ACT News Update

Iraq 0504

Insecurity in Iraq hampers work of ACT member

Geneva, August 27, 2004--The continued instability of the security situation in Iraq has had a major impact on the staff of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) working in the country. NCA, a member of the global alliance of churches and related agencies Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, in May moved its international staff working in Baghdad and Basra to neighboring countries due to the difficult security situation. NCA programs to respond to the ongoing crisis have continued, but with some delays and with management and coordination of activities occurring from points scattered around the region.

The three remaining international members of the Basra management staff, who are residing in Kuwait, have made short, occasional visits to their offices in Iraq, but regular meetings are held with local staff at the Iraq-Kuwait border. NCA has established a temporary office at Diakonia Sweden’s premises in Dahuk to facilitate operations as long as Baghdad is considered unsafe. NCA’s resident representative in Iraq, the head of the program, is currently living in Jordan, but will be spending some time working in the temporary offices in Dahuk.

Iraqi employees at NCA’s Baghdad office have been travelling to Dahuk in the Kurdish-controlled area to meet with NCA’s resident representative. The Baghdad office has three project staff members in addition to finance and service staff. The Basra office has five project staff members as well as support staff.

“Thanks to good communication and the hard work of the NCA local staff in Basrah and Baghdad, project activities are continuing,” says Ellen Dahl, NCA program coordinator in Iraq.

NCA reports, however, that there have been delays in implementing projects. In one case, a water and sanitation emergency project in Babil governorate has been delayed, because the security situation has prevented NCA from deploying a project manager and other outside expertise. The delay has forced NCA to consider a revision of the project proposal that would allow implementation to be handled to a greater extent by Iraqi staff. NCA has also requested a second extension to the earlier ACT appeal it was working under (MEIQ31 – Relief and Rehabilitation) until September 30, 2004.

Updates on Baghdad and central Iraq projects

In a continuation of a quick-impact repair of water works in Baghdad and Al Anbar that was completed in 2003, NCA will begin a new project that includes rehabilitation of 14 sewage pumping stations, water treatment plants and water boosting stations in the governorates of Baghdad, Al Anbar and Diala.

NCA’s rehabilitation of the Baghdad School of Music and Ballet was completed this spring, and the school is open again, with about 250 music and ballet students attending classes. NCA is providing additional equipment in order to bring the school up to the same standards it was at before the war. This work will be finalized in September.

NCA continues to support a youth house in Al Maghrib that was established in 2003. “The youth house has been a great success,” reports NCA. An average of 150 children visit the house every day, where they engage in various activities such as music, dance, drama, arts, computer training, carpentry, sports and karate lessons. NCA has identified a location for a second youth house in Baghdad.

Run by Childhood’s Voice, a local non-governmental organization, the Art School for Children is a project that aims to develop children’s creative and social skills through team-based art education and art-therapy projects. The school houses 60 children - some of them handicapped - on a daily basis. NCA will hand over its responsibilities with the project to Childhood’s Voice or another NGO after September.

Two projects in northern Iraq will receive partial funding from NCA - a publishing center, children’s magazine and art and drama education; and a center for working and street children.

NCA is also supporting a project for internally displaced children in Kirkuk, run by the British NGO STEP.

Updates on Basra- and Missan-based projects

A water and sanitation emergency intervention project in southern Iraq was finalized in mid-June. NCA continues daily deliveries of drinking water to vulnerable institutions such as schools, health clinics and hospitals in Basrah through the hot summer. The tankering of potable water was part of a larger water and sanitation emergency intervention project in 2003-2004. The current tankering project will last until the end of October.

ACT member DanChurchAid (DCA), working with NCA, decided to close a rapid-response water repair project, part of the rehabilitation of rural water-supply systems, earlier than planned due to security concerns. The two Norwegian water and sanitation engineers in the project ended their work in June.

NCA has begun preparations for a youth club in Saffwan, located near the border with Kuwait. A similar club in Basrah is also being planned.

NCA has given rehabilitation assistance to a home for elderly people and a home for the blind in Basrah and has supported the Syrian Orthodox Church in donations to poor children. There is contact with the Kaldanyan Church, the Protestant Church, the Syrian Catholic Church as well as the Armenian Church and discussions on possible cooperation with the Iraq Women’s League, which hopes to open a women's house, and the Iraq Media Network.

Update on refugee work in Jordan

NCA’s responsibilities to UNHCR for solid-waste and sanitation facilities in the refugee camps at the Jordanian border ended in May. The Jordan office is now only a support office for the Iraq program.