elections take place in 2006 under a new constitution. The National Assembly has set up a committee to take responsibility for drafting the new constitution. The United Nations will advise and assist in the negotiations. DFID's £6.25m Political Participation Fund, which helped to prepare Iraqi citizens for last January's elections, will continue to support projects to give poor and marginalised people a voice during this critical period.

Building businesses in the south

In the late 1970s, Basra was a thriving economic gateway to the rest of the Middle East. But the city, along with much of the rest of southern Iraq, was badly damaged during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88). Economic progress was further hindered by centrally controlled political and economic structures and discrimination against the south by Saddam Hussein's regime.

One of the keys to reducing the current high levels of poverty in the southern governorates and promoting local business initiatives is to remove institutional barriers to private sector growth. Some of the particular problems facing entrepreneurs are:

- Inadequate legislative and tax support to promote economic development.

- A lack of business awareness and management skills after years of isolation from the international business community.

- A lack of business information and services to support and advise new initiatives.

Part of DFID's £20.5m "Governorates Capacity Building Programme" focuses on tackling these barriers to economic growth. Private sector advisers are working with governorate administrations, business organisations and individual entrepreneurs to promote the economic environment, and the business skills, that are needed to transform the regional economy.

Potential entrepreneurs identify good business principles during a DFID-funded workshop in Basra

DFID-funded private sector development projects include:

Basra Business Centre

The Basra Business Centre has been set up to provide information and training materials for new and growing businesses in southern Iraq. The Centre also aims to improve the flow of communication between the business community and government, in order to stimulate pro-enterprise lobbying of government and promote much needed regulatory reforms. So far, over 150 business information factsheets have been produced, focusing on topics such as marketing, financial management, legal issues, and information technology. The Basra Business Journal, a monthly bi-lingual Arabic/English magazine focusing on local business activities, will be launched in June.

Enterprise workshops "Introduction to Enterprise" workshops have so far been delivered to 2,000 young adults in Basra and Maysan Governorates. Drawn mostly from Basra University and local schools, the participants are given the opportunity to test their ideas and skills, and build up their networks of business contacts. Follow-up workshops focusing on team-building, problem solving and trade promotion are now running, with 100 young people trained so far and many more signed up for the coming months.

Women in Enterprise

This initiative offers tailored support for women seeking to establish small businesses. It has so far delivered enterprise skills sessions to more than 285 women in Basra, Az Zubayr and Umm Qasr. Women in Enterprise (WIE) has also developed partnerships with the Iraqi Business Women's Association, the Basra College of Engineering, the Basra Widows Committee and the Az Zubayr Technical Institute. With these organisations, WIE will run weekly workshops and business mentoring sessions. WIE is also developing a package of support to help women move on from developing a business idea to establishing a fully registered and trading business activity.

UN work in Iraq through IRFFI

The International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI) is one mechanism through which the UN is working in Iraq. IRFFI was launched by the UN and the World Bank early in 2004 to provide a means for donor nations to channel their support for reconstruction in Iraq. So far, 23 donors have paid $631 million (including £30 million from DFID) into the UN Trust Fund under IRFFI.

The UN now has 53 IRFFI projects, worth $516 million, supporting education, health, water and sanitation, power supply, agriculture, refugees, marshland regeneration and the elections. Most of the projects are making progress despite the difficult security situation in Iraq - mainly implemented by Iraqi people themselves. The UN agencies operate mainly from offices in Amman following the attack on their Baghdad Headquarters in August 2003. However, the UN's Iraqi staff stayed in their country, many continuing to work on projects. Since the middle of last year there has been a growing return of UN international (non-Iraqi) staff to Baghdad. As well working through IRFFI, a number of UN agencies such as UNICEF and the UN Development Programme have projects in Iraq financed from their own resources or specific grants from donors.

Examples of UN work in Iraq:

16 UN organisations are implementing IRFFI projects in Iraq. UNICEF has rehabilitated 84 schools and provided basic education kits for 6.2 million students. It also provides drinking water by tanker to vulnerable communities in Baghdad and Fallujah. UNHCR is assisting internally displaced persons and refugees in both the north and south of Iraq. WHO is improving primary health care facilities throughout Iraq. UNDP is improving power supplies and access to Umm Qasr port.

Elections support

The UN played a key role in supporting the 30 January elections. It helped to establish the Electoral Commission and provided more than 30 experts to advise on managing the polls. This support will continue until further elections are held under the new constitution. The UN also provided key logistical support such as flying essential election material into Iraq and organising its distribution to warehouses in preparation for polling day. A total of 90,000 ballot boxes, 36,000 polling station kits, 7,000 polling centre kits, and 500 tons of ballot papers were flown into Iraq over a 2-week period.

More information on UN and World Bank work under IRFFI can be found at www.irffi.org

Survey on Iraqi living conditions

The Iraqi Minister of Planning and Development Cooperation presented a new survey of living conditions in Iraq at a press conference in Baghdad on 12 May. The survey was carried out by a team from the Central Organisation for Statistics and Information Technology in Baghdad (COSIT), aided by researchers from the Norwegian NGO Fafo-AIS, and funded through UNDP.

The survey was carried out on a representative sampling of 22,000 households in 2004 and is the first in recent years to cover all 18 governorates of Iraq. The survey and analysis provides valuable insight into the quality of life of the Iraqi people, which deteriorated significantly over the last 25 years. The UN's Deputy Special Representative in Iraq, Stefan de Mistura, speaking at the launch of the survey, highlighted how the survey could serve as an important tool for informing the decisions of Iraqi policy makers and development agencies.

The three volumes of the report - a Tabulation Report, an Analytical Report and a SocioEconomic Atlas - are available in Arabic and English at http://www.iq.undp.org/ilcs.htm.

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