Transitional Development Assistance (TDA) to improve access to basic services in Iraq

Contact details

Submitted by:  

Dr. Ralf Schröder, Head of Division 222, Crisis management, transitional development assistance, reconstruction, infrastructure in crisis situations

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Website: www.bmz.de/en

Social: @BMZ_Bund

Introduction to the project

Country

Iraq: Northern Iraq/ Province of Nineveh, Mosul, the Kurdistan region

Duration

BMZ established the TDA in the early 2000s.

Description

Since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria and the advance of the so-called “Islamic State”, more than 250,000 Syrians and around I million internally displaced Iraqis have found refuge in the Kurdish region of Iraq. This has put a strain on the social infrastructure of host communities. At the same time, around 4 million internally displaced people have returned to their home region after it has been liberated, such as the province of Nineveh.

On behalf of the BMZ, GIZ implements a number of transitional development assistance projects in the area. Transitional Development Assistance (TDA) is an instrument, and a budget line, that enables flexible implementation and financing in crises. In Iraq, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports local authorities in reconstruction, water supply, health and education.

With our partners, we build and restore wells and water supplies, construct health care centres and restore hospitals. Refugees and internally displaced people, as well as the host population, (re-)gain access to clean water, education, free primary health care and psychosocial counselling. To accommodate the large numbers of new pupils, schools we build, extend and refurbish schools and the teaching staff receive advanced training. More than 1.7 million people will benefit from these operations.

Main activities of the Good Practice

Currently, GIZ implements three TDA-projects with a focus on education in Iraq with an overall budget of 183,440,000 euros. In Mosul, it supports a programme for crisis-proof reconstruction of the city. Since its liberation, the city has suffered from the large-scale destruction of its public and private infrastructure. Access to educational facilities is especially precarious. Hence, the project aims at strengthening public infrastructure and primary social services, while generating income for the affected populations and promoting peace. In the province of Nineveh, another programme with similar objectives focuses on stabilizing the livelihoods of returnees and the local population. In the northern Iraqi province of Dohuk, a GIZ project aims at improving the access of internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees and the population of host communities to education, vocational training and income generation.

The main activities of these projects include the rapid restoration of schools and hospitals and the advanced training of teaching staff. As support for the educational focus of these projects, vocational training courses on business creation are implemented, grants to small and middle-income enterprises (SME) are provided and conflict mediators are trained. Vulnerable households receive extra income through cash-for-work components and measures to strengthen social cohesion are being implemented. 

Partners

• Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

GIZ works with various national and international partners:

• International: Norwegian and Danish Refugee Councils, Un Ponte Per, Tearfund, Mercy Corps, Action contre la faim, GOAL, Diwan company, Sanad for Peacebuilding, DWHH International Rescue Committee (IRC)
• (Sub-)National: Ministries of Planning, Health, Education, Labor and Social Affairs, Directorate of Health, Education, Labor and Social Affairs, Jiyan & Rwanga Foundation

Challenges and how they were overcome

The current situation in Iraq is characterized by severe fragility, persistent tension between the different ethnic and religious groups and the underlying threats of terrorist attacks and military conflict. This is an obstacle to peaceful rehabilitation. The GIZ projects mentioned above approach these challenges by closely monitoring their effects through a context-sensitive monitoring system. Methods based on the “do no harm” principle for a conflict-sensitive implementation are used to minimize the risks of aggravating conflict. This involves continuous and systematic context and security analysis by the GIZ’s risk management.

Results of the Good Practice 

So far, 82,650 people have benefited from the projects. A total of 14,480 children have gained access to primary education as a result of the rehabilitation of 14 schools in northern Iraq’s Dohuk province. Crucially this relieves existing schools in the region, which are organized in classes of more than 40 pupils. In addition, 2,455 teachers have received advanced training, 51 per cent of them women.  The training equipped teachers with the right set of methods to handle large classrooms and provide the children with psychosocial support. A total of 4,580 people have received vocational training and another 176 have benefited from training in business creation as part of the same project. In Nineveh province, a total of 59 public buildings have been rebuilt, including 16 schools. This provided space to accommodate of 165 classes comprising about 6,500 pupils.