Latest News

16 Aug 2008 – In an agricultural community north of Baghdad, a joint effort is underway to tackle one of Iraq’s biggest challenges. Even with drought slowly crippling Iraq’s agriculture, Tatweer’s Lower Rashidiya Agricultural Project is finding solutions for delivering water to farmers to start up small agri-businesses that would provide fresh produce to the growing Baghdad market.

16 Aug 2008 – North Oil Company, a key producer in oil-rich Kirkuk, has worked with Tatweer’s Organizational Self-Assessment and Transformation Program (OSTP) since January 2008; after the first successful Self-Assessment in its Planning Division, North Oil is now planning a self-assessment for its entire company of over 10,000 employees.

16 Aug 2008 – Capacity development in Anbar trains over 100 senior public employees.

16 Aug 2008 – After a long journey from Basrah, the employees of the Ministry of Agriculture were too excited to sleep. They reached their destination in Baghdad to share their successes, their commitment and their personal journeys in a Tatweer Leadership and Communication focus group at held at Tatweer’s Training Centre.

16 Aug 2008 – Iraq’s Ministry of Planning and Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology (COSIT) has begun a transformation that would triple its organizational size based on a Tatweer-funded trip to visit the world’s leader in statistics management.

16 Aug 2008 – USAID's Tatweer project gives support to ministries such as the MoMPW that are assisting the Government of Iraq's efforts to rebuild and reform its public administration, as it strives to become a model for the entire Middle East.

16 Aug 2008 – Through a grant from Tatweer, the Ministry of Planning was able to transform the Administrative Tribunal setting from a small ill-equipped room and little resources to a proper courtroom.

16 Aug 2008 – The Tatweer Energy Group works with Iraqi Ministry of Oil to revive underutilized gas in oil fields.

"The start-up of the Zubair gas gathering and treatment plant is a key accomplishment for the Ministry of Oil this year and will have an immediate impact on the day to day lives of Iraqis, “said one of the technical experts from TE. “With this plant functioning Iraqis will have more fuel available to generate electricity and will begin to see shortening the lines at the gasoline stations."

19 Jun 2008 – The Iraqi Minister of Human Rights (MoHR) Mrs. Wijdan Salim paid a visit to the USAID/Tatweer team–receiving program updates from the Tatweer Ministry of Human Rights advisor and her two embedded Iraqi assistants. Minister Salim was accompanied by three Director Generals from the Executive Directorates related to capacity development. Mrs. Salim expressed her appreciation with Tatweer assistance to the relatively new ministry—supporting their goal in achieving international standards in its human rights efforts.

25 May 2008 – With the full support of USAID/Iraq’s Tatweer Project, the Ministry of Planning hosted a two day workshop at the Al –Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad on May 18-19. The workshop recognized the many difficulties with the process of investment project design and selection, especially stressing the need for better feasibility studies and for clarity on the respective roles of line ministries, provincial governments, the Ministry of Planning, and the Ministry of Finance in the process.

11 May 2008 – The USAID’s Tatweer Energy group (TE) facilitated agreement in May 2008 between the Ministry of Oil and the Ministry of Electricity to conduct joint expert level workshops; tackling “real life” obstacles by working together to overcome stumbling blocks to essential energy project implementation.

10 May 2008 – In the ongoing efforts to empower ministry decision makers with the skills to improve execution of capital investment projects, USAID’s Tatweer Project initiated an expert level Feasibility Studies and Project Evaluation course for 21 civil servants from the ministries of planning, oil, trade, health, water resources, and the National Center for Consultancy and Management Development (NCCMD).

5 May 2008 – As a result of USAID's Tatweer project entry into the recently stabilized Anbar province, approximately 100 civil servants have accessed a series of workshops in Advanced Strategic Planning, IT, Procurement, and Communication &Leadership.

16 Apr 2008 – USAID and the Iraqi Ministry of Health signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) underscoring a shared vision and collaborative effort to accelerate gains in direct health services delivery and the contribution of the health sector to Iraqi national economic growth and development.

12 Apr 2008 – The Karbala Health Directorate Training Center hosted courses led by Ministry of Health trainers from Baghdad—reaching out to increase the capacity and collaboration with their health colleagues in the provinces.

1 Apr 2008 – The Government of Iraq (GoI) is moving towards decentralization, and the recent expansion of the Provincial Governorates authority for making procurement and contracting decisions is a key development. However, the Provincial Councils lack both experience, human resources, and planning systems to fulfill their new responsibilities— evidenced by their lagging 2007 budget execution rate of 34%, roughly half of the ministries combined rate.