Wednesday, January 04, 2012
A year in Egypt....
Saturday,December 31, 2011
Peace be upon you
This is the last day in this year. No doubt, it has been a very special year. I spent most of the year in Egypt. I have finished two semesters in the American University in Cairo. Now I am spending the winter break in Jordan with my family…
I love Cairo and I love the people there too. There are similarities between them and the Iraqis. They are so generous and they love and respect guests. They are not arrogant or snobby. They are more religious than Iraqis and there are many contradictions in the Egyptian society that I haven’t seen in Iraq or any other Arabic countries that I lived in before.
There is poverty in Egypt and there is oppression that is historically accumulated. This is really sad. People were optimistic about the revolution and found it as a gate to change toward better life, freedom, social justice, and democracy. But the transformation process is not easy. It is a hard and difficult task and needs time, patience, and great efforts to be achieved. Many people are rushing change as if it happens just by saying so. This is the reason for many conflicts in the Egyptian street and the reason for the downbeat that harmed economy in particular and Egyptian society in general…
At first, the fever of salary and subsidizing increase has flamed in the country almost by all society ranges: doctors, teachers, public drivers, and public employees. This has caused a burden on the state budget amidst a critical phase. The temporary government has no clear vision or any economic or political statement to convince people to postpone these requests until a later notice. Consequently, the budget deficit has increased.
A series of violent incidents has started. It seemed spontaneous, but by time, it became obvious that someone intends to drown the country in chaos and unjustified violence. Battles were picked with the military counsel that temporarily governs the country. This has continued until election where Islamic parties won with high rates; whereas, parties that are not religious oriented have won with modest rates. The religious parties won with high rates in the two phases (60% to 70% of the votes.) Secular and Liberal parties won with very modest rates which has enraged the secular and liberal parties. It enraged the media channels that support them as well who in return have carried a campaign against Islamic parties and against the military counsel because it supervised the election. The Media has defamed the military image and accused it of conspiring with the Islamic Parties, forging election and setting back the country to Mubarak days.
Of course these were false accusations. The identity of the Egyptian street is clearly Islamic and it is very obvious that Egyptians don’t want any foreign intervention in the Egyptian affairs.
Of course America, Israel and the old regime of President Mubarak wish for this revolution to fail and wish that Egypt returns to square one ruled by a dictator and a friend to the western world just like Mubarak regime was. People accuse the west of intervening to sabotage the revolution and finance groups that stimulate and spread violence and hatred in the country to create chaos or semi civil war that keeps Egypt in a politically unstable state for the long run. In the meantime, Libya falls with the aid of foreign intervention. And now there is an opportunity of foreign intervention in Syria. Yemen is in chaos while Iraq lives in darkness, occupation and violence. And Palestine is in an endless maze… Egypt is too busy to aid any of the unfortunate sister countries around it…
At first, all attempts were focused on creating dispute between Muslims and non Muslims in Egypt. But the Egyptian nation proved that it is very smart and alert. Many disputes and catastrophes were absorbed so that they don’t lead to additional blood or disruption of the Nations’ unity.
After the elections, the conflicts aimed to split the nation between supporter to Islamic parties vs. supporters to secular and liberal parties. The media has played a distinctive role in sabotaging and increasing the violence tune in the political statements. It fueled the street with arguments, conflicts and nonsense.
My heart will always be with Egypt. I pray that this ordeal passes and ends for the best interest of Egypt and Egyptians. I pray that the revolution dreams of freedom, social justice and democracy are achieved. I pray that Egypt becomes a successful model from which all global and regional countries learn positive lessons of change, construction and prosperity. Challenges still exist, but the Egyptian nation has been very patient and has offered many invaluable sacrifices throughout the past decades. May Allah bless their patience and sacrifices and reward them with best rewards in this life and in the day after.
In regard to my studies at the American University in Cairo, two semesters have passed by and in God’s willing, the third semester will start next February. The last semester will start in the Fall of 2012 in God’s willing. I learned excellent things during my studies about politics of public sector and the management of public sector. I also learned about governance, and the nature of application of governance. I learned about the financial policies, management of development projects, and solving problems that we face during work. I learned preparing research papers for each course.
As a student, I saw strange things. The college system is not comfortable and the college teachers are not always fair or really professional. I found that some of them are serious, dedicated and fair especially the Egyptian teachers. I also found teachers who have little experience, snobby, unfair and not objective in dealing with students. They even are annoyed with students who understand and discuss the material. Such teachers want students to act like slaves who don’t discuss or argue, and just flatter them. Unfortunately, I found these characteristics in foreign teachers especially the Americans. I am disappointed with the quality of foreign teachers. I found the local teachers pay great efforts to provide high quality, professional academic job.
