Newsletter - Issue 19 (Special Edition) December 2011 - January 2012

UNAMI Newsletter United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq

IN THIS ISSUE

The U.N. supports dialogue among Iraqi leaders to move the political process forward ............... 1

SRSG Kobler warns against underestimating task ahead ...................................................................... 2

UNAMI advises Parliament in the selection of Electoral Commissioners ........................................... 2

A Human Rights Action Plan for the Kurdistan Region .............................................................................. 4

UNIDO partners with Iraqi entrepreneurs and banks to boost enterprise development ........... 5

The story of an Iraqi blacksmith ............................. 6

A milestone in assessing health care financing in Iraq ............................................................................... 7

UNDP Iraq increases understanding of gender among Iraqi partners .................................................. 8

The UN Global Network for Iraq: For a bigger role of the private sector in development ......... 9

WHO improves patient safety in Iraq ................ 10

Water in Iraq: Addressing the triple challenge ...11

Second phase of Area Based Development Programme endorsed .................................................. 13

Building trust between police and civil society ......................................................................13

Iraq Knowledge Network Survey .................. 15

News Briefs ............................................................ 16

List of the United Nations Acronyms ........... 18

The U.N. supports dialogue among Iraqi leaders to move the political process forward

As Iraq makes further progress in regaining its

rightful place in the community of nations, it is even more crucial that its leaders from all sides work collectively to overcome their differences and promote confidence and tolerance.Mr. Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq

“Iraq this year begins a promising new chapter in its history,” said United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon in a statement addressed to the Government and the people of Iraq on 3 January 2012, in light of the withdrawal of the United States military forces from the country by the end of December 2011.

“This is an opportunity for Iraq to further strengthen its democratically elected institutions and to promote peace and stability for the benefit of the Iraqi people,” he added.

The Secretary-General also expressed his concern about recent political tensions, as well as his strong support to the voices calling for political dialogue to address outstanding issues in a way that “respects the constitution and its provisions for the separation of powers, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.”

The Secretary-General’s message was conveyed by his Special Representative (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Martin Kobler, to all the Iraqi leaders he met during the months of December 2011 and January 2012, in an effort to assist in their endeavours to build a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Iraq.

To all Iraqi interlocutors, SRSG Kobler expressed concern about the current political stalemate in the country. He urged Iraqi political parties and leaders to work together towards finding a common ground to resolve their differences on the basis of the Constitution through meaningful dialogue and compromise.

Mr. Kobler assured all his interlocutors of the readiness of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq to support Iraqi leaders’ efforts to promote confidence and trust among the parties at this important juncture in the history of Iraq.

Iraq’s President, Mr. Jalal Talabani, with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, Mr. Martin Kobler. Photo: Office of President Jalal Talabani

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SRSG Kobler warns against underestimating task ahead

Special Representative of the Secretary-General Martin Kobler briefing the UN Security Council on 6 December 2011. Photo: UN

“As Iraq makes further progress in regaining its rightful place in the community of nations,

it is even more crucial that its leaders from all sides work collectively to overcome their differences and promote confidence and tolerance,” said Mr. Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq (SRSG), as he presented the Secretary-General’s report on the activities of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

“The task ahead should not be underestimated and will require further progress on the security front,” said Mr. Kobler, while noting that the withdrawal of United States forces in Iraq would provide all Iraqis the opportunity to prove to themselves that they could build a peaceful and better future.

Mr. Kobler’s briefing was the first since he took up his duties as Head of UNAMI in October 2011. In the two months since assuming his duties in Iraq, he had travelled throughout the country

and the region and had witnessed a great number of changes and improvements, he told the UN Security Council.

“Despite many obstacles ahead, there is a significant degree of good will and determination to achieve further progress,” Mr. Kobler said. “Yet, I also came to realize that some of the pressing challenges of yesterday remain the same of today.”

In his speech, he highlighted the significance of the withdrawal of US Forces in Iraq for the Iraqi people and for the United Nations, the current political situation, and UNAMI activities on the ground in the fields of electoral support, human rights and development. He also emphasized the possible impact on Iraq of unfolding events in the Middle East region, including the situation between Iraq and Kuwait.

Mr. Kobler also briefed the UN body on the issue of Camp Ashraf, which has “monopolized much of UNAMI and UNHCR’s attention and efforts over the past number of months.” He appealed to the Iraqi Government to extend the 31 December deadline to permit adequate time and space for a peaceful and durable solution to be found for the situation of Camp Ashraf.

UNAMI advises Parliament in the selection of Electoral Commissioners

As part of its efforts to help Iraqis build a society that is thoroughly grounded in democratic

institutions, one of UNAMI’s priority tasks is the development of a professional, independent and sustainable electoral institution that conducts elections in a professional and transparent manner. Although it represents a challenge, the

achievement of this objective is in the interest not only of Iraq’s political parties, but also of the Iraqi people as a whole.

The current Board of Commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), which oversaw the elections in 2009 and 2010, ends its mandate in April 2012. In line with

Article 102 of the Iraqi Constitution and Law 11/2007, one key aspect of the selection of the new Board of Commissioners is that it is based on an open, fair and competitive process. UNAMI is currently advising the Committee of Experts of the Council of Representatives that is leading the selection process, and Mr. Jose Maria Aranaz, UNAMI Chief Electoral Adviser,

Electoral Support

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Electoral Support

has stressed to the committee that “a transparent process based on professional qualifications will be central to the credibility of any upcoming electoral process in Iraq.”

In the first stage of the selection process, the experts on the committee reviewed more than 7,000 applications for the IHEC Commissioners’ posts. They screened each application based on strict criteria established under the law governing IHEC. As part of its commitment to transparency, and at the urging of UNAMI, the Committee published the selection criteria and opened the process to NGO observation. Eighteen NGOs have been invited to observe the process.

