EPRT BAGHDAD 2 AT YEAR ONE; SUCCESS STORIES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001237 SIPDIS SBU SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM ECON EAID SOCI IZ SUBJECT: EPRT BAGHDAD 2 AT YEAR ONE; SUCCESS STORIES ¶1. (U) This is a Baghdad 2 BCT E-PRT reporting cable drafted by Team Leader Eric Whitaker. ¶2. (SBU) Summary: Over the past year, Baghdad 2 E-PRT has undertaken a variety of activities in the areas of local governance, community reconciliation, economic growth and development, and essential social services as elements of the broader U.S. counter-insurgency strategy. Working closely with our U.S. Army brigade combat teams, the E-PRT has achieved several measures of success, launched a number of projects in numerous sectors of Iraqi society, and established that this model of civil-military cooperation can be very productive. Key to success was easy access to programmatic funds through QRF, CERP among others. End summary. ¶3. (SBU) Background: Founded in April 2007, the Baghdad 2 Embedded-Provincial Reconstruction Team (E-PRT),one of the ten charter E-PRTs, covers the political districts of Karada, Rusafa, and 9 Nissan. During its first year, the E-PRT worked closely with Brigade Combat Teams from the 2nd Infantry Division and, since January 2008, the 10th Mountain Division. Embedded within the civil affairs component, the E-PRT helped assess the operating environment, agreed on a Joint Common Plan to guide activities, and developed a wide range of local Iraqi contacts both within and outside the GOI and its institutions. Most importantly, the E-PRT launched a number of concrete activities organized in four key areas or "lines of operation": local governance, economic growth and development, essential social services, and community reconciliation. These activities and projects can be seen as elements of a broad counter-insurgency strategy designed to restore normalcy at the level of the Iraqi family. This report seeks to illustrate some of the team's principal accomplishments, including those that used the Quick Response Fund (QRF) program as leverage to achieve results. -------------- - QRF: A Tool for Engagement and Revitalization -------------- - ¶4. (SBU) Despite only having access to QRF resources for the past six months, the E-PRT has developed and implemented seven grants totaling roughly $1.12 million as well as 71 micro-purchases also amounting to approximately $1.12 million. These projects sought to address areas not covered by CERP, USAID, or other funding sources or ongoing programs. ; Among the E-PRT's criteria for projects were sustainability, value for funds invested, and impact. For each project, E-PRT members met with local vendors, contractors, and other Iraqi parties to ensure the project addressed unmet needs in an economical manner. ¶A. (SBU) Grants ) the seven grants cover: a center for children with Down's Syndrome, a legal services referral center, specialized training in heavy equipment operation and generator repair for public works employees, renovation of the Baghdad Al-Jadida Market, the Al-Bashaer program of grants and loans administered through two of the district council halls, job skills training for vulnerable populations, and post-trauma programming for children in areas of conflict. ¶B. (SBU) Micro-Purchases ) the 71 projects covered several sectors, including public health, humanitarian assistance, adult literacy courses, school supplies and facility renovations, community reconciliation, conflict mitigation workshops, environmental sanitation, agriculture, economic growth and development, youth and sports, public works capacity development, district council hall standardization, NGO capacity building, trade show participation, and business skills development courses. -------------- Success Stories -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Some of the E-PRT's success stories are as follows: ¶A. (SBU) Agriculture ) The E-PRT formed an agricultural cooperative from rural sheikhs and farmers residing along the Diyala and Tigris Rivers in 9 Nissan and Zafaraniya, and assisted them in obtaining mini-greenhouse plastic sheeting for vegetable growing and winter seed to increase agricultural incomes. Combined with graveled mud roads, these QRF-supported measures have assisted them in increasing productivity and in getting more farm produce to market. ¶B. (SBU) Industry ) The E-PRT assessed dozens of industries in major manufacturing areas of 9 Nissan and Zafaraniya to assist them in developing markets for their products. One success is the National Chemical and Plastic Industries, BAGHDAD 00001237 002 OF 003 which KBR awarded its first state-owned enterprise contract on March 1, 2008, for plastic bags. This pilot sale is expected to lead to further sales in the areas of dinnerware and trays. The E-PRT also targeted the State Company for Vegetable Oil for potential sales to KBR for liquid laundry detergent. ¶C. (SBU) Small Business Development ) The E-PRT sponsored the training of 278 individuals, including 52 women, in the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) training programs. The SBDC is designed to enhance community business relationships and to assist those who seek to open, re-open, or expand a small business by training them in business plan formation, marketing, inventory, basic accounting, and using a computer for budgeting. ¶D. (SBU) Sewing Center - with QRF, the E-PRT facilitated the opening of a women's sewing center in February 2008 in the Baghdad Al-Jadida, 9 Nissan district. The sewing center is managed by an Iraqi women's NGO in a poor area with many widows and single parents requiring job skills necessary to support their families. The goal is to train classes of 15 women for four to six weeks on the use of sewing machines until they can pass proficiency tests, and enable them to start their own small businesses or work with local seamstresses. ¶E. (SBU) Commerce ) With QRF, the E-PRT sponsored the participation of eight local businesses in the November 2007 Kurdistan International Trade Show in Sulaymaniya, which resulted in the signing of 12 business contracts to date. Thereafter, it sponsored the participation of 25 firms ) 22 state-owned enterprises and 3 private firms ) in the February 2008 Business-2-Business Trade Show in Baghdad. The event, which adopted the E-PRT's