I found that some teachers prepared for the lecture in advance and discuss it in details with students. While others were lazy and didn’t even read the material. If a discussion is stimulated, the teachers and students will be in opposite directions.
The same can be said about preparing papers. Some students follow up with students and provide timely instructions before the end of the semester so that papers can be prepared, reviewed and corrected leaving enough time to be revised before the final submission due date. And there are other teachers who don’t provide any useful information until a couple of days of due date. Some teachers provide feedback after correcting the paper pointing out the mistakes and short comings that are not mentioned during the review of the draft paper. This of course depresses students and affects their grades as if the teacher intends to take revenge and not so patient in teaching students to master this knowledge. I don’t see the same old fashion moral in education as it was in the seventies when I studied Engineering in Baghdad University. I remember how dedicated our teachers were and how much teaching was exhausted for them. We were silly, young and not serious about education. But the dedication of academic staff and the high academic level in the Iraqi universities prompted us to learn a lot and benefit from the education process in a positive way…
To be a student who is focused on learning is a true Jihad (struggle). It isolates the human being from the social life and limits him to education and performing research in ultimate accuracy and dedication. This is an enjoyable experience and at the same time exhausting. But it leads to fruitful results for each dedicated student. Some students in the masters program have a day job and they come in the evening very tired. They wouldn’t have the time for studying, carrying out deep discussions. They prepare their papers in the last moment. I think that the results for these students will be very poor in general and will have limited and little gain from their studies. Some people only care about receiving the master’s certificate to hang it on the wall of the office or in one of the rooms. It is truly sad to spend all of this effort, time and money for just a piece of paper and miss on the golden opportunity to learn and develope…
This is the course of life. Some of us spend it in trivial and silly matters not knowing how time passed and what was learned. And some take slow steps toward learning and reviewing themselves and their surroundings to evaluate the pros and cons while constantly thinking about this life wondering where they came from and where they are heading. Other people live like an animal in a clover pasture. Life passes them by doing nothing but eating and sleeping…you leave them for months and years and when you come back you find them the same. I don’t know whether to feel sad for them or envy them on their happy ignorance.
Peace be upon you
This is the last day in this year. No doubt, it has been a very special year. I spent most of the year in Egypt. I have finished two semesters in the American University in Cairo. Now I am spending the winter break in Jordan with my family…
I love Cairo and I love the people there too. There are similarities between them and the Iraqis. They are so generous and they love and respect guests. They are not arrogant or snobby. They are more religious than Iraqis and there are many contradictions in the Egyptian society that I haven’t seen in Iraq or any other Arabic countries that I lived in before.
There is poverty in Egypt and there is oppression that is historically accumulated. This is really sad. People were optimistic about the revolution and found it as a gate to change toward better life, freedom, social justice, and democracy. But the transformation process is not easy. It is a hard and difficult task and needs time, patience, and great efforts to be achieved. Many people are rushing change as if it happens just by saying so. This is the reason for many conflicts in the Egyptian street and the reason for the downbeat that harmed economy in particular and Egyptian society in general…
At first, the fever of salary and subsidizing increase has flamed in the country almost by all society ranges: doctors, teachers, public drivers, and public employees. This has caused a burden on the state budget amidst a critical phase. The temporary government has no clear vision or any economic or political statement to convince people to postpone these requests until a later notice. Consequently, the budget deficit has increased.
A series of violent incidents has started. It seemed spontaneous, but by time, it became obvious that someone intends to drown the country in chaos and unjustified violence. Battles were picked with the military counsel that temporarily governs the country. This has continued until election where Islamic parties won with high rates; whereas, parties that are not religious oriented have won with modest rates. The religious parties won with high rates in the two phases (60% to 70% of the votes.) Secular and Liberal parties won with very modest rates which has enraged the secular and liberal parties. It enraged the media channels that support them as well who in return have carried a campaign against Islamic parties and against the military counsel because it supervised the election. The Media has defamed the military image and accused it of conspiring with the Islamic Parties, forging election and setting back the country to Mubarak days.
Of course these were false accusations. The identity of the Egyptian street is clearly Islamic and it is very obvious that Egyptians don’t want any foreign intervention in the Egyptian affairs.
