USAID-Tarabot Monthly Progress Report, June 2014

The Iraq Center of Excellence (ICE) was formally launched with a ceremony sponsored by the Council of Ministers' Secretariat (COMSEC), under the slogan "Towards Excellence in Government Performance." The event was attended by over 200 people, including deputy ministers, governors, and heads of provincial councils. The ICE is the culmination of years of effort by the USAID-Tarabot project and its predecessor, Tatweer, to improve the institutional development and performance of Government of Iraq entities. The ICE serves to promote good governance, enhance accountability, and improve service delivery through sustainable, innovative, and transformational institutional capacity development initiatives. To this end, the ICE will grant Excellence Awards annually to government entities that have excelled in their capacity development initiatives. The Excellence model has met with great success in the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and its international success promises improved service delivery for Iraq's citizens by providing a framework for organizational management that will foster accountability, cooperation, efficiency, and innovation in Iraq's public sector. Graduation of Master Trainers from the Ministry of Education was another notable achievement in June 2014. A graduation ceremony was held on June 2, 2014, for 58 staff members from the Ministry of Education, marking the realization of Tarabot's efforts to improve the management and public administrative capacity of the Ministry of Education through the introduction of training management concepts and the training of a critical mass of ministry staff members in the development of core area skills in project management, fiscal management and budgeting, information technology, procurement, and leadership and communications. The graduates of Tarabot's Master Trainer program will now be recognized as subject matter experts in how to analyze, conduct, evaluate, and implement the ministry's training programs. They will be more effective in identifying administrative deficiencies throughout the ministry and its directorates, and be able to develop effective training courses and programs to bridge deficiencies. In bolstering the ministry's public administration systems, Tarabot's training benefits will extend throughout the ministry and ultimately to the communities it serves, while paving the way for significant reforms and improvements to Iraq's education system for years to come. Sustaining Public Policy in Iraq was another key focus area for USAID-Tarabot in June 2014. For the past three years, USAID-Tarabot has been partnering with Iraqi government entities and universities to support public policy development in Iraq. In recognition and celebration of these efforts, Tarabot held a conference on the role of public policy and its future in Iraq on June 11, 2014, at Al Nahrain University. The event was attended by over 100 participants, including high-level ministry and governorate officials and directorate generals, in addition to academics and representatives of think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, and civil society. Tarabot's efforts in public policy have centered on creating platforms for the discussion of policy issues and reform, developing public policy programs in Iraqi universities, and the establishment of policy offices in the Prime Minister's Office, the Presidency Diwan, and key ministries that deal with economic and social affairs. Under Tarabot's mentorship, these offices are now staffed with personnel trained in policy systems and processes, and policy advisors have been equipped with the necessary knowledge and tools to develop and implement policies. Championing the One-Stop-Shop in Kurdistan was another key initiative undertaken by USAID-Tarabot in June 2014. To address the long lines and unclear, complicated procedures that have long plagued service delivery, Tarabot introduced the One-Stop-Shop service center model to enable a rapid and tangible impact on citizens' services in Iraq. To raise awareness of the initiative, Tarabot hosted a conference on June 19, 2014, in partnership with the Kurdistan Ministry of Planning, for the Kurdistan Ministry of Health and the Kurdistan Ministry of Justice. The event was attended by over 100 officials. The One-Stop-Shop is founded on three pillars: 1) appropriate physical infrastructure based on international standards, 2) effective and efficient automated systems through business process re-engineering, and 3) transparency and citizen-oriented services through customer service awareness and training. Tarabot's architectural design of the service center reflects the principles of linear business flow, customer comfort, and easy access for the physically disabled. This event is one in a series of awareness conferences to secure the sustainability of the One-Stop-Shop concept in the Kurdistan Regional Government, and to promote its establishment as a means of reforming public administration and improving services. Celebrating Project Management in Kurdistan marked the completion of USAID-Tarabot's Project Management initiative with the Kurdistan Regional Government. A closing ceremony was held on June 22, 2014, in Erbil with 150 participants. Tarabot's project management initiative is the first of its activities in Kurdistan to be brought to a close, and