The starting point
Iraq is not a poor country. It is a country with substantial resources and an infrastructure carrying decades of war, sanctions and interrupted maintenance — in power networks, schools, water systems and administration alike.
The result is a familiar paradox in the sector: the binding constraint is not the availability of funds but absorptive capacity — the functioning structures in which funds produce effect. Development cooperation in Iraq is therefore, above all, a question of design, delivery and local anchoring. Not of volume.
Our approach
We plan and deliver infrastructure and education projects in Iraq. Two principles govern how.
With partners on the ground. A project without local ownership ends with the final instalment. We work as a matter of principle with Iraqi partner organisations and institutions that carry the work forward after completion.
As a bridge. The most common reason cooperation between Germany and Iraq fails is not a lack of will. It is a mismatch in expectations — around documentation, timelines and how decisions get made. Bridging that gap is a core contribution of our association, and one that comes directly from the biographies of the people in it.
Our emphasis lies on two fields: improving energy supply and improving the education system. In both, investment converts directly into quality of life and prospects.