From this initial batch of applications, a total of over 4,400 prospective candidates were deemed to have met the principal qualifications according to the Committee of Experts. Their applications were judged to have met the educational and professional requirements for IHEC Commissioners. Electoral specialists working for UNAMI regularly offered the Committee of Experts key advice throughout the two-stage process and encouraged the Committee to move forward expeditiously to meet the April deadline and avoid delays in the

electoral calendar ahead, with elections in Kurdistan in September and provincial elections Iraq-wide in January 2013.

Every week the Committee of Experts highlighted its activities on the Council of Representatives’ website to build and strengthen confidence. UNAMI, in turn, advised the Council of Representatives to reinforce its commitment to transparency by setting up a Complaints Mechanism for

applicants who wish to contest their disqualification based upon the selection criteria.

In addition to the efforts to support the establishment of a new Board of Commissioners, the UN agencies UNDP and UNOPS, under UNAMI leadership, continued to assist IHEC in the area of capacity building. They identified the organizational strengths and weaknesses of the Commission with the aim of establishing a professional and sustainable electoral institution ready to conduct future elections. UNAMI also continues to provide information technology assistance to IHEC by organizing training workshops in software technology and database management for the Commission’s staff.

These initiatives have helped to make IHEC more self-sufficient and to ensure that the Kurdistan Region will be ready to hold Provincial Council elections. Voters in three governorates will cast their ballots on 27 September 2012.

UNAMI, together with IHEC, aspires to continually strengthen Iraq’s electoral institutions so that the Iraqi people can participate in credible, free and fair elections, a cornerstone of democracy.

Iraqi Committee of Experts reviews applications for the new IHEC Board of Commissioners. UNAMI Chief Electoral Adviser Jose Maria Aranaz is assisting the Committee’s deliberations. Photo: UNAMI

Committee of Experts Chairman Ali Al Alaq briefs the press on the Committee’s progress in the selection of new IHEC Board of Commissioners. Photo: UNAMI

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Human Rights

A Human Rights Action Plan for the Kurdistan Region

In the presence of high-level government officials, civil society, the diplomatic community and media

representatives, the Kurdistan Regional Government launched the Human Rights Action Plan for the Kurdistan Region in Erbil on 10 January 2012. The document embodies the Government’s commitment to implement key reforms in 2012-2014, aiming at the protection and promotion of the rights of all people living in the Kurdistan region.

The event marked the end of extensive and inclusive consultations held between July and December 2011 between the Government, experts, and civil society representatives on key thematic areas such as the rule of law, detention and penalties, women’s rights, children’s rights, freedom of expression

and freedom of the press, as well as vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities and internally displaced persons.

Tailored to the specificities of the region, the Regional Human Rights Action Plan outlines concrete steps to be implemented. These steps will address current gaps at the legal, policy or institutional levels, based on the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review of Iraq by the UN Human Rights Council in 2010.

“No country is perfect and there are still problems facing the region,” said the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Martin Kobler, who addressed the audience during the event. “But if the spirit of cooperation in the Regional Action Plan

process continues, these issues can be tackled,” he added. His statement acknowledged noticeable improvements in the human rights situation in the Kurdistan region and the importance of fostering dialogue to address existing challenges, especially among the youth and civil society.

The Head of Department of Foreign Relations, Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, expressed his gratitude to the Head of the UNAMI Human Rights Office, Mr. Francesco Motta, who also serves as the Representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to his staff for the technical and logistic support they provided throughout the drafting process.

With the formal announcement of the Human Rights Action Plan for the Kurdistan Region, the focus now shifts to its implementation, so that words are swiftly translated into actions. The public’s expectations are high. Governmental and non-governmental bodies have already expressed their intention to be part of a monitoring committee that will oversee progress in the implementation of the Action Plan and will hold the authorities accountable in meeting their human rights obligations.

The UNAMI Human Rights Office is committed to continuing to provide advisory and technical support throughout the process and to advocate for the allocation of adequate resources to the implementation of the Action Plan.

Head of Department of Foreign Relations Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir during the launch. Photo: Salar BRIFKANI/UNAMI PIO

Consultations held between July and December 2011 be-tween the Government, experts, and civil society representa-tives. Photo: Salar BRIFKANI/UNAMI PIO

Working groups during the preparations for the Human Rights Action Plan for the Kurdistan Region. Photo: Salar BRIFKANI/UNAMI PIO

UNAMI Human Rights team during the launching event. Photo: Salar BRIFKANI/UNAMI PIO

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UNIDO partners with Iraqi entrepreneurs and banks to boost enterprise developmentBy Ygor Scarcia and Gurel Gurkan, UNIDO

The Iraqi economy has been booming for the last few years. However, the oil sector and state-

owned enterprises (SOEs) still dominate the economy, and the Iraqi Government, with support from international organizations, has been endeavouring to revitalize the private sector to diversify the economy with a focus on employment generation. Given this priority, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which act as a leading driver of employment generation and economic development in many developed and developing countries, receive particular attention from UNIDO. Their development would enhance the generation of income opportunities and contribute to poverty reduction efforts.

UNIDO has therefore been working in Baghdad, Thi-Qar and Erbil since 2007 to support the Iraqi Government and entrepreneurs with the aim of facilitating the creation and development of Iraqi enterprises. Through UNIDO’s support, Enterprise Development Centers (EDCs) were created within Iraqi public institutions in the aforementioned governorates on a cost-sharing basis.

Twelve senior managers and executives of Iraqi banks and lending organizations participated in a UNIDO-organized training on SME lending best practices in Beirut, Lebanon in December 2011. Photo: UNIDO

Economic Development

These Centers provide training courses on enterprise management, one-to-one business advice and counselling services, and investment promotion support to Iraqi entrepreneurs. Thus far, over 500 entrepreneurs have been trained and 400 business projects have been supported by the Centers, leading to the creation or upgrading of over 180 Iraqi enterprises.

