Iraq: The Way Forward
in the formal sector. USAID projects that over 5,200 youth will have participated in some part of the initiative by program’s end.12 Geographic Emphasis – USAID-Identified Target Areas Based on detail provided by the SOVE-IRAQ solicitation, JLDP will focus its efforts in Baghdad, Diyala Province, Anbar Province, Salah al-Din, and Basra Province. JLDP will establish a limited presence in the following major cities within each previously stated province: Baghdad, Baquba, Fallujah, Tikrit, and Basra, respectively. 13 Drivers of Violent Extremism – Core Features of an Enabling Environment USAID guidance on developing programming for countering violent extremism recommends assessing the nature of the problem of violent extremism first. In other words, is it primarily a concern of recruitment, the existence of a supportive community, or the presence of an enabling community that spawns the proliferation of terrorist violence? 14 In the case of Iraq, Jessen Lysaght Development Professionals argues that the primary challenge is one of the pervasiveness of an enabling community, one in which rule of law is weak, large percentages of the population are isolated and distrustful of government authority, and institutions themselves are fragile and endemically corrupt. USAID also enumerates three major categories under which primary drivers can be bucketed: socioeconomic drivers, political drivers, and cultural drivers. Jessen Lysaght Development
12 USAID/Iraq. ”Economic Empowerment.” April 15, 2013. 13 Iraq Body Count. “The War in Iraq: 10 years and counting.” Online. Available at
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/analysis/numbers/ten-years/. March 2013. 14 USAID. “Development Assistance and Counter-Extremism: A Guide to Programming.” October 2009, p. 5.
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