Supporting Recovery and Development in the Kurdistan Region
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Supporting Recovery and Development in the Kurdistan Region July 2009 United Nations Development Programme Supporting Recovery and Development in the Kurdistan Region UNDP-Iraq in Partnership with the Kurdistan Region Since 2003, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been supporting the work of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in its efforts to reconstruct and develop the Kurdistan region. Based on the legacy of UNDP’s Electricity Network Rehabilitation Programme implemented from 1996 to end 2002, several initial projects undertaken by UNDP focused on infrastructure activities. Since these early days, UNDP’s support has expanded to cover a broad spectrum of projects covering many sectors across the three governorates. These have ranged from short-term income generation initiatives for vulnerable groups, mine victim assistance and response to the cholera outbreak to more upstream activities such as the development of a donor assistance database for aid coordination, loan management, budget execution and public finance management. It is also supporting the KRG in rule of law, human rights and justice issues as well as water sanitation master planning and capacity building programmes. Reflecting its broad development mandate, UNDP Iraq currently operates in Kurdistan across the following four programmatic areas: (1) Recovery and Crisis Prevention; (2) Governance and Civil Society; (3) Poverty Reduction and Human Development; and (4) Mine Action. Following restructuring in summer 2009 UNDP Iraq will operate under two programmatic pillars: (1) Governance and (2) Economic Recovery and Poverty Alleviation. In 2009, UNDP renewed its commitment to assist the KRG and has expanded its support in all the areas under its development mandate. This brochure provides a brief summary of UNDP activities in Kurdistan, project locations, regional, national and international development partners as well as current financial resources invested in developing this region. Recovery Governance Poverty Reduction Mine & Crisis & Civil & Human Action Prevention Society Development Donor Construction of Halabja Maternity and Child Hospital Donor Electricity Sector Reconstruction Project in Kurdistan Region Budget: USD 9.5 Million Budget: USD 6.5 Million Location: Halabja, Sulaimaniyah Governorate Location: Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah Governorates With funding from the Government of Japan and as part of the “Conflict Victim The Regional Ministry of Electricity in Kurdistan (RMEK) and UNDP signed a cost-sharing Assistance in the Northern Region of Iraq” project, UNDP is executing the construction agreement on 17 November 2008. Resources were made available to the Government of Halabja Maternity and Child Hospital (MCH) in the town of Halabja through the of Iraq by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as ODA loan. In partnership NGO Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) its implementing partner . The project includes with JICA, UNDP will provide procurement advisory services to RMEK and supervise the construction of a 50-bed MCH, equipped with specialized and general equipment, construction of a staff housing facility as an annex to the Halabja General Hospital and implementation works of subprojects (installation and commissioning, etc.) in order to delivering a capacity strengthening programme. provide better electricity services for the Kurdistan Region. Donor Installation of Small Diesel Generators, O&M and Donors Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Civil Aviation Capacity Building at Health Care Facilities in Halabja Budget: USD 3.3 Million (nationwide) Budget: USD 5.4 Million Location: Halabja and Bamook, Sulaimaniyah Governorate Location: Erbil and Sulaimaniyah Airports With funding from the Government of Sweden and as part of the “Support to the Iraqi As a joint initiative between UNDP and US Department of State, in partnership with Electricity and Health Sectors in the Emergency and Long-Term Context” project, UNDP the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a mission was organized in is executing an electricity and health support project in the town of Halabja with the aim November 2008 to identify the needs of Erbil International Airport. The mission also of providing uninterrupted power supply to Halabja General Hospital. Provision of 24/7 met Sulaimaniyah airport staff concerning compliance with the Standards and hours electrical power supply to the Halabja General Hospital will be achieved by Recommended Practices of ICAO. The findings were factored into a draft Civil installing one additional 500 kA Small Diesel Power Generation Set (SDG). Two SDGs as Aviation Master Plan document presented to key stakeholders in Baghdad in March standby