Posted on 09/19/2006 8:02:55 PM PDT by SandRat
KIRUK — It was only a few months ago that a terrorist incident in this northern Iraq city destroyed most of the stock of a local pharmacy, leaving a family-owned business in tatters and depriving the community of much needed medication.
In a spark of hope for moving beyond the insurgency, however, the pharmacy and the services it provides to the community will soon be fully restored. In mid-July, the family took out a loan – the equivalent of $3,000 in Iraqi dinars – to replenish the stock and rebuild their business.
Small as it may sound, the amount means a lot in Iraq. The loan was the first to be disbursed by Al-Aman, a new, indigenous micro-finance organization established through a partnership between the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. military and the U.S. State Department-led Kirkuk Provisional Reconstruction Team.
The finance center is just one example of numerous successes in reconstruction pointed to by Maj. Gen. William McCoy, Jr., commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region Division.
McCoy noted the American public is bombarded with news about violence in Iraq, but also needs insight into successes of the reconstruction program to get “a balanced view of how we are making a difference in the lives of the Iraqi people every day.”
Al-Aman’s customers will be small business owners from Kirkuk and the neighboring area who require small amounts of money to finance their operating expenses or purchase new equipment, and have difficulties obtaining alternate sources of capital. Banks in Iraq generally require real estate as collateral, whereas Al-Aman will disburse loans based on cash flow.
USAID, through its Izdihar project – a scheme for developing the private sector in Iraq - provided a $250,000 grant to form the initial loan capital for Al-Aman and provide training for its staff. The loans, typically in the range of $2,000 to $5,000, will especially target female entrepreneurs and are expected to create several hundred new jobs.
In its first week of operation, the staff of Al-Aman interviewed 13 applicants, approved three loans - one for a business owned by a woman - and disbursed funds for two of them, which may generate up to nine jobs.
Al-Aman will serve as a model for two similar micro-finance institutions set to begin operating soon in Baghdad and Fallujah. If successful, the offices could inspire the banking sector to gradually move towards cash flow lending.
The finance centers come as only one piece of a much larger reconstruction puzzle.
McCoy recently stressed that reconstruction projects are providing a critical contribution to the country’s long-term success.
The United States has contributed almost $22 billion toward rebuilding Iraq, and understanding the extent and impact of these projects is important to assessing conditions in Iraq, the general explained.
As of Sept. 12, over 2,800 of more than 3,800 projects planned under the Iraq Reconstruction Program had been completed. Work has started on another 600.
“We are making incredible headway in Iraq and in Baghdad,” McCoy said.
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