In early 2012, UNIDO and the EDCs will add e-learning courses on enterprise management for Iraqi entrepreneurs to this list of services as part of the Enterprise Development through Information and Communication Technologies (EDICT) project, which is financed by the Italian Cooperation for Development.

Iraqi entrepreneurs participate in food and beverage fairEight Iraqi entrepreneurs from the governorates of Thi-Qar and Erbil participated in a study tour to the FoodIST Food and Beverage Fair in Istanbul, Turkey, on 8-11 December 2011, as part of the investment promotion services offered to Iraqi entrepreneurs through UNIDO’s “Investment Promotion for Iraq” (IPI) project, funded by the Italian Cooperation for Development.

FoodIST is an annual event that brings together various companies active in different segments of the food and beverage sectors with the aim of facilitating market access and other forms of partnership through the display of products and manufacturing technologies.

At the fair, the participants were offered the opportunity to learn about best practices in the food and beverages sectors, to engage with participating companies and to hold bilateral meetings to discuss potential partnership opportunities. Through UNIDO’s technical assistance and facilitation, 75 bilateral meetings

Eight Iraqi entrepreneurs participated in a UNIDO-organized study tour to FoodIST Food and Beverage Fair in Istanbul, Turkey, in December 2011. Photo: UNIDO

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Economic Development

between Iraqi participants and foreign companies were held during the event.

UNIDO will keep providing technical support to the participants after the fair to facilitate the establishment of partnerships in the form of joint ventures, market access and technology transfer, which should substantially contribute to the development of respective Iraqi enterprises.

Training for Iraqi bank managers on lending to small- and medium-sized enterprisesA well-functioning and inclusive banking and lending system is essential for the creation and upgrading of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As enterprises have different financing needs than other bank clients, such as corporations, lenders’ awareness of these needs is crucial for the

development and implementation of lending policies and practices targeting enterprises and their development.

A five-day training course organized by UNIDO in Beirut, Lebanon, on 11-15 December 2011 sought to raise awareness about these needs in Iraq. The event was part of UNIDO’s “Investment Promotion for Iraq (IPI)” project, financed by the Italian Cooperation for Development, and brought together senior managers and executives from 11 state-owned and private Iraqi banks and a microfinance lending organization.

UNIDO experts provided training on SME lending best practices to strengthen the participants’ capacities and covered topics such as policies and practices and how to address the financing needs of Iraqi enterprises. The participants were encouraged to share their perspectives

and experiences and to discuss how to successfully engage with Iraqi enterprises. As the meeting resulted in the establishment of an ad-hoc national network of SME lending organizations for the purposes of information-sharing and the identification of best practices, it is hoped that the training will have a considerable impact on SME lending – and thus the development of Iraqi enterprises – over the coming months.

A follow-up training course will be organized in mid-2012 to further support the participating institutions and to involve other, similar organizations.

For more information, please contact Mr. Ygor Scarcia, UNIDO Investment Promotion Expert, at y.scarcia@unido.org, or Mr. Gurel Gurkan, UNIDO Programme Analyst, at g.gurkan@unido.org

Feature

The story of an Iraqi blacksmith

Mr. Emad Hamdi Abbas (Baghdad) is a self-made man who had to leave school after receiving his

secondary degree. For many years, he worked as a labourer in a large tannery in

Baghdad to feed his family. Although he tried to set up a workshop in his house to produce sheep hide in the past, he was forced to close down due to the influx of cheap imports. His entrepreneurial zeal

eventually brought him to the UNIDO-supported Enterprise Development Center (EDC) in Baghdad, where he participated in a training course on enterprise management.

After having completed the course, Mr. Abbas attended regular one-to-one business counselling sessions. While he was initially considering establishing a modern tannery, instead he decided to become a blacksmith after having conducted a preliminary market analysis with the help of EDC experts.

EDC experts assisted him in drafting his business plan and in applying to banks for credit. As a result, he was successful in securing a bank loan and in making his idea of establishing a business as a blacksmith a reality. He currently employs eight people, while remaining committed to receiving further support from the EDC.

For more information, please contact Mr. Gurel Gurkan, UNIDO Programme Analyst: g.gurkan@unido.org

Iraqi entrepreneurs receive technical support from UNIDO-mentored Enterprise Development Centers in Baghdad, Thi Qar and Erbil. Photo:UNIDO

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A milestone in assessing health care financing in Iraq

By Ruba Hikmat, WHO

Iraq is witnessing a demographic and epidemiological transition, creating additional constraints for

the health system in managing the double burden of communicable and non-communicable disease and adapting the supply of services and human resources to emerging needs and higher population expectations. With relatively limited financial resources and the increasing cost of care, providing universal access to health services remains a major concern for the Government of Iraq.

During the past seven years there have been significant efforts to reinforce reconstruction and overall development in most sectors, including health. To improve the overall performance of the health system, the Ministry of Health, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), started to examine the various health system functions, including health care financing, in order to improve health, reduce health inequalities, secure equity in financing and respond to

the population’s needs and expectations.

How much money is being spent on health in Iraq? Where does the money for health come from? Who manages the resources? These were some of the questions that required evidence-based answers. WHO, in collaboration

with the Ministries of Finance, Planning and Development Cooperation, the Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology, and the private sector, therefore embarked on several studies and surveys related to health care financing. They developed a powerful analytical system, the National Health Account (NHA), which is an internationally accepted tool for collecting, cataloguing and estimating financial flows throughout the health system.

The results of the NHA exercise were released in December 2011 and included a number of important findings, such as that the level of health care spending in Iraq, per capita and as a share of GDP, remains lower than the average of countries with similar income. However, the structure of health care financing showed a fair degree of equity considering the limited burden on households, which share only one fourth of the total health bill.

