Together, the United States and Iraq have faced many challenges to promote stability and development after the fall of the previous regime. Now the Iraqi-U.S. partnership that began seven years ago is at a critical crossroads. Just as USAID and the State Department are taking the lead in relations with the country, Iraqis are transitioning from a legacy of war and insurgency onto a course of economic opportunity and good governance they themselves are plotting.
Jordan Sellman
Since 2006, USAID’s National Capacity Development Program, or Tatweer, which means “development” in Arabic, has significantly improved the ability of Iraqi ministries to fulfill their responsibilities to deliver services to citizens. The program worked with Iraqi key service ministries and central executive offices to improve public services by modernizing the core ministries’ systems and processes and developing the capacity of their civil servants.
Read about USAID Iraq Mission achievements and milestones from the past year.
Lt. Gen. John R. Allen became deputy commander, United States Central Command, on July 15, 2008. His tours as a general officer include service as the principal director, Asian and Pacific Affairs, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a position he occupied for nearly three years. From 2006-2008, Allen served as deputy commanding general, II Marine Expeditionary Force, and commanding general, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, deploying to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was recently interviewed by FrontLines regarding his time in Iraq and the relationship between USAID and the military.
Staff
The packing houses are teaching farmers new ways to handle and package produce so it stays fresh longer and reaches markets in better condition. Ultimately, this means better quality and quantity of produce for consumers and more income for farmers. USAID provided grants totaling $2.4 million to existing packing houses for refurbishment, training, and technical assistance to work with farmers and consolidators. The farmers use the packing houses as a central sales point for the produce they are marketing.
Staff
It took nine months for Iraq to form a new government after parliamentary elections in March 2010. But it took the Council of Representatives' new speaker only a matter of hours to request USAID's assistance in building the capacity of the new parliament.
Sean Dunne and Hal Lipper
Michael Maxey is the senior economic development adviser for the Iraq Reconstruction Office in USAID's Bureau for the Middle East. Prior to his current assignment in Washington, D.C., Maxey served in Iraq as the manager of a large agriculture development program at the Agency's mission in 2009; and as a USAID representative on an Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT) in North Babil in 2008.
