WATER AND SANITATION
USAID's goal is to improve the efficiency and reliability of existing water and wastewater treatment facilities, especially those in the south where water quantity and quality are particularly low. An anticipated 11.8 million Iraqis will benefit from USAID's $600 million in water and sanitation projects.
Highlights this week
To ameliorate water shortages in Sadr City, Baghdad, a modern water treatment plant will be constructed to increase the quantity and quality of potable water to the area. Significant progress is being made by the Iraqi subcontractor on the facility's structural design. Workers have completed dewatering and have begun laying the foundation. The foundation grading, filling, and sub-base compaction for the facility's recycle pump station, sedimentation area, residual pump station, and intermediate pump are completed. Also the concrete has been poured for the foundations of the operations building and the residual solid pump station.
Sadr City is one of the most densely populated (2.5 million residents) and poorest districts of Baghdad, with high unemployment, high levels of violence and crime, and pot-holed streets frequently flooded with sewage. Due to a lack of preventative maintenance and damage from conflicts and post-conflict looting, local water treatment plants cannot meet potable water demand. Extensive Operations and Maintenance (O&M) training will be provided to the plant's O&M staff as a part of this project. The project is now 22% complete and will be completed in August of 2006.
Work continues on a project to repair the sewage collection system in Kadhamiya, a northern suburb of Baghdad with a population of 1.5 million. The district frequently endures flooding of raw sewage which remains as pools in streets and homes. These overflows occur because of inadequate or blocked sewer lines, and because inoperable pump stations cannot convey sewage from homes and mains to sewage treatment plants. The sewer lines require extensive repair or replacement. Public health risks from water-borne diseases (typhoid and cholera) are increased by pools of exposed raw sewage in neighborhoods.
The scope of this project is to clean, repair, replace, and expand the sewer lines and equipment of Kadhamiya's sewage collection system as necessary to improve its performance. Workers have recently completed walls for the new pump station and the foundation for the guard house. The Iraqi subcontractor is in the process of removing, refurbishing and reinstalling pumps and valves. Eleven pumps were sent out for rehabilitation and three pumps have been returned and have been installed. The refurbishing of pumps will continue into early August. Finally, 800 meters of sanitary sewer pipe have been installed. The repairs are expected to be completed in the fall of 2005.
Economic Growth
USAID supports sustainable economic reforms in Iraq including examining and reforming laws, regulations, and institutions and providing a framework for private sector trade, commerce, and investment. The reforms will strengthen the Central Bank and the Ministries of Finance, Trade, Commerce and Industry - among others.
Highlights this week
Thirty board members of Iraqi business associations and thirty mid-level government officials attended a series of workshops in Baghdad to learn about the challenges of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership and its impact on their organizations. The workshops were sponsored by USAID's Private Sector Development program.
Iraq is applying for membership in the WTO, along with Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Iraq's Inter-ministerial Committee on the WTO is reviewing a document that, if approved, will be submitted to the WTO to begin the accession process.
Highlights of the training included a briefing about the WTO, the membership process, the changes that need to occur in businesses and government ministries in order to become a WTO member, and the potential impacts of gaining access to new world markets for specialized Iraqi goods and services.
The businessmen also shared their perceptions about the impacts of WTO membership, identified obstacles from the private sector, and offered their ideas about the most effective ways to gain support from the business community for Iraq's efforts to join the WTO. Government officials learned what the WTO process will mean for them as well as how their Ministries can support the country's efforts to join the global trade community.
Agriculture
USAID's goals are to work in conjunction with Iraqi ministries, the private sector, and higher education institutions to revitalize agricultural production, stimulate income and employment generation, nurture rural initiatives, and rehabilitate the natural resource base.
Highlights this week
Two irrigation canal cleaning projects are underway in Ninawa' and Diyala' governorates to improve farmers' access to water and increase agricultural production. The projects are funded by USAID's Agricultural Research and Development for Iraq (ARDI) program.
The 24-km long irrigation canal in Diyala' serves nine villages that cultivate rice, sun flower, cotton, sesame and vegetable crops. The 14.5 km-long irrigation canal in Ninawa' serves five villages that cultivate peach orchards and vegetable crops. In Diyala', 70 Iraqi farmers will be hired for the 60-day project. In Ninawa', 95 farmers will complete the cleaning in 30 days.
ARDI, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), is conducting a survey of poultry farms near Baghdad to collect information about the poultry industry, including the economic performance of poultry farms. The results will allow ARDI and the MOA to better understand the poultry industry and the problems poultry farmers face.
Enumerators from the MOA are visiting poultry farms in Baghdad selected by the MOA Statistics Unit. At each farm, enumerators interview the farmer and complete a survey questionnaire. Completed questionnaires are returned to ARDI statisticians and economists who will compile and analyze the data and submit the results to the MOA.
USAID and the MOA recently conducted a series of technical demonstrations for tomato farmers in Karbala, Najaf and Basrah governorates. The demonstrations familiarize farmers with new technologies for tomato production in order to boost the yield and quality of tomato crops. Among the new technologies introduced by the program were the application of soil and foliar fertilizers, improved methods to control tomato disease and pests, and transplant production of two new hybrid varieties of tomato, Hatoof and Duna, which are resistant to Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus.