The Iraqi Government’s contribution to health care financing reflects the

Patients paying medical bills at a primary health care center. Photo: Ministry of Health

Training Workshop on Health Care Financing in 2011. Photo: WHO

Health

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UNDP Iraq increases understanding of gender among Iraqi partners

By Beesyna Majid, UNDP Iraq

To bridge gaps in gender-sensitive planning and service delivery at the sub-national

level, UNDP Iraq organised a three-week training with Iraqi partners to strengthen and promote better understanding of gender across federal, regional and local levels.

The training, organized in January 2012 by UNDP’s Gender Unit, was held in response to consultations with the State Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the High Council of Women and State Ministry of Governorate Affairs. Participants at the UNDP Gender Training in December 2011. Photo: UNDP

Gender

constitutional commitment of the State to secure the health and social security of individuals and families. The Government, through the Ministry of Health, provides universal coverage through social health protection, which constitutes an important achievement of the Iraqi health care system.

In general, Iraqi health funds are primarily spent on curative care (more than 37 percent). A considerable share, 36.8 percent, goes towards pharmaceuticals dispensed for outpatient care, and 22.4 percent is spent on administration cost and salaries.

The present structure of health care spending for both the Ministry of Health and households does not allow for a refined analysis of the utilization of financial resources inside the health care system. However, spending on the health workforce, as a percentage of national budgets, remains lower than the average of countries in the region with a similar

level of income, despite a higher health workforce density.

NHA lays a solid foundation for the Government of Iraq to manage and sustain scarce resources in the health sector and to provide basic information related to health financing needed to develop health care financing policies. The findings and conclusions of a national health account analysis will have a great impact on shaping policy reforms in

the field of health financing in Iraq, such as improving financial management and cost containment strategies, rationalizing the use of free public services, and initiating feasibility studies related to the development of contributive systems of social and preventive health insurance.

For more information, please contact Dr. Aqila Noori, Medical Officer, WHO: nooria@irq.emro.who.int

Inpatient curative care12%

Basic medical and diagnostic services

26%

Pharmaceuticals and other medical non-durables

37%

General government administration of health

22%

Health administration and health insurance: private

0%

Health-related functions

3%

Classification by function. Reference: National Health Account report 2008

Health

UNDP prepared an Iraq-focused training package to train government officials, civil servants and civil society representatives from Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Babylon, Najaf, Missan, Thi-Qar and Basra.

The training covered a number of areas through a gender-sensitive lens, including leadership, change management, health, economic

empowerment, gender-responsive budgeting, and education. A training of trainers was conducted to form and identify members for a pool of Iraqi gender specialists.

The participants continue to be in touch online and the Iraqi gender advisors delivered a condensed version of the training to their colleagues upon their return to Iraq.

UNDP Iraq is following up to support these gender advisors in creating a work plan and is providing advice as needed.

For more information, please contact Ms. Anou Borrey, Senior Gender Advisor, UNDP Iraq: anou.borrey@undp.org

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The UN Global Network for Iraq: For a bigger role of the private sector in developmentBy Arouna Roshanian, UNDP Iraq

After its establishment in Baghdad on 15 October 2011, the Iraq UN Global Compact

(UNGC) Local Network promptly launched its activities, starting with the primary goal of raising awareness about the Compact’s initiative in engaging with the local companies and civil society organizations that are members of the Iraq Network.

The Iraq UNGC team conducted a series of workshops at the governorate level to present the Network’s activities to local authorities and businesses, specifically in Babylon, Basra, Anbar, Ninawa and Erbil. The workshops were organized in close cooperation with local authorities and companies,

offering support in engaging a large number of representatives of the private sector and NGOs to join the Global Network in Iraq.

High-profile opening sessions with local government officials were followed by an introduction given by the Iraqi Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC), which presented the goals of the UNGC Iraq Network and conveyed the Government’s support for the initiative.

The Iraq Network Representative and team further clarified the importance of a partnership between the private and public sectors, and explained what the Global Network can provide

for Iraqi businesses to strengthen partnerships and how the action plan of the newly established Network aims to enhance the role of the private sector in development through concrete activities.

The workshops provided a chance for local companies to share concerns and discuss the challenges they face in the current business climate. The UNGC initiative was welcomed as a tool to address these concerns by raising Iraqi business operations standards through a systematic public-private dialogue.

The workshop in Erbil had a special focus on the large potential of the Kurdish private sector and the interest in Corporate Social Responsibility already present in the region. In addition to the presentations and discussions between local representatives and the UNGC team, the Erbil workshop concluded with an agreement to create a Kurdish branch of the Iraq Network. The Kurdistan branch will address specific regional priorities while being integrated in the national UNGC Iraq Local Network.

First general meeting and elections of the network

The First General Meeting of UNGC Iraq Network members was held at

First General Iraq GCLN meeting, Baghdad, 17 December 2011. Unanimous confirmation of the Network Representative. Photo: UNDP

Gender

Development

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the Council of Ministers Secretariat (COMSEC) in Baghdad in mid-December 2011 to agree on the action plan for the Iraq Network.

About 60 participants attended, representing private companies and NGOs from all over Iraq (including Basra, Anbar, Ninawa, Najaf, Babylon, Diyalah, Thi-Qar, Duhok and Erbil) as well as the Government, UNDP, the international community and the media. The meeting provided an opportunity for the Iraq Local Network members to present their companies, explain why they joined the Global Compact and discuss key items of the action plan. Companies and NGOs also shared suggestions and recommendations for the promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility.

The meeting defined the governance structure of the Iraq Network through elections to appoint the Network Representative (Mr. Hameed Hilli was re-confirmed by unanimous vote) as well as a multi-stakeholder Steering

Committee to guide and implement the activities of the Local Network.

