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Iraq: Japan supports resilience and livelihood amid COVID-19 crisis [EN/AR/KU]

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Iraq
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UNIDO
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Baghdad, 23 April 2021 - The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Government of Iraq are welcoming the critical and timely support from the Government of Japan to help mitigate the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 and promote stabilization, community security, and livelihood activities in the country. A UNIDO project funded by Japan, will provide a boost to Iraq’s fragile economy and to a society plagued by high unemployment rates.

The project will support internally displaced people (IDPs) living in displacement camps across the Nineveh Governorate, as well as host communities, by providing them with economic and livelihood opportunities. Activities and recovery strategies will help develop self-reliance among beneficiaries, which is essential to maintaining peace and stability. The project will build the beneficiaries’ capacities to start, manage and sustain a micro enterprise of their choice through entrepreneurship and skills training, as well as providing them with physical capital in terms of the equipment and asset transfer required. Furthermore, to ensure food security, the project will introduce the concept of “kitchen gardening,” in line with UNIDO’s agri-business and agri-processing interventions and provide related training.

Building on UNIDO’s human security approach, the project will attend to the immediate and critical needs of forcibly displaced people, thereby addressing chronic vulnerabilities, structural challenges, and potential risks to sustained peace.

According to the Japanese Ambassador to Iraq, H.E. Mr. SUZUKI Kotaro, “Japan had provided over USD 500 million in humanitarian assistance to the people affected by the crisis since 2014. Additionally, Japan decided this year to provide a new assistance package for Iraq, amounting to USD 50 million, including this project by UNIDO.” He also said “I praise UNIDO’s unique approach to build capacities of beneficiaries to start, manage and sustain a micro enterprise of their choice through entrepreneurship and skills training, which leads to develop self-reliance. Such an approach shows us a way to capitalize on both the agricultural potential of Iraq and the resourcefulness of its people. The Government of Japan hopes that this project helps mitigate the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19.”

For more information, please contact:

Mahmood Nawzad Hassan Khoshnaw

M.KHOSHNAW@unido.org