Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

Vulnerable people affected by conflict and/or other situations of violence in Iraq are able to meet their basic needs, notably regarding food/nutrition as well as access to water and sanitation facilities.

Expected results

The ICRC aims to achieve amongst others, the following main targets per Assistance sub-programme for 2018:

- 553’563 vulnerable people, including IDPs, returnees and residents, can cover part of their dietary and other basic needs to help ease their situation

- 1’468’300 people have access to safe water supply

Target group / Beneficiaries

With a contribution of EUR 500'000, the ICRC will be able to reach the following results:

- 3'375 vulnerable people, including female headed households, cover part of their dietary and other basic needs

- 19'841 people have access to safe water supply

The ICRC works closely with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society. The ICRC is present in various parts of Iraq, including Baghdad, Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk, Najaf, Dohuk, Sulaymainiyah, Ramadi and Basra.

Activities

Activities of the entire ICRC Iraq country program include :

- Distribute aid to IDPs, returnees, and/or residents:

o two months’ worth of food rations for 120,000 people (20,000 households), both returnees and newly displaced persons in host communities; food for 90,000 newly

displaced people (15,000 families) in camps

o kitchen sets, blankets, hygiene kits and other essential household items for 150,000 people (25,000 households), and solar lamps for 5,000 of these households

? where possible with local partners, provide:

o 13,000 households (78,000 people) with agricultural supplies or tools, cash to purchase other tools, or cash-for-work projects, like repairing irrigation canals

o 16,000 displaced and returnee households (96,000 people) with cash for rent, education and health services, and during winter, for another 1,000 households (6,000

people) to purchase fuel and other materials for heating.

o 13 government institutions, and farmers’ associations with supplies or equipment, such as seed, ploughs and tractors to enhance the services they offer and help boost

the community’s income

- in urban areas, upgrade water, sanitation and electric power systems for the benefit of some 1,200,000 people

- provide training for some 300 national water board technicians and equip them with basic maintenance tools

Context

The consequences of the recent armed conflict are exacerbated by longstanding ethnic and sectarian tensions. Forces of the central government, and of the Iraqi Kurdistan region (IKR) government – backed by an international coalition -, in 2017, retook all territories formerly held by the Islamic State Group. Tens of thousands of people have been wounded, killed or, allegedly, arrested in relation to the armed conflict. Millions had been uprooted from their homes, by September 2018, approximately 1.9 million IDPs have been displaced since 2014, whereas 4 million returnees were identified for the same period. Returnees, IDPs and residents struggle to obtain basic services or to resume their livelihoods. Political and economic constraints hamper central and IKR authorities’ efforts to mitigate the effects of the conflict and other violence. Some 240,000 refugees from the Syrian Arab Republic remain in the IKR.