Strengthening the State-Citizen Relationship through improved Dialogue, Citizen Participation and Basic Services in Anbar

Over the last two decades, Iraq has witnessed a complex multitude of crises. Three distinct violent conflicts, the US-led invasion in 2003, the 2007 insurrection and finally the intense warfare related to the emergence (2014) and liberation (2017) from the so-called Islamic State (IS) have destroyed not only physical infrastructure necessary for education and training but undermined opportunities for livelihoods throughout the country and have harmed social cohesion as a whole. The governorate of Anbar is one of the areas most affected by destruction and displacement. While Anbar"s rural areas have a rich history of agricultural production, the urban centres have been known for their excellence in skilled crafts and trades, especially in the construction sector. However, the recent wars have negatively affected the framework conditions for business and disrupted the market, resulting in a standstill for companies and industries in these sectors, which undermines the opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship in these crafts. The resulting unemployment affects women and youth, with approximately 43 percent neither in work nor in education or training. Moreover, the destruction has impacted private houses, roads, electricity networks, water pipes, schools and hospitals. Reconstruction of private and public infrastructure remains stalled, which puts additional strains on the social cohesion in the communities and further undermines the trust in local administrations. The resulting poor living conditions remain a hindrance to finding sustainable and durable solutions for the return of displaced people as well as host communities. BMZ has commissioned GIZ with implementing the German contribution to the "Assisting Reconstruction and Improving Living Conditions in Anbar" (ARILA) project, which is implemented in cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry of Planning. ARILA aims to improve the conditions for improved livelihoods in the three eastern Anbari districts of Heet, Ramadi and Fallujah and assist their post-conflict transition towards sustainable economic development and to support lasting structural change. The commission is funded via BMZ"s funding line for Transitional Development Assistance (TDA) that bridges the humanitarian response with long-term technical cooperation efforts. The ARILA project contains three interlinked components: restoration and rehabilitation of basic services, strengthening of citizen-state relationships and improving livelihood opportunities. The project coordinates closely with the local authorities and administrations in Anbar, especially with the Governor"s Office, municipalities, and line directorates, such as the Directorate of Water, Directorate of Electricity and Directorate of Youth and Sports. The project will combine reconstruction and rehabilitation of key basic service infrastructure with capacity building for the administrations on participatory decision making and by advising on sustainable delivery of public services and maintenance concepts. The role of women"s opportunities for participation will be particularly supported.

The tasks tendered in this service contract relate to ARILA"s state-citizen relationship component (Output 3), which contributes to improving vertical social cohesion through improved state-citizen dialogue and improved basic service delivery. The main target groups of the measures foreseen under this assignment are local government representatives from the Governor"s Office, municipalities, and relevant line Directorates. In addition, community representatives and civil society actors will be targeted. The services to be provided by the contractor aim at improving the target group"s knowledge about citizen participation methods and approaches, information and complaints services and processes to improve administrative actions for better basic service delivery. The contractor is responsible for the provision of relevant short-term trainings for selected local administrative and civil society profiles. Moreover, the contractor is expected to closely cooperate with the Governor"s Office, municipalities, and relevant line ministries and to build on already existing structures whenever possible. In detail, the contractor will be responsible for the preparation, implementation, and monitoring of five Work Packages (WP): Work Package 1 (WP 1): Developing a detailed needs-based implementation strategy The work package 1 shall provide GIZ in-depth understanding of the upcoming implementation phase based on assessments and mapping required for the implementation concepts of work packages 2-5 and recommendations that will ultimately result in an inception report. Work Package 2 (WP 2): Developing and implementing both digital and analogue citizen participation formats for municipal administrations and selected service directorates The objective of this work package is to strengthen municipal administrations and selected service directorates in their capacities and abilities to design and offer improved citizen participation processes and to support access for Anbari citizen to participation, especially for women and other vulnerable groups. This work package aims at developing participation formats, to build the selected partners" technical and organisational capacities necessary for this purpose, and to facilitate implementation of these formats together with relevant stakeholders. In addition to the development of participatory formats, the contractor is to provide subject-specific trainings and organisational development support. Based on WP 1 and the selected formats, needs-based and tailor-made capacity development measures (both organisational and technical) for selected partner structures shall be identified. Work package 3 (WP 3): Strengthening capacities of civil society actors for advocacy, dialogue and participation This work package aims to enhance the professional expertise and technical capacities of civil society actors in Anbar and to sustainably improve their organisational functionality and performance with regards to advocacy, dialogue and participation. Special focus shall be given to women and other vulnerable groups. While WP 2 focusses on local administrative structures and the introduction of participation formats/processes, WP 3 focuses on strengthening and enabling civil society actors to effectively participate in these formats, mainly through capacity development/training. The thematic focus of the capacity development is therefore on enabling key civil society actors to identify, promote, raise awareness around and advocate for community or constituencies needs and challenges and to enter into dialogue around those needs and challenges with the relevant administrative structures and with their communities. Work Package 4 (WP 4): Developing and implementing information services and complaints mechanisms and introducing relevant processes for improved administrative action To improve the availability of and access to information of services offered by municipal administrations and selected service directorates, this work packages aims at developing and implementing at least two information services and to strengthen the selected partners" technical and organisational capacities necessary for this purpose. In close coordination with targeted partner structures, the contractor is expected to either reactivate and/or update existing or to newly develop at least one digital (e.g. a social media, web presence and user interface, app) and one analogue information service (e.g. information desk) which can be applied in all three districts. Furthermore, the work package aims at enabling administrative structures to set-up complaints mechanisms and to respond to received complaints e.g. by aligning their administrative structures and processes with the final objective to improve basic service provision. Work Package 5 (WP 5): Supporting municipal administrations and selected service directorates in offering services tailored to women"s and other vulnerable groups" needs To improve the availability of and access to services offered by municipal administrations and selected service directorates for all population groups, this work package aims at supporting governmental partner structures in tailoring their services to the needs of women and other vulnerable groups. Based on the identified needs and the review of existing services offered by municipal administration and service directorates in WP 1, the contractor is now to select at least 15 services to be either revised/adjusted and/or newly established in order to increase their inclusiveness and/or to tailor them to and align them with the identified needs of women and other vulnerable groups. Examples of tailored service offers include protected spaces for social interaction, social/ economic participation measures, options for training and income generation, but also measures aimed at men, for instance to raise their awareness for women"s needs or to reduce gender-based violence.

Bekanntmachungs-ID: CXR2YYRYYDZ