Fostering Participatory and Dynamic Democratic Systems Through a Stronger Civil Society
ACDI/VOCA has built on its ten years of experience of working in northern Iraq through implementation of the three‐year (2012‐2015) USAID Broadening Participation through Civil Society (BPCS) Program under a subagreement from Mercy Corps. The goal of the BPCS Program was to have Iraq’s democratic and social systems become more participatory and dynamic as a result of civil society sustainably deepening citizens’ social and political engagement. The objective of the program was to foster an increasingly professional, vibrant, interactive and interconnected Iraqi civil society that offered greater opportunities for citizens to participate in and benefit from the country’s development.
Building Participatory Democratic Systems
ACDI/VOCA, as part of a consortium led by Mercy Corps, worked to help Iraq’s democratic systems become more participatory and dynamic. The program fostered an increasingly professional, interactive, and interconnected Iraqi civil society. Working with a nascent civil society in Iraq, BPCS had some significant accomplishments.
Some of the key achievements are:
- A range of partnership activities, mentoring, training and support to over 35 Iraqi CSOs building a variety of organizational development skills and competencies;
- The formation of two pilot Civic Participation (CP) hubs (in Kirkuk and Diyala) that provide organized platforms for bringing many civil society actors together to engage in dialogue on social issues, share ideas, generate wider support and collaborate on advocacy issues;
- A focus on gender integration/equality through training, gender‐focused activities and encouraging CSOs to promote gender equality and awareness in their activities;
- 16 civil society fairs being implemented by selected CSO partners to increase awareness of CSO/NGO activities and achievements among CSOs, the general public, local government authorities, private sector representatives, and professional associations;
- Support to the leading recruitment and training fair in Iraq that promotes a more transparent and structured employment market, increases private sector employment, promotes training and development, and enhances public policy on employment;
- In‐depth capacity building and partnerships with four national CSOs responsible for implementing approximately 104 small individual family projects and 28 community projects assisting innocent civilian victims of violence in Iraq;
Working for Widespread Change
ACDI/VOCA implemented and oversaw program activities within its assigned area of responsibility in the north, which included the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Ninawa, and Salah ad Din and all three Iraqi Kurdistan provinces of Dahuk, Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah.
The legacy of ACDI/VOCA’s contribution to the BPCS program is a cadre of CSOs that have significantly improved their organizational, management, implementation and activist capacities with respect to meeting their mandates as representatives of civil society in Iraq. This improved capacity is demonstrated through the year‐on‐year results of organizational assessments undertaken with participating CSO, which indicate significant improvements across a range of metrics among the majority of CSOs.
Helping Victims through the Marla Fund
ACDI/VOCA also worked with four local NGO partners to identify and fund individual and community projects through the Marla Fund. Training was provided to the innocent victims of military operations or terrorist activities from the four provinces who were identified as potential beneficiaries. It provided them with the tools they needed to become successful small business owners and managers. ACDI/VOCA then supplied a “kick-start” in-kind grant from the Marla Fund based on the business plans and feasibility studies that the candidates have prepared and submitted for review.
Despite being affected by the insecurity and subsequent population displacement caused by insurgents, ACDI/VOCA managed to complete 147 projects funded through the Marla Fund war victim assistance targeting both individuals and affected communities its area of responsibility. The projects have assisted 27,400 direct beneficiaries and nearly 127,000 indirect beneficiaries.
