With the pace of military operations around Mosul increasing, preparedness for imminent large-scale humanitarian operations is an urgent necessity. It is expected that up to one million people could be displaced following future operations to retake Mosul, and there remain major concerns about where and how to host these newly displaced persons. Responding to these concerns NCCI organized a country directors’ meeting on the 21st of July, followed by a meeting between NGOs and the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) on the 26th. At the country directors’ meeting several concerns were raised regarding the planning assumptions and funding available for the expected Mosul humanitarian response. As an NGO community, attendees also looked at how NCCI could add value as a forum to…

NCCI’s Advocacy Working Group compiled a joint NGO briefing statement for an Iraq Pledging Conference that will take place on July 20th in Washington DC. The meeting will be attended by foreign and defense ministers of several of the major Coalition actors involved in the fight against ISIS, and those supporting the humanitarian response in Iraq. This donor pledging conference in support of Iraq comes as the country faces some of the most profound challenges it has experienced in the last decade. Over 3.3 million Iraqis – half of whom are children - have fled violence since January 2014 and an additional quarter of a million refugees have arrived from neighbouring Syria fleeing their own country’s brutal conflict. By the…

In partnership with UNICEF NCCI is executing a capacity building project for staff members of ten Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Service Centers in the governorates of Anbar and Baghdad. The WASH Service Centers are operated by local NGOs, and through this project NCCI aims to train their staff members to improve WASH services and field coordination in their respective areas of operation. On 29-31 May 2016 NCCI organized the third of four training workshop of the project. 22 staff members from nine NGOs were trained on selecting water sources, water quality standards, performing water quality tests and operating reverse osmosis units. The workshop took place over a three day period. The classroom part of the training consisted of presentations…

On the 13th of June NCCI convened a Country Directors meeting at its office in Erbil. Country director meetings are meant to be an open forum for NGOs to discuss current issues related to humanitarian operations in country at a decision-maker level. The meeting started with an introduction by UN OCHA’s new Erbil head of office Susan Le Roux, who briefed the attendees on the submitted application for Central Emergency Response funding (CERF) to support the Fallujah relief effort, the next steps towards the disbursement of the dedicated national NGO allocation component of the Iraqi Humanitarian Pooled Fund (IHPF) and senior staff changes within OCHA. A representative from WFP then presented information on WFP’s contingency planning exercise for a potential…

The Community of Practice (CoP) is a network of local NGOs (LNGOs). It was established in 2014 by NCCI in partnership with UNHCR as part of the capacity building project that aims to enhance the capacities of LNGOs in the central region of Iraq. The CoP aims to strengthen the networking skills of these local NGOs, improve the cooperation among the participating organizations and enable them to share their experiences. To achieve these goals the CoP provides a forum for sharing information, best practices and lessons learned, enhancing the services offered to the people in need targeted with this project. The CoP also provides a virtual space for the LNGOs to discuss and debate important issues and to consult each…

On the 13th of April NCCI held its yearly General Assembly. One of the issues raised during the General Assembly was the lack of engagement of local NGOs with NCCI. In an attempt to find out the reasons of the disconnection between NCCI and its local members and find a way to improve the engagement of local organizations, representatives from NCCI’s Executive Board and its local members held a meeting on the 15th of May. The meeting took place at NCCI’s Erbil office and was chaired by the local NGOs on NCCI’s Executive Board, which are the Al-Mortaqa Foundation, the United Iraqi Medical Society for Relief and Development (UIMS) and the Women Rehabilitation Organization (WRO). The Board members opened the…