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BAASHIQA AREA BASED ASSESSMENT JULY 2018 Returns Working Group RWG Iraq Baashiqa Area Based Assessment Produced by REACH Initiative with the support of the Iraq Returns Working Group, CCCM and ECHO About REACH REACH facilitates the development of information tools and products that enhance the capacity of aid actors to make evidence-based decisions in emergency, recovery and development contexts. All REACH activities are conducted through inter-agency aid coordination mechanisms. All our reports, maps and factsheets are available on the REACH resource centre. For more information, visit our website at www.reach-initiative.org, follow us on Twitter: @REACH_info and Facebook: www.facebook.com/IMPACT.init or write to [email protected] 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents 15 Overview 4 Introduction 16 Healthcare 6 Methodology 18 Education 7 Challenges and Limitations 20 Water 8 Background and Context 22 Solid Waste Disposal 8 Contextual Overview 23 Conclusion 9 Assessment Findings 24 Endnotes 9 Demographics Appendix one: Baashiqa Maps 10 Returns 10 Livelihoods 13 Assistance, Top Priority Needs 14 Shelter 14 Protection and Social Cohesion 15 Functionality and Access to Services 3 INTRODUCTION The towns of Baashiqa and Bahzani1 (hereafter households had fled the town – almost entirely referred to as Baashiqa), located in the Ninewa in the original waves of displacement in August Plains, 13 km northeast of Mosul city2 have 2014. As a result of this offensive, ISIL was historically hosted a diverse set of population expelled from Baashiqa in early November 2016. groups and a majority of residents are reported to be Yezidi.3 Apart from Yezidis, these groups After the KF established control over Baashiqa, include Christians, Shia Muslims, Sunni Muslims, residents were relatively slow to return, beginning and Shabak.4 However, during the territorial from February 2017 onwards. This was largely advancement of the so-called Islamic State of due to the perceived presence of unexploded Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the area in 2014, ordnances (UXOs) and improvised explosive nearly all of Baashiqa’s residents had left the devices (IEDs) as well as damaged infrastructure.7 town by August 2014, largely moving to Dahuk, As of April 2018, according to the International of Iraq’s 2005 Constitution.11 In October 2017, Assessment (ABA) in Baashiqa. The assessment Sulaymaniyah, and Erbil governorates in the Organization for Migration (IOM), around 3,920 one year after the KRG established control of was coordinated and implemented under the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). families (approximately 23,520 individuals) have Baashiqa, the GoI re-established full control over framework of the Iraq Camp Coordination and returned to Baashiqa8 since February 2017.9 This the town following an independence referendum Camp Management (CCCM) cluster and the Beginning in mid-October 2016, the Iraqi Security sets returns at an estimated 47%, as the pre-ISIL held in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI).12 Returns Working Group (RWG), and aligned with Forces (ISF) and the Kurdish Forces (KF) began a population of Baashiqa was estimated at around the Multi-Sector Response Framework (MSRF), military offensive to regain control over the city of 50,000 inhabitants.10 Based on available sources, REACH Initiative a guidance document with input from relevant Mosul and its surroundings, including Baashiqa, (REACH) identified that, while general information clusters to facilitate coordinated area-based from ISIL. By late October 2016, when the KF In the immediate post-ISIL period, administrative regarding returns and levels of damage within interventions in support of Iraq’s conflict-affected began an offensive from two fronts with the aim of control of the area of Baashiqa was disputed Baashiqa were widely known, there was a populations. Baashiqa was selected because of removing ISIL from Baashiqa,5 KF commanders between the Kurdistan Regional Government lack of publicly available and location-specific the relatively high number of returnees. stated that, according to their intelligence, there (KRG) and the Government of Iraq (GoI)and as a data outlining the state of available services were no civilians left in Baashiqa.6 Likewise, result the town and its surroundings had already and specific needs in Baashiqa. Therefore, In focusing assessments at the settlement participants in mapping exercises and community officially been classified as a disputed territory in order to inform recovery and stabilisation level, the ABA seeks to provide a tailored and discussion groups (CDGs) reported that all between the GoI and the KRG under Article 140 programming, REACH launched an Area-Based actionable profile of the assessment area, with 4 Baashiqa Town - Neighbourhood Boundaries specific focus on demographics, household-level needs, and access to critical public services. The general objective of the ABA, then, is to inform evidence-based humanitarian programming and service delivery in the short- and long- term at the area-level. Through an area-based approach, humanitarian actors can operate at a more localized level to design a response that is geographically targeted, inclusive of a range of local, international, and governmental actors, and inter-sectoral in its programme delivery. 