The Steering Committee is composed of four companies, two NGOs, one business association and one representative of academia, in addition to the Representative and the two focal points of the government and UNDP in the Secretariat. Thirty percent of the Committee’s 11 members are women. Its members include representatives from the geographic centre (companies and NGOs from Baghdad and Babylon), north (a company from Erbil) and south (a business union from Basra) of the country, as well as an academic who also represents the Iraq business council abroad.

The action plan was approved as the basis for the work of the Steering Committee in 2012. Key areas identified by members as relevant for the work of the Iraq Network include assessing the legislative and regulatory framework to identify gaps and obstacles to responsible

business, in particular with respect to corruption, the promotion of human rights and women’s empowerment within business practices; raising awareness on the ethical responsibilities of businesses; building the capacity of civil society and the media to monitor the private sector’s conduct; and establishing dialogue and partnerships with the government and the local authorities to design public policies in support of responsible business.

Another topic discussed was the need to strengthen communication and awareness-raising. The participants welcomed initiatives taken by the Secretariat and supported by volunteering member companies to produce brochures, newsletters and a dedicated website for the UNGC Iraq Network (www.ungc-iraq.org).

For more information, please contact Arouna Roshanian, UNDP Iraq: arouna.roshanian@undp.org

WHO improves patient safety in Iraq

By Ruba Hikmat, WHO

Patient safety is the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care. The discipline of patient safety is the coordinated efforts

to prevent harm caused to patients by the process of health care itself.

Over the past ten years, patient safety has become increasingly recognized as an issue of global importance. WHO has been providing constant technical support to the Ministry of Health in Iraq in pursuit of the overall global vision that every patient should receive safe health care,

Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, WHO Representative, discusses the value of patient involvement in patient safety in Iraq with Dr. Hamad Amin Majeed, Minister of Health. Photo: Ministry of Health

Welcome session by the host, Erbil Chamber of Commerce . Photo: UNDP

Development

Health

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every time, everywhere. Patient safety has been granted a top priority in the joint programmes of the Ministry of Health and WHO, and a pioneer project that aims to strengthen patient safety actions has been successfully implemented in six major tertiary hospitals (2,000 beds) in Baghdad Al Karkh and Al Rasafa. The hospitals were selected by the Ministry of Health and WHO as they are providing specialized services in all major areas of surgery, medicine, and gynaecology and obstetrics, and are used for referral by other, smaller hospitals. In addition, data showed that they had the highest number of hospital-acquired infections due to the insufficient application of quality standards for patient safety.

WHO has distributed 660 patient packages to these hospitals. Each package includes eight items – bed covers, bed sheets, pillowcases, hospital gowns (for men, women and children), towels and slippers – that are necessary to support the implementation of quality standards in the selected hospitals and to reduce the prevalence and incidence of nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections. The patient packages were handed over to Mr. Hamad Amin Majeed, the Minister of Health, by WHO Representative Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain in a formal ceremony in Baghdad in December 2011. The event was also attended by the

Deputy Minister of Health and the WHO Officer in Charge in Baghdad.

In addition, WHO is providing strong technical support in the area of patient safety and quality enhancement to improve the performance of health-care professionals, reduce patient safety incidents, and to thereby improve patient safety. WHO recently carried out a baseline assessment in the Central Children Teaching Hospital and Ghazi El Hariri Specialized Surgical Hospital Medical City Complex in Baghdad. The objective

of the baseline assessment of the two hospitals was to determine compliance with patient safety standards in preparation for the implementation of the WHO/EMRO Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative. The ultimate goal is to enhance the level of patient safety and to promote a culture of safety among hospital personnel and patients. WHO also plans to assist the Ministry of Health in undertaking such assessments in other major hospitals.

Patient safety packages delivered to Iraq. Photo: Ministry of Health

Water in Iraq: Addressing the triple challenge

By Jad Merhi, UNESCO Iraq

Plagued by drought and a shortage of fresh water, Iraq is very dependent, economically, socially

and culturally, on its scarce water resources. However, the country’s infrastructure for water and sanitation has deteriorated in recent years and pollution has taken its toll on a land that

is in need of agricultural reform. The Marshlands, which are the largest wetland and fresh water ecosystem in southern Iraq, were drained in the 1980s and are now in dire need of rehabilitation. Additionally, none of Iraq’s 300 treaties concerns water-sharing.

These complexities entail a need to broaden scientific understanding of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, to undertake emergency infrastructural interventions, and to elaborate a broad national vision for sustainable water consumption and equitable regional sharing.

Health

Development

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Knowledge tools in the fight against drought

Government efforts to address drought and other complex water-related issues have been hampered in recent years by a lack of reliable and up-to-date information on underground water. The Government of Iraq reasserted its commitment to tackle this deficiency as it completed the first stage of a national initiative to map the country’s underground water resources through geoFIA, an advanced groundwater database developed and provided by UNESCO. This first centralized groundwater system was inaugurated at a high-level gathering in Baghdad on 3 July 2011, which was attended by senior representatives of the Government, academia and the international community.

Kahrez rehabilitation: impact on the environment and community

In terms of infrastructural interventions, UNESCO’s unique expertise in the rehabilitation and conservation of historic hydraulic structures was fully harnessed for the restoration of 20 selected Kahrez, traditional water management systems in the rural areas of the Northern Governorates. The project improved living conditions in the community by restoring water flow and generating employment in rural areas, thereby saving 800 families from forced internal displacement.

A balanced vision for local and regional inputs

Drought Risk Management: As for internal water management, UNESCO and UNDP will implement a project funded under the UN Development

Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The project, ‘Development of an Integrated National Framework for Drought Risk Management (DRM) in Iraq’, will support the Government of Iraq in creating a national framework allowing for a coordinated and multidisciplinary response to drought among different public and private stakeholders.

