BAGHDAD, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi government launched Wednesday the Social Fund for Development (SFD) with an initial capital of 300 million U.S. dollars, aiming at reducing poverty rate in the war-torn country.
The SFD was established in partnership with civil society organizations under the support of the World Bank to the government's strategic plans.
"The SFD will start operating based on the results of a rural areas development survey in three provinces, as a first stage; al-Muthanna province as one of the poorest provinces in Iraq, Salahuddin as the most affected and poor in rural areas, and Dohuk as one of the provinces that received large numbers of displaced people running from the battles of liberation from the terrorists of IS," Iraqi Minister of Planning, Nouri Sabah al-Dulaimi, said in a press conference in Baghdad.
"Four provinces will be included in the second year of the fund's work, and all provinces will be covered in the third year," al-Dulaimi said.
The minister also confirmed that the SFD will support the access to basic services for the people of these provinces, especially in the fields of education, health, job creation and youth capacity building.
"The Iraqi government managed to obtain the World Bank's interest-free support," al-Dulaimi added.
Al-Dulaimi also called upon all international donors to increase their support for the Iraqi government's strategic plans, to provide the best services and improve the living conditions of the people.
Al-Dulaimi pointed out that the reasons behind the failure of previous plans, which led to increased levels of unemployment and poverty, were the dispersion of efforts and the lack of optimal guidance.
According to the World Bank, the Iraqi SFD is a five-year project. The development objective of the SDF project for Iraq is to improve access to basic services and to increase short-term employment opportunities in targeted communities with total project cost of 300 million U.S. dollars.
Isam al-Khalidi, a socio-economic expert, told Xinhua that "the launch of the social fund for economic development is an important and pivotal step from the Iraqi government to reduce the phenomenon of poverty in Iraq, in partnership with civil society and international organizations."
"This important step comes in accordance with the strategic plans set by the Ministry of Planning emanating from the current predicament of the rural areas in the Iraqi provinces according to the rates of deprivation," al-Khalidi added.
