Need for Future Assistance. Despite the significant amount of assistance provided by the US Government and other donors in Iraq, significant needs still exist. With ongoing violence, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) and Iraqis leaving Iraq. According to UNHCR, there are 1.9 million IDPs in the country and two million refugees who have escaped to neighboring countries, especially Syria and Jordan. Unemployment and poverty have risen sharply. According to the United Nations Development Program, one-third of the population now lives in poverty. The education system is still underdeveloped and under-resourced. Furthermore, the Iraqi peoples’ basic needs for drinking water, food, sanitation, healthcare and electricity are not yet being met. As part of the ICAP II program that commenced in October 2006, a baseline survey2 was undertaken among a sample of ICAP I stakeholders to assess the situation with respect to the areas of intervention that the program aims to address. Overall, among the members of the communities surveyed, economic conditions were reported as poor. Over half of those surveyed said that these conditions are “bad” or “very bad” and over one-third said that their community economies are only in “fair” shape. Almost half of all the men and women surveyed are unemployed. However, poor community-level economic conditions and a nearly fifty percent unemployment rate may not be new phenomena: two-thirds of the people surveyed stated that their household’s economic status is the same or better than it was a year ago. The other one-third reported it to be worse. Approximately one-third of the respondents reported that conflict is frequent in their communities. Men, women, youth, and adults all agreed on the three major causes of conflict: • lack of social services, • electricity, • fuel (e.g. for vehicles and household use). Among the factors reported as least likely to cause conflict are: • access to food or food aid, • IDP related conflict, • water, • ethnicity/tribalism, • religion. Insecurity is universally reported as the primary constraint confronting communities and humanitarian agencies trying to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis. It restricts mobility and communications; enables and promotes corruption; and generally inhibits program progress. USG personnel generally are optimistic about the potential for local economic development and the potential of ICAP II to contribute to it. Their view is that the Iraqi econom...