Regional Discussions Strategy: To complement this scheme with inclusive regional initiatives, UNESCO joined a highly specialized team under the leadership of Ms. Christine McNab, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. The team, led by UNDP and international experts Prof. David Grey (Oxford University, UK) and Dr. Don Blackmore (Australia), held a series of meetings with high-level Iraqi officials in Baghdad, providing them with valuable technical advice and international experience in basin management and strategy development. The meetings contributed to advancing a set of Iraqi-led recommendations in capacity building and strategic awareness in the field of riparian responsibilities and privileges.

For more information, please contact Jad Merhi, Public Information Officer, UNESCO Iraq: j.merhi@unesco.org

Woman drawing water from kahrez. Photo: Sebastian Meyer

Development

Iraq’s Marshlands. Photo: Casey Walther

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Second phase of Area Based Development Programme endorsed

Restoration of basic services under the UNDP Local Area Development Programme. Photo: UNDP Iraq/ Spacetoons

By Tuleen Khoffash, UNDP Iraq

The Government of Iraq Partnership Committee endorsed the Second

Phase of the Area Based Development Programme on 19 December. The inter-agency programme will be implemented by UNDP, ILO, UNOPS, UNHABITAT and WHO over the course of two and a half years and aims to ensure that Iraqi citizens, and especially the most vulnerable groups, benefit from

Building trust between police and civil society By Caroline Hammarberg, UNOPS-Iraq

All across the country, police and public authorities are joining NGOs for training sessions to

improve their understanding of the new NGO law and to learn how they can work together in post-Saddam Iraq.

Iraq’s new NGO law is hailed for the protection and space it offers Iraqi civil society, but in a country where NGOs are still a novelty, good legislation

effective local development processes and have better access to quality essential services.

The second phase of the programme builds on the initial phase, representing the first decentralized joint United Nations multi-sectoral initiative and supporting 12 inclusive multi-sectoral district plans in vital fields such as health,

education, infrastructure and electricity in the governorates of Basra, Thi-Qar, Missan, Babylon and Sulaymaniyah. The projects are developed by local government through the active participation of local stakeholders and communities.

In the now approved second phase, the programme will continue to support inclusive multi-sectoral development plans by engaging the technical departments of the governorates as key stakeholders and partners. The programme will prove pivotal in localizing the Government’s National Development Plan and making progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, specifically on responding to the needs of women, youth and the most vulnerable, including the poor.

The programme focuses on participatory planning, effective service delivery, public accountability and performance measurement of local development and service delivery. It will engage the civil society to partner effectively with local government, and will establish linkages with national and international institutions, including through the Iraqi Diaspora, to support sustainable local development.

Necessary resources are currently being mobilized from donors to supplement the funds that the Government of Iraq and Kurdistan Regional Government have agreed in principle to cost-share.

For more information, please contact Tuleen Khoffash: tuleen.khoffash@undp.org

Trainers from NGOs, police and other public authorities learning about the new Iraqi NGO law. Photo: Adam Styp- Rekowski /UNOPS

Development

Civil Society

www.uniraq.org UNAMI Newsletter 14

Mr. Fadhil Shakir Resan, Judge and Deputy Prosecutor at the Al Karrada Court, Baghdad, in front of the white piece of paper symbolising the relations between authorities and civil society. Photo: Adam Styp- Rekowski /UNOPS

means little if it is not fully understood by the people who implement and abide by it.

Mr. Fadhil Shakir Resan, Judge and Deputy Prosecutor at the Al Karrada Court, Baghdad, comments, “there is some mistrust towards civil society as this is a new topic. The relations are like a sheet of white paper – they are waiting to be written.”

Through trainings, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and the International Center for Not for Profit Law (ICNL) are trying to build these relations and provide NGOs and police, as well as other public authorities, with opportunities to meet and gain a genuine understanding of what their respective roles can be in Iraq today.

The first series of workshops for trainers concluded in December, and now the 65 participants representing NGOs, police, the justice system, local authorities and the NGO Directorate, will together conduct trainings for their peers in all Iraqi governorates.

The trainings address several issues. To start with, knowledge of the new NGO law is relatively poor. The law formally recognizes NGOs’ right to exist and work in Iraq and has given them a legal personality of which both public authorities and the NGOs themselves need to be aware.

Other issues include the overall framework for interaction between NGOs and public authorities, how

they can build constructive relations and even cooperate to help improve society.

Prison monitoring is one area where such cooperation could lead to mutual benefits for citizens and authorities alike. Independent prison monitoring by civil society is a way to both discover poor conditions and protect prisoners. If minimum standards are adhered to and this is confirmed by NGOs, it can also be a way to build the public’s trust in the authorities’ treatment of prisoners.

Another example of NGO-authority cooperation from Lebanon given in the training is a collaboration between the Drugs division of the Internal Security Forces and three NGOs specialized in drug addiction: Oum el Nour, Skoun and JAD. Together, they implemented an awareness campaign to prevent high school and university students from becoming addicted to drugs.

Finally, the trainings themselves are a part of the trust-building process.

Mr. Anwar Dawood Salman, Director of the NGO Al Noor Media, said that it felt like the trainings had given police and representatives of the justice system a chance to “‘discover’ civil society.” “It is difficult for NGOs to build up relationships with police and judiciary so this kind of training is extremely important as it allows them to learn more about each other… and to break prejudices and barriers between the two sectors,” he said.

Mr. Adam Styp-Rekowski, Programme Manager for Civil Society at the UNOPS Iraq office, agrees. “When police and authorities get together with NGOs like this, they are already engaging in the behaviour they are learning about, it is a first step to understanding the other,” he said.