economics motto, "Buy Iraqi," garnered extensive media coverage, VIP visits, and more than 9,000 attendees, provided local firms with business contacts and enabled them to demonstrate their goods and services to a broad community. The event also included a women's association booth, which marketed handicrafts and other items produced by women from within our community seeking income generation opportunities. ¶F. (SBU) Education ) Due to the conflict and years of inattention to education, Baghdad's literacy rate has declined significantly. Realizing that employees need basic Arabic reading and writing skills to seek employment, the E-PRT assisted in establishing an adult literacy program in mid-2007. The program involved 700 students attending class five evenings a week for six months in six elementary schools in the 9 Nissan district, with four classes for men and three for women. The Ministry of Education provides unemployed instructors to teach the classes. The program is designed to prepare students for follow-on training at vocational and technical training schools. ¶G. (SBU) Community Reconciliation ) The E-PRT works with three districts, each with substantial Christian, Sunni, and Shia populations. Due to the five-year conflict, the social fabric of Baghdad has been torn. We engage in ongoing dialogue with Sunni and Shia political party representatives, local government officials, Iraqi Security Forces officers, and other members of civil society to rebuild trust in the community through reconciliation. The E-PRT has also supported the rehabilitation of a "sheikh hall," where traditional leaders meet and confer to manage local conflicts. (SBU) The E-PRT also used QRF to support a series of community reconciliation events during Ramadan in October 2007, wherein Sunni mosques held open-house iftars. The events involved non-governmental organizations organizing events with signs and banners, a theme and agenda, speakers and a program, and an iftar meal. Sunni community leaders invited Christians and Shia to each event, seeking to rebuild trust and a spirit of brotherhood within the community, helping catalyze our reconciliation objective. (SBU) Additional momentum in community reconciliation arises from a series of conflict mitigation workshops being implemented by the U.S. Institute of Peace. Each district has three, three-day workshops, with iterations focusing on different target groups ) district council members, civil society officials, and opinion shapers. While the target number was for 270 persons to be trained in conflict mitigation, the courses grew and well over 300 people attended these programs. ¶H. (SBU) Health - The E-PRT gained acceptance for a QRF grant to develop a first-ever rehabilitation center for young children with Down's syndrome. The program will involve training in basic life skills, leading up to helping them to BAGHDAD 00001237 003 OF 003 enter the Iraqi educational system. Dealing with children who have typically been kept in seclusion, the program's goal is to develop abilities and social skills to each child's maximum capacity. ¶I. (SBU) Social/Cultural - The E-PRT assisted the Palestinian community by placing traffic barriers at key points near its compound, installing a security wall, supplying a nearby pharmacy, rehabilitating a clinic, providing emergency water supplies, supporting a trash removal program, forming a Community Action Group to advocate for local issues by building consensus and prioritizing needs. These have significantly improved the quality of life for the community, which does not have the benefit of Iraqi citizenship or representation in a neighborhood council, despite many of its more than 5,000 residents living there since settlement waves in 1948 and 1967. (SBU) Widows and Orphans - In February 2008, the E-PRT used QRF to support a six-day conference to address issues of widows, orphans, divorces, and victims of terrorism. The conference involved 40 widows participating in an event facilitated by local NGO "Mariam." Participants shared their experiences and built relationships with others with similar life stories. ¶J. (SBU) Water - Potable water shortages are a serious problem in 9 Nissan, where breakouts of acute diarrheal diseases occurred in the late summer of 2007. The E-PRT identified an underutilized water treatment plant at the National Chemical and Plastic Industries facility, and worked to form a linkage between it and Baghdad city hall so that the excess water supply could be introduced into the municipal water system. ¶K. (SBU) Electricity - The E-PRT worked with battalion and local government officials to establish a plan and award a contract for micro-generator system installation at the Kamaliya Industrial Park in 9 Nissan political district to furnish bulk power to local industries. ¶L. (SBU) Governance - The E-PRT is challenged in developing working partnerships with three political districts: Karada, Rusafa, and 9 Nissan. At the time of the arrival of the E-PRT, a ban against Coalition Forces presence at district council meetings was in effect in 9 Nissan. The E-PRT negotiated entry, and was able to initiate a number of projects to improve local conditions. -- (SBU) District Hall Standardization - To ensure adequate local governance facilities, the E-PRT worked with the Baghdad PRT and the Brigade to standardize the three district council halls. This included structural integrity of the buildings, functioning utilities, and offices equipped to carry out the basic functions of local government. -- (SBU) Intergovernmental Relations - Recognizing that district councils represent the legislative branch of government and need balancing by the executive branch, the E-PRT worked to develop relationships between them and the four service districts. By building bridges between these branches of government, we have gained the participation of public works officials in the essential services committees of the district councils. -- (SBU) Specialized Public Works Training - The E-PRT organized the participation of public works officials from across the city in a specialized training program for heavy equipment operation and generator repair in Erbil. This unique program permitted them to develop an increased capacity for carrying out public works projects, becoming less dependent upon outside contractors. BUTENIS