To increase farmer income and reduce public health risks, USAID has recently approved a grant that will fund a training program to improve livestock breeding techniques in Iraqi villages. Livestock production is an essential source of food and income to many Iraqis, but traditional methods of breeding have contributed to the spread of diseases such as brucellosis, mange and Echinococcus. The program will provide training to 4,800 women in 240 villages to improve breeding techniques and educate the rural population about preventing the spread of diseases from animals.
To help create a local market for beekeeping equipment, the MOA and ARDI will provide training to local carpenters in manufacturing high quality beehives. Thirteen carpenters from Arbil, Dahuk, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk and Ninawa will participate in a workshop on manufacturing beehives that meet international standards. Following this first training, MOA/ARDI will expand the program nationwide. As a result, carpenters will be able to provide modern equipment to beekeepers at affordable prices. This will increase the efficiency of honey production and increase employment available to carpenters. Beekeeping and honey production is a key industry in Iraq. An apiary can be established and maintained at a relatively low cost and the honey produced provides a source of food and income.
National Governance
In the post-election period, USAID will continue to plan and implement a variety of programs, undertaken in full partnership with Iraqi counterparts, matching the needs of the evolving Iraqi democracy. In particular, USAID is accelerating support to the Iraq National Assembly and the Constitutional Drafting Commission.
Highlights this week
USAID organized trainings for 164 facilitators who will conduct hundreds of Constitutional Dialogue sessions throughout the country in the coming weeks. These facilitators are all members of 150 NGOs participating in USAID's Constitutional Dialogue Program designed to facilitate constituent involvement in the constitutional process through civic education and public input. Between June 20 and 24, trainings were conducted in Erbil, Dohuk, and Baghdad for facilitators from 75 NGOs based in Babil, Baghdad, Diwaniyah, Dohuk, Hilla, Karbala, Kirkuk, al-Najaf, Ninewa, and al-Wasit.
In anticipation of these trainings, USAID's partner prepared a training kit for use in the first phase of the constitutional dialogues. Materials included documents on facilitator roles and responsibilities, the plan and purpose of constitutional dialogues, samples of the Iraqi and foreign constitutions, and materials on how to do report writing for the constitutional feedback database. Facilitators were divided into small groups and given practical advice on how to conduct constructive and open constitutional dialogues.
The Human Resources Advisor from USAID's partner providing support to the Iraqi National Assembly (INA) worked with INA staff members on the drafting of job descriptions for each of the INA directors and senior managers. A background paper was written to explain each portion of the proposed structure and will be added to documents containing the structure and the job descriptions. All documents will be translated into Arabic. The English version of all job descriptions and the background paper were given to the Chief of Staff to the Speaker of the Assembly. Comments and reactions received from Assembly senior staff related to the draft human resources manual will be considered for inclusion into the final version.
The Director of Civil Society programs working for USAID's partner providing support to the Constitutional Development process recently met with the Iraqi Minister of Civil Society to discuss the cooperation between USAID and his ministry on working together on the coordination of civil society input into the constitution and on conducting joint workshops and sessions on civic dialogue and the capacity building of NGOs. The Minister agreed to consider ways in which the Ministry could benefit from expertise by assisting with the training of Ministry staff in order to help the NGOs in further developing their capacity.
Community Action Program
The Community Action Program works in rural and urban communities to promote democracy and prevent and mitigate conflict. Working directly through partner NGOs and in consultation with local government representatives, USAID is creating representative participatory community groups to identify critical priorities and implement programs to address those needs.
Highlights this week
USAID's partner implementing the Community Action Program (CAP) in Qadisiyah, Wasit and Maysan Governorates is working with people with disabilities and the institutions that support them. CAP is currently constructing wheelchair access ramps in 37 local institutions in the city of Diwaniyah (Qadisiyah Governorate) and has nearly finished 23 access ramps in Al Amarah (Maysan Governorate).
In cooperation with the persons with disabilities association in Amarah, CAP will also provide 984 wheelchairs to disabled persons in Maysan Governorate. The distribution covers most of the districts in the governorate. Representatives from the disabled person's community in Amarah are also holding public awareness sessions. They have conducted 17 public lectures and 21 school visits.
The Technical Institute in Diwaniyah organized a ramp design contest among its students to raise awareness for the need for architects to incorporate access ramps into building designs. This project is part of CAP's commitment to integrate disabled persons into the community through awareness campaigns and other conveniences such as ramps.
CAP is rehabilitating and expanding an intermediate school in one of the more highly populated urban districts in a Wasit governorate city. The project includes the rehabilitation of the existing school and the construction of three laboratories; the community will provide laboratory equipment. After the construction is completed, the students will hold a science fair for the community. In addition to construction work, project activities will include establishing a new garden for the school and improving the landscape in the surrounding neighborhood. One student from each class will work with the landscaper. The complete project will create three long-term jobs and has been contracted for $100,000.
Displaced people from a town west of Kirkuk are returning to rebuild their village and restart their lives. The town, which used to be a multi ethnic sub-district, was systematically emptied by the Iraqi army under the former regime. The quick return of many families at the same time is causing difficulties, particularly at the community's primary school where there has not been enough room to receive so many children at once. CAP helped the community construct two additional classrooms in the existing school. The villagers prepared the site, fixed the desks, and supported the employment of two laborers and a guard.
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