Of course America, Israel and the old regime of President Mubarak wish for this revolution to fail and wish that Egypt returns to square one ruled by a dictator and a friend to the western world just like Mubarak regime was. People accuse the west of intervening to sabotage the revolution and finance groups that stimulate and spread violence and hatred in the country to create chaos or semi civil war that keeps Egypt in a politically unstable state for the long run. In the meantime, Libya falls with the aid of foreign intervention. And now there is an opportunity of foreign intervention in Syria. Yemen is in chaos while Iraq lives in darkness, occupation and violence. And Palestine is in an endless maze… Egypt is too busy to aid any of the unfortunate sister countries around it…
At first, all attempts were focused on creating dispute between Muslims and non Muslims in Egypt. But the Egyptian nation proved that it is very smart and alert. Many disputes and catastrophes were absorbed so that they don’t lead to additional blood or disruption of the Nations’ unity.
After the elections, the conflicts aimed to split the nation between supporter to Islamic parties vs. supporters to secular and liberal parties. The media has played a distinctive role in sabotaging and increasing the violence tune in the political statements. It fueled the street with arguments, conflicts and nonsense.
My heart will always be with Egypt. I pray that this ordeal passes and ends for the best interest of Egypt and Egyptians. I pray that the revolution dreams of freedom, social justice and democracy are achieved. I pray that Egypt becomes a successful model from which all global and regional countries learn positive lessons of change, construction and prosperity. Challenges still exist, but the Egyptian nation has been very patient and has offered many invaluable sacrifices throughout the past decades. May Allah bless their patience and sacrifices and reward them with best rewards in this life and in the day after.
In regard to my studies at the American University in Cairo, two semesters have passed by and in God’s willing, the third semester will start next February. The last semester will start in the Fall of 2012 in God’s willing. I learned excellent things during my studies about politics of public sector and the management of public sector. I also learned about governance, and the nature of application of governance. I learned about the financial policies, management of development projects, and solving problems that we face during work. I learned preparing research papers for each course.
As a student, I saw strange things. The college system is not comfortable and the college teachers are not always fair or really professional. I found that some of them are serious, dedicated and fair especially the Egyptian teachers. I also found teachers who have little experience, snobby, unfair and not objective in dealing with students. They even are annoyed with students who understand and discuss the material. Such teachers want students to act like slaves who don’t discuss or argue, and just flatter them. Unfortunately, I found these characteristics in foreign teachers especially the Americans. I am disappointed with the quality of foreign teachers. I found the local teachers pay great efforts to provide high quality, professional academic job.
I found that some teachers prepared for the lecture in advance and discuss it in details with students. While others were lazy and didn’t even read the material. If a discussion is stimulated, the teachers and students will be in opposite directions.
The same can be said about preparing papers. Some students follow up with students and provide timely instructions before the end of the semester so that papers can be prepared, reviewed and corrected leaving enough time to be revised before the final submission due date. And there are other teachers who don’t provide any useful information until a couple of days of due date. Some teachers provide feedback after correcting the paper pointing out the mistakes and short comings that are not mentioned during the review of the draft paper. This of course depresses students and affects their grades as if the teacher intends to take revenge and not so patient in teaching students to master this knowledge. I don’t see the same old fashion moral in education as it was in the seventies when I studied Engineering in Baghdad University. I remember how dedicated our teachers were and how much teaching was exhausted for them. We were silly, young and not serious about education. But the dedication of academic staff and the high academic level in the Iraqi universities prompted us to learn a lot and benefit from the education process in a positive way…
To be a student who is focused on learning is a true Jihad (struggle). It isolates the human being from the social life and limits him to education and performing research in ultimate accuracy and dedication. This is an enjoyable experience and at the same time exhausting. But it leads to fruitful results for each dedicated student. Some students in the masters program have a day job and they come in the evening very tired. They wouldn’t have the time for studying, carrying out deep discussions. They prepare their papers in the last moment. I think that the results for these students will be very poor in general and will have limited and little gain from their studies. Some people only care about receiving the master’s certificate to hang it on the wall of the office or in one of the rooms. It is truly sad to spend all of this effort, time and money for just a piece of paper and miss on the golden opportunity to learn and develope…
This is the course of life. Some of us spend it in trivial and silly matters not knowing how time passed and what was learned. And some take slow steps toward learning and reviewing themselves and their surroundings to evaluate the pros and cons while constantly thinking about this life wondering where they came from and where they are heading. Other people live like an animal in a clover pasture. Life passes them by doing nothing but eating and sleeping…you leave them for months and years and when you come back you find them the same. I don’t know whether to feel sad for them or envy them on their happy ignorance.