units (300kVA & 500kVA) have been installed in Bamook village for electrical 2009. A follow-up visit to Erbil, including a number of training workshops on aviation power supply to the village residents and essential services. economics and safety management systems, took place in June 2009. Donor Community Awareness Campaign for Water Conservation Donors Improving the Housing Delivery System in Erbil Budget: USD 0.1 Million Budget: USD 1.3 Million (UNDP Component) Location: Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah Governorates K R G Location: Erbil City On 28 April 2009, UNDP's initiative for Community Awareness Campaign Project for UNDP and UN-HABITAT jointly launched a project to improve the housing delivery Water Conservation for the three northern Governorates kicked off. The project was system in Erbil in the beginning of May 2009. The Erbil housing strategy, which the project aims to support, proposes to address serious housing problems such as initiated by UNDP following the endorsement by the Ministry of Municipalities. The substandard and informal housing on the one hand, and over-design and poor energy project’s duration is 16 weeks and will be undertaken in five phases. Steering efficiency on the other. UNDP's specific role is to lead on energy-efficient housing Committee has been established to monitor the project. Focal points have been design and construction for slum improvement. This builds on experiences targeting issues of similar nature elsewhere in the world. The project is funded through the identified from both UNDP and the Ministry of Municipalities to follow up and Multi-Donor Iraq Trust Fund with a contribution from the Government of Korea and co- coordinate project activities. financed by Erbil Governorate. Following restructuring in summer 2009 UNDP Iraq will operate under two programmatic pillars: (1) Governance and (2) Economic Recovery and Poverty Alleviation. Donors Budget Execution Support to KRG Donor Gender Based Violence (GBV) Proposal Budget: USD 1.4 Million Budget: USD 0.6 Million Location: Kurdistan Region Location: Kurdistan Region The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has requested the support of UNDP for the UNDP has been in extensive discussions with several key ministries in the Kurdistan Region establishment of its Public Finance Management Action Plan (PFM). In this connection on 5-6 to shore up UNDP´s support to initiatives that are aimed at fighting violence against women. May 2009, a two-day Conference was held to adopt the KRG PFM Action Plan and to launch This issue has been a priority for the Kurdish Regional Government and several steps have the Budget Execution Support Project, developed by UNDP in support of the KRG Ministries been taken to address both legal reforms as well as improvements in law enforcement. of Finance and Planning. The adopted Action Plan provides an overall policy and operational UNDP is proposing a national programme on “Family Protection, Justice and Security” that framework for designing and implementing an integrated PFM reform and institution will span three years and aims to address GBV on three different levels namely: law building programme, aligning this programme with the national PFM Action Plan, fostering enforcement, access to justice for GBV victims and economic and social empowerment for coordination and mobilizing donors' support. survivors of GBV. Donor Development Assistance Database (DAD) Donor Capacity Development in National Aid Management Budget: USD 2.6 Million Budget: USD 2.5 Million (nationwide) Location: Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah Governorates K R G Location: Dohuk, Erbil and Sulaimaniyah Governorates UNDP are working closely with the Ministry of Planning (MoP) to establish a Development UNDP is supporting the Ministry of Planning to establish an External Resources Management Assistance Database (DAD-KRG) to track, prioritise and manage external assistance in line Unit (ERMU) to manage and coordinate external resources and enhance project with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (see www.krgdad.com). The objective is to development, monitoring and reporting with all stakeholders. ERMU provides a platform for promote the harmonization of aid flows under the leadership of the KRG and ensure increased intergovernmental coordination of aid flows, in particular through close alignment with national and regional strategies. The MoP successfully launched DAD KRG in collaboration with the central government, as well as improved alignment with national 2008 and it now serves as the only public, consolidated source of aid and development budget capital investment. Last year, UNDP supported the establishment and staffing of the projects in the Region. The database is synchronized with the wider DAD Iraq, managed by ERMU including the production of a Strategic Development Plan. In 2009, ERMU