IOM and USAID implementing partner USAID-Tijara have signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on private sector
small business development in Iraq, with an emphasis on assisting
vulnerable, conflict-affected groups.

The MoU aims to help small businesses through USAID-Tijara's
Iraqi Vulnerable Group Support Initiative (IVGSI) – a
programme that complements IOM's Programme for Human Security and
Stabilization (PHSS) and Community Revitalisation Programme (CRP)
livelihood initiatives in Iraq.

Under the agreement, IOM will identify and select from among its
beneficiaries vulnerable people who want to expand their businesses
through access to microfinance institutions, and refer them to
USAID-Tijara, which will in turn help them to access credit under
the IVGSI.

IOM has been operating in Iraq since 2003, providing emergency
aid, support for the return and reintegration of displaced people,
livelihoods development, and capacity building. Specific IOM
projects target Iraq's most vulnerable populations, including the
displaced, returnees, and host communities, as well as
female-headed households, victims of ongoing conflict, the disabled
and people who are unemployed.

IOM's PHSS, community assistance projects, and business
development services focus on aiding the unemployed and their
communities. The PHSS has helped approximately 27,000 internally
displaced beneficiaries to establish small businesses through
in-kind grants and other livelihood support.

USAID-Tijara promotes private sector growth and employment in
Iraq, including through an integrated approach to the formation and
expansion of micro, small and medium-size enterprises; and the
development of sustainable and efficient financial institutions
that offer competitive, high-quality, inclusive and diversified
financial products and services to micro and small-scale
entrepreneurs in both rural and urban areas.

USAID-Tijara's IVGSI is designed to help up to 2,600 vulnerable
Iraqi families whose livelihoods have been jeopardized from
continuing threats and violence to improve their economic security
and enable them to better respond to social and economic
shocks.

For more information, please contact:

Torsten Haschenz

IOM Baghdad

E-mail: "mailto:thaschenz@iom.int">thaschenz@iom.int