The cascade trainings are conducted under a project implemented by UNOPS and ICNL. The UNOPS project is funded by the European Union, the Government of Finland, and other donors through the UNDG Iraq Trust Fund. The ICNL project is funded by the US Department of State – Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

For more information, please contact Mr. Adam Styp-Rekowski at adams@unops.org or telephone +962 775466010, or Mr. Kareem Elbayar at KElbayar@icnl.org or telephone +1 (202) 684-2528, or please visit www.unops.org/iqoc and www.icnl.org

Civil Society

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Iraq Knowledge Network Survey

The Government of Iraq and the United Nations jointly launched the results of the Iraq Knowledge Network (IKN) Survey on 3 December in Baghdad. The survey collected socio-economic statistics from around 29,000 households at the district level in all 18 governorates of Iraq in 2011. It is a main tool in the establishment of a socio-economic monitoring system for Iraq in an effort to reinforce evidence-based planning at the national and local levels. The IKN gathered a large number of socio-economic indicators related to essential services, household expenditure, food, labour and governance. Main findings from the IKN:Essential ServicesElectricity

■ 35% of households believe that electricity should be the top priority for improvement – a higher proportion than any other service.

■ On average, households receive 14.6 hours of electricity per day through a combination of the public network or private generators.

■ 79% of households rate electricity service as “bad” or “very bad”.

■ 90% of households supplement the public network with private generators.

Water and Sanitation ■ 59% rate their household’s facility as

“bad” or “very bad”, rising to 85% in rural areas.

■ 38% of households rate availability of drinking water as “good” or “very good”.

■ 30% of households have access to the public sanitation network.

■ Households without access to the public network use either a septic tank (40%) or covered drain (25%) to dispose waste.

■ 65% of households use public networks as a main source of drinking water, but the percentage declines sharply in southern governorates due to salinity.

Health The average household is just over 20 minutes away from a health facility.

■ 2 out of 3 Iraqis have a negative opinion of health services.

Governance ■ Family, religious community, tribe,

village and ethnic group are the social entities enjoying higher levels of confidence by citizens.

■ On a scale from 0 (no confidence) to 10 (very strong confidence), households rated their degree of confidence in selected social entities; religious leaders scored an 8 while the foreign forces scored a 2.4.

■ 19% of the population has engaged in a form of social or political activity such as signing a petition or participating in a demonstration or rally in the last 12 months.

■ 75% of Iraqis identified the need to reduce the country’s poverty as the most pressing need.

■ 12% of all Iraqis who had contacts with civil servants gave a bribe.

■ 95% of bribery incidents go unreported.

■ 54% of the population believes that the corruption situation has deteriorated during the last two years before the survey.

Labour ■ The unemployment rate is 11%

nationally (7% of males and 13% of females). 653,000 people are unemployed, of which 496,000 are male and 157,000 are female.

■ 44% of Iraqis (7.9 million persons) are in the labour force (using a relaxed definition). 72% of males are in the labour force, compared to just 13% of females.

■ Youth (15-24 years of age) unemployment is high at 18% (27% of females and 17% of males); unemployment is higher among youth with a higher education.

■ The government provides 40% of jobs; the remainder are in the private sector. The government provides 45% of all employment in urban areas and 28% of employment in rural areas. While accounting for 65% of Iraq’s GDP, the oil sector currently employs only 1% of the total labour force.

■ 60% of all working females work in the government sector.

■ Overall, 1 out of 6 persons in the labour force is a woman.

Food Security and Expenditure ■ Expenditures on 4 main groups

represent 80% of consumption expenditures. In Iraq, these are:

• Food stuffs and non-alcoholic beverages (34.5%)

• Dwellings, water, gas, electricity and other fuels (29.1%)

• Transport (8.8%)• Clothing and footwear (7.5%)

■ In 2011, expenditures on food constituted 34.5% of total expenditures, compared to 35.6% in 2007. This represents a slight improvement in living conditions.

■ The average dietary diversity score was 6.4 food groups per day in 2011. This is a 2.6% increase from 2007 and indicates an improvement in food security conditions overall.

■ 22% of households indicated that they had used coping strategies to smooth their food consumption in 2011, compared to 29% of households in 2007.

Executed under the overall coordination of the Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU), the Iraq Knowledge Network is the result of a collaborative process between the Central Statistics Organization; the Kurdistan Region Statistical Office; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); the World Food Programme (WFP); the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the World Health Organization (WHO); and Mercy Corps, an international NGO.For more information on the IKN, please visit http://www.iauiraq.org/ikn or contact Tara Abdulmajid: abdulmejid@un.org, +962-77-725-1501

Survey

By Tara Abdulmajid, UNAMI-Information and Analysis Unit

www.uniraq.org UNAMI Newsletter 16

UNDP: Iraqi parliamentary staff exchange experiences with European parliaments

The UNDP-hosted visit of a high-level delegation of staff from the Iraqi Council of Representatives (Parliament) to Brussels, Belgium, in early December 2011 explored how the effectiveness of the Parliament’s Secretariat could be increased.

The delegation was received by the Belgian House of Representatives and met with several international experts from UNDP and representatives of the European, British and Pakistani parliaments. Discussions revolved around issues such as strengthening parliamentary administration, enhancing support to parliamentary committees and improving dialogue with Iraqi citizens to ensure parliament reflects the opinions and concerns of citizens. The delegation also held bilateral meetings with the Belgian Parliament on information and communications technology, research, media, finance, parliamentary affairs, protocol, public relations and administration.

UNDP and Ministry of Oil agree on long-term partnership UNDP and the Iraqi Ministry of Oil have signed a new two-year partnership agreement for skills development and human resources management in the oil and gas sector.

The partnership will help support the expansion of the sector and its ability to create jobs for the rapidly growing Iraqi labour force by strengthening the capacity of the Training and Development Directorate of the Ministry of Oil and formalising dialogue between the Ministry and the private sector on skills upgrading, labour standards and human resources management.

While accounting for 65 percent of Iraq’s GDP, the oil sector currently employs only 1 percent of the total labour force. Iraq also has sizable gas reserves which are currently underutilized but are set to be harnessed to boost domestic electricity production.

