Social Fund for Development .. Development experience with an investment vision

A new development experience in Iraq as part of the quest for sustainable development that contributes to the policies of combating poverty and eradicating hunger in line with the new global trends based on the fight against poverty, and the poor first in development plans that should not be excluded through partnership and development participation.

The new Iraqi experience is the creation of a development structure called the Social Fund for Development, whose mission is to support poverty alleviation projects, provide basic services to the poor in health, housing, education, transport, agriculture, irrigation and employment and support the social protection network by financing projects that provide basic services under mitigation strategies Especially the second strategy to be launched in 2017 to 2021.

The idea of ​​the fund seems new and may not be understood by some because Iraq's experience with this type of funds is not long.

The Iraqi Housing Fund was established in 2011, which provides loans to citizens wishing to buy or build housing units.

After the need for more than 3 million and 500 thousand housing units until 2015 is increasing, the Fund has not played a major role in addressing this acute crisis for reasons of funding and procedures.

The second experiment, which is still in its early stages, is the experience of the Reconstruction and Stabilization Fund for the areas affected by the terrorist operations, which was established in 2015.

It faces the great challenges of the massive damage caused by terrorist acts since 2004 until the liberation of the entire Iraqi territory from terrorism, Some of the areas occupied by "Dahesh" have become almost destructive, which means the need for large sums of money to add to the volume of damage to infrastructure and estimated more than 42 trillion dinars, and here highlights the second challenge that stands in front of this fund is scarcity or lack of funds in light of the crisis And therefore the reliability remains on international support for Iraq through grants, loans and assistance that may enable the Fund to perform some of its functions, especially we are talking about the need to work on the implementation of strategic projects contribute to the provision of a positive development environment and therefore this is in the policies of combating Economic terrorism.

The discussion about the Social Fund for Development, and similarities in some of its chapters with these two funds, can be said: This experience may be somewhat different in other details that I find important and contribute to the Fund's position to actually support poverty alleviation projects, His direct involvement with the head of the executive branch of the prime minister will give him a strong impetus in implementing the policies approved by the board of directors, which includes ministers representing the basic development sectors, meaning that the fund will have the ability to formulate its policies and make decisions on the issues before it.

One of the characteristics that will have an impact on the performance of the SFD is the presence of active partners at the level of the country represented by civil society organizations and the private sector as well as local governments in the governorates, in addition to experts in different fields. Such diversity in the composition of the board will produce very important results .

The Social Fund for Development may face a funding problem, but it is hoped that international support will play a role in providing funding, even if it is limited, at least in the initial stages, to the Fund until it is able to stand on its feet after the money is channeled through investment.
According to the information and data released, the World Bank expressed its readiness to support the Fund with international expertise as well as the possibility of financing some of the projects approved by the Fund after starting to exercise the activities of 50 million dollars during the first three years of its work and at this stage will focus on three governorates were chosen for logical reasons Muthanna province in the south of Iraq, which is the highest provinces in poverty rates, where the proportion of which to more than 50 percent and this province is facing many developmental and social problems because of high rates of poverty, while the second province is the province of Salah al-Din As it is one of the provinces that have been fully liberated and returned their displaced children and therefore need the appropriate support to enable them to reconstruct the development of economic and social reality, while the province was selected Dohuk within the Kurdistan region, being the province that received the largest waves of displaced during the past period, which caused a decline in the level of services And increase poverty.

Here we are talking about this experience that we believe it is important and necessary support by all political, economic and social activities, it should also be the media, especially the media and economic clear role in promoting this project, and in return are required concerned or operators of the project giving the media aspect special attention by having a specialized unit in this area within the organizational structure of the Fund .. I also see as others see that success will not come to the availability of financial and moral support by, but can be successfully achieved when adopting fund management and clear policies focused on infrastructure projects Provided many job opportunities and thus contribute to the polarization of labor and reduce unemployment, which is witnessing an increase in the levels of rates.

But, the question remains: When this fund will work effectively in the ground, and is still in front of the steps and measures to require completion, those relating to wageBy passing its own law from the preparation of the final draft through its presentation to the State Council and the Council of Ministers and then go to the Council of Representatives for approval in final form, and it requires the establishment of a clear organizational structure and the selection of the administration, which will prepare the regulations and instructions in light of the law .. Time may not be short, does this mean that the experiment will not start in practice until after the completion of all these procedures? In my opinion, it is preferable - and this is a candidate of information - that the fund be launched in its work through the temporary link in one of the ministries and let the Ministry of Planning for being concerned with the policies of poverty alleviation and the idea of ​​setting up the fund started from this ministry and therefore it has the vision to manage the tasks of this project until the completion of stages It is clear from the foregoing that the experience of the SFD is new, but it seems to be an exciting experience and can bring with it a solution to some of the problems facing the poor of Iraq.

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