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 5:08 PM 
Sunday, January 01, 2012
سنه في مصر ...
السبت 31 ديسمبر 2011
السلام عليكم ,
هذا هو اليوم الاخير في هذه السنه, وكانت سنة مميزه بدون شك , حيث قضيت معظمها في مصر , وانهيت فصلين دراسيين في الجامعه الامريكيه في القاهره , والان عندي استراحة عطلة الشتاء اقضيها في الاردن مع العائله ...
احببت القاهره كثيرا والناس ايضا احببتهم , رأيت فيهم أشياء كثيرة تشبه العراقيين , نفسهم طيبه وكريمه ويحبون الضيف ويحترمونه وماعندهم تكبر وعجرفه , وعندهم تدين أكثر من العراقيين , وعندهم تناقضات كبيرة في المجتمع لم أراها في العراق او غيره من البلدان العربيه التي عشت بها سابقا ,
يوجد في مصر فقر وظلم متراكم تاريخيا وهذا شيء محزن , والناس تفاءلت بالثورة ورأتها بوابة للتغيير نحو الافضل , للحريه والعداله الاجتماعيه والديمقراطيه , لكن عملية التحول ليست سهله , هي مهمة شاقة وعسيرة وتحتاج الى وقت طويل وصبر وجهود كبيره حتى تتحقق , وكثير من الناس يستعجلون ,ويريدون التغيير ان يحدث كأنه كن فيكون , وهذا سبب الكثير من الصراعات في الشارع المصري وسبب حدوث سلبيات كثيرة سببت الاذى للاقتصاد خاصة والمجتمع المصري عامة ...
في البدايه هبت على البلاد حمى طلبات زيادة الرواتب والمخصصات , من كل فئات المجتمع تقريبا , اطباء ومدرسين وسواقين قطاع عام وموظفي الدولة عامة وهذا سبب عبء على ميزانية البلاد وهي تمر بمرحلة حرجه, ولم يكن عند الحكومه المؤقته أي رؤيا واضحه او خطاب سياسي اقتصادي اجتماعي لاقناع الناس بتأجيل هذه الطلبات حتى إشعار آخر , وتراكم العجز على الميزانيه ,
ثم بدأت سلسلة احداث عنف بدت وكأنها عفويه , لكن بمرور الوقت بات واضحا ان ثمة من يريد اغراق البلاد في فوضى وعنف لا مبرر له , واختلاق معركة مع المجلس العسكري الحاكم المؤقت للبلاد , حتى جاء موعد انتخابات مجلس الشعب , وفازت الاحزاب الاسلاميه بنسب عاليه بينما نالت الاحزاب الغير دينيه نسبا متواضعه , يعني الاحزاب الدينيه فازت بنسب عاليه في المرحلتين الاولى والثانيه ( بين 60 الى 70 بالمئه من الاصوات ) بينما الاحزاب العلمانيه والليبراليه فازت بنسب متواضعه جدا وهذا سبب حالة هياج وغضب من الاحزاب العلمانيه والليبراليه ووسائل الاعلام التي تساندها , وشنت حملة تشهير وتبغيض وتشويه ضد الاحزاب الاسلاميه وضد المجلس العسكري لانه المشرف على الانتخابات وشوهت صورته واتهمته بالتواطؤ مع الاحزاب الاسلاميه وتزوير الانتخابات والعوده بالبلاد الى ايام نظام مبارك ,
طبعا هذه تهم باطله , فالشارع المصري واضحة جدا هويته الاسلاميه , وواضح غضبه وعدم رغبته بأي تدخل اجنبي في شؤون مصر
وطبعا اميركا واسرائيل والنظام القديم للرئيس السابق مبارك هم أول من يريد لهذه الثورة ان تفشل وترجع مصر للمربع الاول تحت حكم دكتاتوري وصديق للغرب , كما كان حكم مبارك , والناس هناك كلها تتهم الغرب بتدخله لتخريب الثورة , وتمويل جماعات تحرض وتنشر العنف والكراهيه في البلاد لاثارة الفوضى او ما يشابه الحرب الاهليه لابقاء مصر في حالة لا استقرار سياسي بعيد المدى , في الوقت الذي سقطت في ليبيا بتدخل اجنبي , والان الدائرة تدور على سوريا لخلق الفرصه لتدخل اجنبي , واليمن في فوضى والعراق في ظلام واحتلال وعنف وفلسطين في متاهة لا نهاية لها ... ومصر مشغوله لا تقدر أن تمد يد المساعده لأي واحده من اخواتها المنكوبات حولها ...