A factsheet with information on oil and gas in Iraq is available at http://iq.one.un.org

Japan International Cooperation Agency and UNDP extend partnership

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and UNDP signed an extension of their existing partnership in December 2011 to accelerate the implementation of infrastructure

UNDP Country Director Peter Batchelor signs long-term partnership agreement with Mr. Iqdam Hashem, Director General of the Training and Development Directorate at the Ministry of Oil. Photo: UNDP

and economic projects in key sectors such as electricity, water and sanitation, oil, transportation and industry. The projects have a total value of $3.28 billion to date and are implemented by Iraqi ministries.

UNDP will work with JICA and the Government of Iraq on project monitoring and capacity development. This will ensure that procedures are properly

UNDP Country Director Peter Batchelor signs extension of partnership with Mr. Takema Sakamoto, Chief Repre-sentative of JICA in Iraq. Photo: UNDP

News Briefs

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carried out in accordance with JICA’s internationally standardized guidelines and regulations, and that Japanese Government loans are used in an accountable, transparent, and efficient manner in Iraq. UNDP will monitor these projects on JICA’s behalf, will assess progress and management capacities to identify bottlenecks and gaps, and will give guidance and advice to the ministries to improve project implementation.

UNDP organizes open day at Erbil Investigative Court

UNDP held an open-day ceremony at the Erbil Investigative Court on 8 December to provide information about its European Union-funded ‘Support to the Rule of Law and Justice’ programme and the support it provides to the Kurdistan Judiciary. A campaign to raise public awareness about legal rights and the workings of the justice system was also launched during the event, which was attended by senior officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government (including the Minister of Justice) and UNDP’s implementing and international

partners, such as EU-JUSTLEX and USAID.

The ‘Support to the Rule of Law and Justice’ programme, which concluded at the end of 2011, included the establishment of model courts in Erbil and Basra, a free legal help-desk in Erbil, an electronic case management system, legal libraries and research units, as well as activities aimed at strengthening the capacity of key government judiciary institutions.

UNDP Iraq hands over legal database to Iraqi Government

UNDP Iraq handed over the Iraq Legal Database to the Government of Iraq, represented by the Higher Judicial Council, during a ceremony in Beirut on 8 December.

Designed to make the entire corpus of Iraqi law available to all individuals or institutions that rely on legal knowledge in a single, freely accessible source, the Iraq Legal Database (online at www.iraq-ild.org) was developed under the auspices of UNDP’s ‘Rule of Law Programme’ with funding from the Government of Spain and the European Union. Its more

Ms. Sarah Barnat from the European Commission in Iraq and Mr. Marc Antoine Morel, Project Manager of the UNDP Iraq Rule of Law Programme, during the open court day in Erbil. Photo: UNDP

than 27,000 entries include all Iraqi legal texts published since 1917.

Among the attendees at the ceremony were high-ranking officials from the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council (including the Chief Justice of Iraq, Judge Medhat AlMahmoud), the Shura Council and the Ministry of Justice.

Micronutrient deficiencies as-sessment and response sur-vey begins in Iraq

The Iraqi Ministry of Health and Ministry of Health Kurdistan Region – along with the Ministry of Planning/Central Organization for Statistics and Kurdistan Region Statistics Office, with the full support of WHO and in collaboration with UNICEF – have begun implementing the fieldwork and collecting data for the Micronutrient Deficiencies Assessment and Response (MNAR) survey. The survey will for the first time provide national-level baseline data for women of child-bearing age and children under the age of 5 and will include information on anemia, iron deficiency, vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin and folate deficiency. Data collection in all governorates in Iraq began on 24 December 2011 and was completed on 26 January 2012.

The next steps are data analysis and the biological testing of the blood and urine samples collected from women of child-bearing age and children between 6 and 59 months of age. In a second phase, school children between the ages of 6 and 12 will be tested for urinary iodine, HB% estimation and anthropometric measurements.

Blood collection from a child aged 24 months, MNAR survey. Photo: Ministry of Health / Nutrition Research Institute

News Briefs

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Pilot assessment of congenital birth defects in Iraq The third Technical Consultation Meeting for the ‘Pilot Assessment of Congenital Birth Defects (CBD)’ project led by the Ministry of Health and WHO was held on 17-18 December. The meeting was attended by the members of the CBD project steering committee and resulted in the development of a work plan for the implementation of the CBD survey from 1 January to 31 July 2012, which includes a budget and timeline for key activities. Participants in the meeting on Anesthesia and Intensive Care Units discuss the Ministry of Health plans with Dr. Hamad Amin Majeed,

Minister of Health. Photo: Ministry of Health

Participants during the third technical consultation meeting on the project “Pilot Assessment of Congenital Birth Defects”. Photo: Ministry of Health

List of the United Nations AcronymsThe United Nations Country Team has 20 members, including 16 resident and four non-resident agencies. Members of the Team are: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN WOMEN), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO). In addition to UN entities, the United Nations Country Team includes the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Bank.

UNAMI Newsletter is publishedmonthly by the UNAMI Public Informa-tion Office. Contents do not necessarilyreflect the official position of the UnitedNations or that of UNAMI. Articles maybe freely reproduced, with credit toUNAMI Newsletter. For comments andsuggestions, contactunami-information@un.orgEditor-in-Chief: Radhia AchouriManaging Editor: Aicha ElbasriEditor: Anne CzichosGraphic Designer: Salar A. Brifkani

WHO hosts meeting on an-aesthesia, intensive care and infection control A two-day consultative meeting to develop a plan to upscale anaesthetic services in operating theaters and intensive care units in Iraq was organized by the Iraqi Ministry

of Health with technical support from the World Health Organization. The meeting was held at the WHO office in Baghdad on 9-10 January 2012. At the end of the meeting, participants had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Hamad Amin Majeed, the Iraqi Minister of Health, to present their recommendations and discuss the Ministry’s plans and vision on the subject.