5 METHODOLOGY Interviewees Number Surveyed The ABA employs a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection, including scoping and secondary data review (SDR); semi-structured key informant Community Leader KIs: 3 mukhtars interviews (KIIs) with community leaders; community group discussions (CGDs) with residents of CGDs & Mapping: 38 participants the area; KIIs with individuals with specialised knowledge of service provision in the area; and a comprehensive household-level needs assessment that is representative of the population living Specialised Service Provision KIs: 16 KIs within the area of assessment. Household Need Assessment: 494 households Scoping and SDR: Prior to the launch of the structure of Iraq, individuals known as mukhtars assessment, REACH conducted extensive SDR represent the most local level of government participants. In addition, REACH staff conducted removal within Baashiqa. These individuals to determine the base of knowledge related to representation. These individuals are appointed by a comprehensive mapping of Baashiqa town in were identified both through mukhtars and other the area of assessment that was already publicly local councils and serve as a primary intermediary mid-February 2018. This was supplemented with INGOs and UN agencies active within the area. available, and to build a level of contextual between residents and government service additional participatory mapping exercises in Overall, REACH enumerators conducted semi- knowledge to inform the data collection plan. In providers within their area of responsibility. In their late April 2018, comprising 14 participants from structured interviews with three education KIs, addition, REACH conducted several scoping position as community representatives, mukhtars Baashiqa and Bahzani sections. three healthcare KIs, three electrical KIs, three missions to the area in order to meet with are well placed to provide general information water KIs, and four solid waste disposal KIs. All community leaders and pilot assessment tools. on the demographics, needs and access to Specialised Service Provision KIIs: After interviews were conducted between 30 April and In order to avoid duplication, the availability of services within their areas of responsibility. In building a picture of community perceptions and 7 May 2018. existing information informed the primary data order to gather preliminary information on the expectations with regards to service delivery, collections methods utilized. area, REACH conducted KIIs with three mukhtars REACH conducted a total of 16 additional Household-Level Needs Assessment: In between 24 - 26 January, 2018. During the same interviews with KIs with specialist knowledge of order to triangulate findings from qualitative Community Leader KIIs, CGDs and period, REACH conducted CGDs on service the provision of public services – namely health, data collection, and to provide a comprehensive Participatory Mapping: In the governance provision in the area with 14 female and 10 male education, water, electricity, and solid waste overview of needs within the municipality, 6 Challenges and Limitations REACH also conducted a household-level needs assessment in Baashiqa. As reliable population The pilot of the ABA in Baashiqa presented several challenges and limitations: figures are difficult to identify within the Iraqi context, an infinite population was assumed for • As this was a pilot assessment with multiple components conducted within a rapidly shifting the purpose of sampling. In total, 494 household context, the overall data collection period for the ABA in Baashiqa was necessarily dynamic in interviews were conducted in Baashiqa, reaching terms of its length. As additional information gaps were identified, additional assessment tools a 97% level of confidence and a 5% margin of were deployed to address those gaps. As a result, the data collection period for the overall error at the town level. To draw the random assessment was spread over four months; a period longer than initially anticipated during the sample, random GPS points were generated research design phase. across all populated areas of the city through a grid-based technique. All data was collected
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