In the Field: Success Stories

Lying northeast of Baghdad and stretching toward Iran in the East and Kurdistan to the North, Diyala Province was once the breadbasket of Iraq.  But a seemingly never-ending series of conflicts left the province battered and tense: Sunni resistance and strife between Sunni and Shia militias, the fight against al-Qaida, and tension between Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional forces.  

 

Diyala Province remains a precarious place but there are signs of hope, in part because of USIP efforts on the ground there.  On May 4, 2009, the Provincial Council of Diyala Province, supported by a joint USIP-State Department Team, issued a “Diyala Declaration” that outlined a vision for the province, which has been devastated by war, terrorism and drought for the past six years. Patricia Thomson, former executive vice president of USIP, currently serves in Iraq as Governance Team leader, and worked with the Institute experts in achieving this success.

 

The Council members, who represent the full spectrum of Iraqi politics and society, agreed upon a common set of goals including security, economics, transparency and efficiency in governance, improved education and the prompt and orderly return of displaced persons. The declaration is a living document subject to revision and refinement by the Provincial Council members after consultation with citizens of the province. This framework reflects USIP’s impact in helping to create sustainable mechanisms and models in the field.

 

In other Iraq news, our team recently received a letter that reminded everyone of the impact USIP’s on-the-ground efforts have on individuals. The letter came from William H. Zemp, a Senior Fellow in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. “I wanted to take a moment and say thank you,” Mr. Zemp wrote. “I was the battalion commander that worked with you in Mahmoudiya Iraq 2007–2008. Your initiatives helped save the lives of my guys and gave us other alternatives in nonviolent conflict resolution. You made a big difference in Mahmoudiya.”

 

 

USIP’s Network of Afghan Facilitators, formed and trained from the Institute’s Educational and Training Center/International, is showing progress on the ground, province by province in Afghanistan. Afghan trainers are working together to help resolve conflicts in provinces suffering from crushing poverty, low literacy, widespread corruption and broad cultural divides. Modeled after USIP’s work in Iraq, the facilitation network prevents violence and mediates tribal and community-level conflicts. These facilitators mend cleavages that, if allowed to fester, would become ripe for wider exploitation by the Taliban, warlords and other antigovernment forces.

 

This network of Afghan facilitators also helps resolve family-level disputes involving substantial abuse of women.  The network, and the Afghan nationals who comprise it, have been involved in active community organizations, such as the Khost Conflict Resolution Commission and other local partners. 

USIP experts Keith Bowen and Nina Sughrue have been working for more than a year on negotiation and mediation training programs that are showing success. Some of the difficult cases that Afghan facilitators have resolved include: women not allowed by family members to work outside the house, drug dealers attempting to burn women, a married person forced by his parents to divorce his wife and a marriage arranged in exchange for money.

 

 

Youth and civil society organizations are not accustomed to mingling with police and security officers on a friendly basis in Sudan.  But USIP is helping to change that dynamic and enable security forces and civil society organizations to form working relationships to prevent violence in the run-up to elections.

 

Designed by USIP’s Education and Training Center/International and the Institute’s Center for Analysis and Prevention, the first electoral violence prevention program began in Sudan in January 2009 and quickly produced results. The local partner, the Institute for the Development of Civil Society, invited local police to present a plan for securing elections. USIP was able to work with police and security officers to create more cooperation with civil society leaders. Their efforts resulted in a voter education program and the breakdown of social barriers. Further dialogue and joint programs are now envisioned.