Addressing the humanitarian needs of the Internally Displaced and supporting vulnerable communities

ACTED began working in Iraq in 2003, and relocated to Amman, Jordan, for security reasons in 2004, while maintaining operations through a remote control management system. ACTED has two bases in Kut and Samawa, Southern Iraq (and also oversees activities in the Thi-Qar governorate), and opened a base in 2007 in Erbil to better respond to IDP’s needs in the Kurdistan region.

ACTED originally focused on improving the health, water and sanitation conditions of vulnerable populations in Southern Iraq, but the deteriorating security situation and drastic increase in the number of displaced people have resulted in a new focus on meeting IDP and host community needs, based on the experience in IDP camps in Lebanon.

Faced with one of the largest displacement and humanitarian crises in the world, Iraq remains a challenging assistance mission. Whilst the security context in Iraq is gradually improving, the needs of the displaced continue to be great. The size of its IDP population is one of the largest in the world and as a result they face extremely precarious living conditions and serious gaps in access to basic services.

Despite the fact that the influx of IDPs stabilized by 2008, returns are still very limited and the total estimated IDP population, 2.8 million people, remains one of the largest in the world. These IDPs are dependent on humanitarian aid and their living conditions are extremely precarious, aggravated by serious gaps in access to basic services such as employment, shelter, food, clean water and health care. In this context, ACTED’s involvement has been that of addressing these emergency needs and ensuring satisfactory living conditions for IDPs as well as for local communities.

Today, ACTED team in Iraq includes around 100 people, located both in Iraq and Jordan. They implement multi-sector emergency relief projects including WATSAN activities, gender-based violence awareness, health promotion, economic rehabilitation, food security, and distribution of basic relief commodities.

ACTED plans to move back to Iraq to improve not only the control and monitoring process but above all the strategic delivery of humanitarian assistance to assist the return process as much as possible.

Iraq at a crossroad: helping communities, supporting IDPs and assisting returnees

In 2009, ACTED will assist the Iraqi population through a threefold strategy: firstly, continuing to address the basic needs of the most vulnerable IDPs, through the emergency distribution of food and non-food items; secondly, enhancing the integration within host communities through the provision of community assistance projects; and lastly, exploring ways in which the return process can be assisted.

Considering the gradual improvement in security since 2008, ACTED will strengthen its capacity to deliver targeted humanitarian assistance by re-establishing a full-scale presence in Iraq. In 2009, ACTED will gradually phase out remote management, opening a liaison office in Baghdad and strengthening its structural capacities in the South. This shift will improve not only control and monitoring processes but above all the strategic delivery of humanitarian assistance.