OVERVIEW
In 2003, USAID framed its assistance
program for Iraq around the minimum conditions the country must attain
if it were to have a stable government and economy. With a portfolio valued
at $5.2 billion, USAID supports the transition of Iraq to a stable, democratic,
and prosperous state.
DEFEAT THE INSURGENCY
USAID works with U.S. and multinational units to help cities recover from the effects of battle and to gain a sense of balance after the insurgency has departed. Projects are funded with combinations of military and USAID money. Projects are aimed at a combination of small, rapid programs that are followed by more complex projects that return public services to operation, promote representative local government, and reactivate the economy. Military patrols do much of the project monitoring.
TRANSFORM THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT
USAID-managed programs enable the democratic transformation in Iraq. USAID worked with the United Nations, the World Bank, and the European Community in 2004 to gain a successful January 30, 2005 election and again for the October 15, 2005 constitutional referendum. The same approaches are being used to achieve the best possible national election on December 15, 2005. USAID programs have provided expert assistance, drawing from the international community and Iraqi civil society to assist the Iraqi Constitutional Drafting Committee. USAID continues to support decentralization, empowering provincial and city authorities to provide essential services so that Iraq will be less likely to return to authoritarian national government. In the field, assistance teams work with the Provincial Reconstruction and Development Councils to help them shoulder the burden of decentralized power.
CREATE A MARKET ECONOMY
Assistance to the Iraqi Central Bank helped stabilize the dinar, prevented hyperinflation, and enabled Iraqis to qualify for International Monetary Fund (IMF) resources and debt reduction. At the Ministry of Finance, a financial management information system is beginning to track the Iraqi government's budget and expenses. USAID supports agriculture, which employs 25 percent of the Iraqi work-force, and seek to better target the social safety net, the Public Distribution System, to reach those who cannot purchase enough food. Infrastructure repairs plugged the first gaps in power and water delivery. By the end of 2005, USAID projects will have added 1,400 of new or rehabilitated generation capacity to the national grid. Further generation increases are planned by contractors under the Department of the Army. USAID partners provide operation and maintenance programs that will safeguard the investment of U.S. assistance.
PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE
A demographic bulge threatens Iraq's future. In 2004, half of all Iraqis were under the age of 20 years; the population will double by 2030. Despite vast oil reservoirs, Iraq currently has some of the lowest literacy rates and poorest health statistics in the region. USAID's education and health projects smoothed the way for the United Nations (UN) to work with schoolchildren and administer vaccinations against polio. The World Bank expanded a USAID pilot program for textbooks -- our 8 million books leveraged their program of 70 million books. Poor girls bear the greatest burden of discrimination, reinforcing the need for equal education and adequate health programs for young mothers.
TEN STRATEGIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Ensuring Economic Stability. USAID programs assist Iraq's Ministry of Finance, COSIT, and Central Bank in meeting IMF requirements. These efforts are expected to return $480 million in the IMF Standby Agreement in December 2005 as well as debt forgiveness of $27 billion from the Paris Club in March 2006. Working with the Ministry of Finance, USAID introduced the new dinar to promote national unity and allow a functioning monetary policy. Currently, 4.62 trillion new Iraqi dinars are circulating.
Connecting Iraq to the Global Economy. The private sector is the engine for sustainable job creation and economic growth. To help guide policy reform, USAID's Investor Roadmap analyzes constraints to investment. The Investment Promotion Agency, recently established with USAID assistance, will serve as a resource to international investors. USAID worked with the MoF to develop a Competitiveness Study, helping integrate efforts to create a robust private sector that fosters job creation.
Assisting Local Government and Community Development. Democracy must prove itself through service delivery and local solutions to local problems. With USAID assistance, representative provincial and municipal governments are more capable of delivering essential services to their constituents. Countrywide, USAID has supported 670 community action groups focused on civic education, women's advocacy, and anti-corruption projects. Working through local NGOs, USAID has supported over 8,000 quick impact projects in throughout Iraq, providing short-term employment and restoring basic services.
Expanding Political Inclusion. USAID assistance has helped prepare Iraq for two national elections, numerous provincial council elections, and the Constitutional Referendum of October 15. In preparation for the January 2005 election, USAID helped the IECI set up the voter registration system, and worked with the UN on balloting procedure. USAID-supported NGOs distributed election materials, televised debates, and led over 22,000 town meetings to educate voters. USAID and a local NGO trained over 8,000 election monitors. Current efforts are preparing 15,000 monitors for the December 15th elections.
Supporting the New Constitution. The January 2005 election put into place a National Assembly to frame a constitution emphasizing democracy and the rule of law. USAID partners provided constitutional specialists to the Drafting Committee while input from over 111,000 national surveys kept the Committee in touch with national sentiment. The Iraqi Women's National Coalition, supported by USAID, developed a 10 point statement adopted in the constitution. USAID-supported NGOs televised debates and distributed information. Nearly 9,500 monitors, trained by USAID, helped ensure a successful referendum.
Transforming Primary Education. USAID assistance has helped Iraq move away from rote learning in decrepit, unsanitary classrooms to interactive learning in rehabilitated buildings. Since 2003, USAID has rehabilitated nearly 3,000 schools. Over 20 million new textbooks have been supplied by USAID (8.6 million) and UNESCO (12 million). By 2006, more than 133,000 primary school teachers -- a third of Iraq's educators in all -- will have received training and technical assistance. Already, the most recent primary school enrollment numbers show a 19 percent increase from pre-war levels.
Improving Primary Health Care. USAID is helping strengthen essential primary health care services throughout Iraq. In 2005 alone, USAID-supported emergency campaigns immunized 98% of children between 1-5 years old (3.62 million) against measles, mumps, and rubella, and 97% of children under five (4.56 million) against polio. In all, USAID partners have trained more than 2,500 primary health care workers to expand access to essential primary health care services.
Expanding Access to Electricity. In 2002, Baghdad had access to electricity 24 hours a day; the rest of Iraq was limited to 3-6 hours. Currently, all 18 governorates receive nearly 14 hours of electricity daily, an incredible improvement for a country emerging from decades of conflict and neglect. USAID efforts have added 1,400 MW of generation capacity to the national grid, expanding access to 4.2 million Iraqis.
Providing Potable Water. Over 4 million Iraqis who had no clean drinking water in 2002 now have safe, potable water piped to their homes following USAID efforts to refurbish and expand 19 water treatment plants in five cities. USAID is also providing plant-level operations and maintenance (O&M) training at major water and wastewater plants nationwide to ensure that these plants remain functioning.
Restoring Sewage Systems. Before 2003 Iraq suffered from inadequate sewage systems; backed-up sewage created pooled in neighborhoods or emptied directly into nearby rivers. Now, USAID's rehabilitated sewage treatment plants throughout Iraq process a total of 339.7 million gallons daily. These plants alone provide 4.4 million urban Iraqis current access to functioning waterborne sewage treatment, greatly improving sanitation and helping decrease waterborne disease.
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