Top Ten USAID Strategic Accomplishments In Iraq

1. Improving Primary Health Care: USAID is helping strengthen essential
primary health care services throughout Iraq.

* In 2005 alone, USAID-supported emergency campaigns immunized 98 percent
of Iraqi children between 1-5 years old (3.62 million) against measles, mumps,
and rubella,

* Also in 2005, USAID immunized 97 percent of Iraqi children under five
(4.56 million) against polio.

* In all, USAID partners have trained more than 2,500 primary health care
workers to expand access to essential primary health care services.

2. Expanding Access to Electricity: In 2002, Baghdad had access to
electricity 24 hours a day; the rest of Iraq was limited to 3-6 hours.

* Currently, all 18 governorates receive nearly 14 hours of electricity
daily, an incredible improvement for a country emerging from decades of
conflict and little investment.

* USAID efforts have added 1,400 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity to
the national electrical grid, expanding access to 4.2 million Iraqis
throughout most of Iraq.

3. Providing Potable Water: Many parts of Iraq had no access to or
provision of clean potable water. Indeed many of Iraq's waterways were
contaminated with refuse and sewage.

* Over 4 million Iraqis who had no clean drinking water in 2002 now have
safe, potable water piped to their homes following USAID efforts to refurbish
water treatment plants in 15 cities.

* USAID is also providing plant-level operations and maintenance (O&M)
training at major water and wastewater plants nationwide to ensure that these
plants remain functioning.

4. Restoring Sewage Systems: Before 2003, Iraq's cities suffered from
inadequate sewage systems; backed up sewage created pools in neighborhoods or
emptied directly into nearby rivers.

* Today, USAID's rehabilitated sewage treatment plants throughout Iraq
process a total of 339.7 million gallons daily.



* These plants alone provide 7.2 million urban Iraqis - over a quarter of
the national population - access to functioning, waterborne sewage, greatly
improving sanitation and contributing to a decrease in waterborne disease.

5. Improving Local Governance and Community Development: Iraqi democracy
must prove itself through service delivery and community-based solutions to
local problems.

* With USAID assistance, representative provincial and municipal
governments are more capable of delivering essential services to their
constituents.

* Countrywide, more than 670 community action groups focused on civic
education, women's advocacy, and anti-corruption have been supported by USAID.

* Working through local NGOs, USAID has implemented 4,672 quick impact
projects throughout Iraq, providing short-term employment and restoration of
basic services.

6. Connecting Iraq to the Global Economy: The private sector is the engine
for sustainable job creation and economic growth. To help guide policy
reform, USAID's Investor Roadmap analyzes constraints to investment.

* Iraq's Investment Promotion Agency was recently established with USAID
assistance, and will serve as a resource to international investors.

* USAID worked with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to develop a
Competitiveness Study, helping integrate efforts to create a robust private
sector that fosters job creation.

* USAID programs assist Iraq's MoF, Central Organization for Statistics
and Information Technology (COSIT), and Iraq's Central Bank in meeting their
International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements. This $19 million technical
assistance effort is expected to return to Iraq $480 million in the IMF
Standby Agreement by December 2005 as well as debt forgiveness of $27 billion
from the Paris Club by March 2006.

* Working with the MoF, USAID introduced the new dinar currency to promote
national unity and a sound functioning monetary policy. Currently, 4.62
trillion new Iraqi dinars are in circulation in Iraq.

7. Expanding Political Inclusion and Expression: USAID assistance has
helped prepare Iraq for two national elections, numerous provincial and
municipal elections, and the Constitutional Referendum of October 15.

* In preparation for the January 2005 election, USAID helped the
Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) establish a voter registration
system, and worked with the UN on improving balloting procedures.

* USAID-supported NGOs distributed election materials, helped televise
debates, and led over 22,000 town meetings to educate Iraqi voters.

* USAID and a local NGO trained over 8,000 election monitors.

* Current efforts are preparing 15,000 elections monitors for the December
15, 2005 elections.

8. Supporting the New Iraqi Constitution: The January 2005 Interim
Government election put into place a National Assembly to frame a constitution
emphasizing democracy and the rule of law.

* USAID partners provided constitutional specialists to the Drafting
Committee while input from over 111,000 national surveys kept the Committee in
touch with national sentiment.

* The Iraqi Women's National Coalition, supported by USAID, developed a
10-point statement adopted in the constitution.

* A USAID-supported NGO televised debates and distributed information.
Nearly 9,500 monitors, trained by USAID partners, helped ensure a successful
constitutional referendum.

9. Transforming Primary Education: USAID assistance has helped Iraq move
away from rote learning methodology in decrepit, unsanitary classrooms to
interactive learning in rehabilitated buildings.

* Since 2003, USAID has rehabilitated nearly 3,000 schools.

* Over 20 million new textbooks have been supplied by USAID (8.6 million)
and UNESCO (12 million).

* By 2006, more than 133,000 primary school teachers - a third of Iraq's
educators in all - will have received training and technical assistance.

* Already, the most recent primary school enrollment numbers show a 19
percent increase from pre-war levels.

10. Restoring Excellence in Higher Education: The USAID Higher Education
and Development (HEAD) Program brings together five American and 10 Iraqi
universities to help reestablish academic excellence in Iraq's higher
education system.

* Since January 2004, more than 1,500 Iraqi faculty and students have
participated in workshops, trainings, conferences, and courses in Iraq, the
Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

* University facilities - libraries, computer and science laboratories,
lecture halls, and buildings - have been rehabilitated at colleges throughout
the country.

* A mini-grant program supports new, innovative research throughout the
country. In addition, books and electronic resources have been provided to
university libraries.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/st...4230007&EDATE=

NEVER see any of this on the tube! :thumbsup:

NOBODY seems to like to read of the good things we have done so here's a bump for ya! :thumbsup:

Ive read it, but i still wont feel safe until all the democrats & republicans are kicked out of Congress & the WhiteHouse. Then i will say a job well done..LOL
Or when the ETs take over the World :stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eg420ne

Ive read it, but i still wont feel safe until all the democrats & republicans are kicked out of Congress & the WhiteHouse. Then i will say a job well done..LOL
Or when the ETs take over the World :stoned:

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LOL...No arguments from me on that one! ETs??? You wouldn't be into Scientology? :rasta:

No i was j/k around

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eg420ne

No i was j/k around

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So was I ...except for the first part. Way to many of these people in special interests back pockets. The right is way to puritan and the left doesn't really seem to have any real direction.....just whatever is popular to say at the moment.

I still say Jesse Ventura was the shit. He was voted in under a platform of legal pot, prostitution, no more government open pockets....
To bad he didn't have a state legistature that would support his vision though!

Now HE was a true Libertarian as far as I'm concerned!! :thumbsup: