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August/September 2004
Vol. X, No. 3
Dan Serwer, Peace and Stability Operations director at the Institute, coordinates the Institute's activities in Iraq. |
Despite Security Challenges, Institute Moves Forward in Iraq
USIP establishes presence in Iraq, proceeds with training, grants, and peace center.
Despite the near-daily bombings, assassinations, attacks, and kidnappings that continue to disrupt the reconstruction of Iraq, the Institute has established a firm foothold in Baghdad, opening an office and residence, hiring local staff, training several contingents of high-level Iraqi civil servants, and beginning to disburse grants to local nongovernmental organizations. "Given the hazardous conditions and the recent transition to Iraqi sovereignty, we're pleased to have initiated our programs and kept them on a fast track. We have now trained over 200 Iraqis and made over $800,000 in grants concerned with Iraq," said Dan Serwer, Peace and Stability Operations director, who is coordinating the Institute's activities in Iraq. In addition, he said, "we've established an excellent working relationship with the U.S. embassy, with many ministries of the interim Iraqi government, with Iraqi civil society, and with other international organizations working in Iraq."
The Institute's efforts in Iraq are being funded by a special $10 million congressional appropriation included in the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense and for the Reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan 2004, otherwise known as the Iraq Supplemental, signed by President Bush in November 2003. The Institute is using the appropriation to prevent and reduce interethnic and interreligious violence, speed up stabilization and democratization, and reduce the need for a continuing large-scale U.S. presence in Iraq.
Judy Barsalou, director of the Grant Program, which has issued over $800,000 in grants to Iraq. |
Among the Institute's first activities in Baghdad was a weeklong training workshop organized by the Professional Training Program's Anne Henderson and facilitated by Serwer and Sloan Mann, of the Peace and Stability Program. Part of a two-year intergroup exercise, its goal is to promote greater understanding and cooperation among Iraqi ethnic and religious groups. The second phase will be two "train-the-trainer" workshops, in which Iraqi leaders will be taught to conduct facilitation workshops. The Institute plans to support these efforts with both funding and mentoring. "These Iraqis are people of proven stature in their communities who have an interest in the peaceful resolution of conflict," said Henderson. "Eventually, with our support and funding, they'll act as mediators and facilitators in their home regions." The Institute is targeting regions like Kirkuk, Mosul, and other regions where intergroup tensions are high.
The Institute's Grant Program, led by Judy Barsalou, has already begun distributing grants to international and indigenous institutions carrying out projects in or relating to Iraq. One grant, to the Conflict Management Group, will help 30 Kurdish professors at three universities in northern Iraq to co-design and implement a conflict resolution curriculum through a multidisciplinary approach including law, social science, psychology, and journalism. Another grant, this one to the Iraq Foundation, will initiate dialogue among leading members of Iraq's Sunni and Shi'a communities to diminish the likelihood of conflict in the post-Ba'ath period.
David Smock is the director of the Religion and Peacemaking Initiative, which has helped establish the Iraq Institute of Peace. |
Following the signing of the Baghdad Religious Accord in February 2004 by prominent religious leaders from all faiths, these same leaders founded the Iraqi Centre for Dialogue, Reconciliation, and Peace, recently renamed the Iraq Institute of Peace (IIP). Coventry Cathedral facilitated the creation of the IIP with financial support from the Institute's Religion and Peacemaking Initiative, led by David Smock. IIP has secured the release of seven hostages to date, condemned political violence, organized religious dialogue between Sunni and Shia leaders, and provided advice to the new Iraqi prime minister on interfaith issues. IIP working groups will focus on the status of women, human rights, and religious dialogue. The Institute's Baghdad office recently hosted a one-hour, informal discussion between Ambassador John Negroponte and the Iraq Institute of Peace. The ambassador appeared surprised to learn that IIP is one of the only groups actively working to promote religious tolerance and conflict prevention in Iraq.
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