Highlights

• By the end of 2017, FFS was undertaking 1,544 projects which had benefitted 3,919,062 Iraqis, including 1,378,952 women.
• The growth in the monetary value of Funding Facility’s Expanded Stabilization portfolio between was extraordinary, growing from USD 2.2 million (2016) to USD 20.5 million (2017). This dramatic one- year growth demonstrates not only the commitment of donor countries to significant levels of rehabilitation, but also the stark reality of the enormous level of need for infrastructure rehabilitation within Iraq.
• The year 2017 was seminal in the formalization and prioritization of gender mainstreaming in FFS programming, notably by the addition of a full-time gender expert to the FFS staff. The addition of a gender expert, and the subsequent development of an FFS Gender Strategy, was a recognition that women are invariably central to the process of rebuilding communities.
• The FFS monitoring network was largely put in place at the beginning of 2017 and is an important improvement when it comes to FFS programmatic management processes. To support evaluation activities and to also ensure quality and timely implementation of its projects, FFS continues to maintain is robust, multi-layered monitoring network for all activities.
• FFS projects restored electricity to 701,025 Iraqi people through 146 electricity projects undertaken during 2017. Through these projects, FFS radically impacted the rates of access to electricity across the country.
• 119 projects in the water sector were undertaken in 2017, providing access to water to 1,249,762 Iraqis, including 428,838 women.
• FFS undertook 88 sewerage projects, including 70 projects in Mosul which worked to improve public health and sanitation at critical damaged intersections where wastewater was accumulating.
• Through the 236 health sector projects undertaken in 2017, a total of 875,252 Iraqis benefitted from access to rehabilitated healthcare facilities. The initiation of work at the Tikrit Teaching Hospital was a major milestone in 2017, as the first major FFS Expanded Stabilization project. During 2017, critical segments of the hospital were fully rehabilitated, including the Blood Bank, the Blood Centre Lab, the Dialysis Unit, Emergency/ Surgery Building, and the Cardiac Unit.
• During 2017, school rehabilitation was in high demand. FFS began a large-scale Expanded Stabilization education initiative that included the renovation of 56 schools and two administrative buildings Anbar-wide. Moreover, by the end of the year, 36 schools in Mosul were completed, enabling approximately 25,000 students to re-turn to the classroom.
• Throughout the year, rehabilitation work began on universities in Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah, and Mosul. With the support of 28 FFS projects, Anbar University was able to reopen during 2017. Quick restoration of the electricity capacity of Mosul University enabled thousands of students to take exams during the hot summer months of 2017, and additional repair works boosted the administration’s ability to re-open many classes.
• An important development in 2017 was the adoption of more comprehensive planning in FFS support for policing. In Mosul, for example, 15 police stations had been designated by mid-year – as well as the police academy – for urgent restoration projects. On a similar basis, police stations in Ramadi and Fallujah were prioritized during the second half of 2017.
• The Ma’moun Floating Bridge in Ramadi, completed during 2017, was the first FFES bridge to be rehabilitated and handed over to the Government of Iraq. In East Mosul, FFS began the rehabilitation of its first bridge project in Mosul at the end of 2017. The rehabilitation of the Sayedee Al Jamila Bridge prompted visible public enthusiasm, on social media and elsewhere, as a project of permanent reconstruction as opposed to temporary solutions.
• The livelihoods sector saw significant growth in 2017, with a total of 114 projects undertaken. Through these projects, critical employment opportunities were provided for 24,455 people, including 6,655 women. Significantly, 2017 saw the first cash for work projects in West Mosul begin, deploying hundreds of people to clean neighborhoods and buildings.
• The year 2017 was a milestone for FFS in the housing sector, with the launch of a pilot programme for housing rehabilitation in Ramadi and Fallujah which was quickly expanded into Bartela and Bashiqa. Overall in 2017, the pilot programme provided support for the rehabilitation of many homes, which impacted 103,467 people, including 51,682 women.