في البدايه كانت المحاولات تتركز على اثارة الفتنه بين مسلمين وغير مسلمين في مصر, لكن الشعب المصري اثبت انه ذكي وحذر ولملم الكثير من الفتن والمصائب حتى لا تتوسع وتسبب المزيد من النزيف وتمزيق الشعب الواحد , بعد الانتخابات توجهت الصراعات والفتن لتفتيت الشعب بين مؤيد للاسلاميين ومؤيد للعلمانيين والليبراليين , ووسائل الاعلام المحليه لعبت دورا مميزا في التخريب ورفع وتيرة العنف في الخطاب السياسي وتأجيج الشارع حتى يشتعل بالجدل والنزاع والكلام الفارغ ,
قلبي مع مصر دائما, وادعو الله ان تمر هذه المحنه وتنتهي لخير مصر وشعبها, وان تتحقق احلام الثورة في الحريه والعداله الاجتماعيه والديمقراطيه , وان تكون نموذجا ناجحا تتعلم منه شعوب العالم والمنطقه , دروسا ايجابيه في التغيير والبناء والازدهار , التحديات مازالت موجوده لكن الشعب المصري قد صبر كثيرا وقدم التضحيات الثمينه طوال عقود من الزمان , عسى الله ان يبارك بصبرهم وتضحيتهم ويجزيهم خير الجزاء في الدنيا والآخره ,
أما عن دراستي في الجامعه الامريكيه في القاهره , فقد مضى منها فصلان دراسيان وفي شهر شباط القادم ان شالله يبدأ الفصل الدراسي الثالث بالنسبة لي , ثم يبقى لي الفصل الاخير في خريف 2012 ان شالله ,
تعلمت اشياء ممتازه من خلال دراستي عن سياسات القطاع الحكومي او ادارة القطاع الحكومي ,عن الحوكمه وماهي طبيعتها وتطبيقاتها , عن السياسات الماليه , عن ادارة المشاريع التنمويه وحل المشاكل التي تواجهنا خلال العمل , ثم كتابة الابحاث لكل كورس دراسي ,
ورأيت اشياء غريبه ايضا خلال كوني طالبه , فالنظام الدراسي ليس دائما مريحا ولا الاستاذه الجامعيين دائما منصفين او مهنيين فعلا , فوجدت منهم الجاد والمخلص والمنصف, وخصوصا من المصريين , ووجدت قليل الخبرة المتكبر اللامنصف واللا موضوعي في تعامله مع الطلاب , حتى انهم يضجرون من الطالب الذي يفهم ويناقش, ويريدون ان يكون الطلاب مثل العبيد لا يناقشون ولا يجادلون وانما فقط يتملقون لهم , وللاسف هذا وجدته في اساتذه اجانب وخصوصا من الامريكان , يعني يوجد في الجامعه شيء من الخيبه حول نوعية الاساتذه الوافدين من الخارج , بينما الذين من داخل البلاد معظمهم يبذلون جهودا عاليه حتى يكونوا بمستوى عالي ولائق مهنيا واكاديميا ...
وجدت بعض الاساتذه يحضرون الماده العلميه قبل الحصه الدراسيه ويناقشونها بكل تفاصيل واخلاص مع الطلاب, بينما البعض الاخر كسول ولا يكلف خاطره قراءة الماده واذا حصل نقاش فالطلاب في واد والاستاذ في واد آخر..
كذلك كتابة البحوث , بعض الاستاذه يتابعون ويعطون تعليمات بتوقيت مناسب قبل نهاية الفصل , حتى تتم كتابة البحث أو تصحيحه قبل تسليمه بفترة كافيه , والبعض الاخر لا يعطي اي معلومه مفيده الا قبل يومين من تسليم الورقه , او بعد تصحيحها ينطق حضرة جنابه ويقول اين الاخطاء والتقصيرات وهذا ما لم يذكره ابدا عند تعليقه على مسودة الورقه , وطبعا هذا يكسر نفسية الطالب, ويكسر جهوده وينقص علاماته , وكأن العملية انتقام من الاستاذ وليس الصبر والتعليم حتى يتقن الطالب الموضوع , يعني ماعدت أرى الاخلاق السائده في التعليم هي نفسها التي كانت سائده ايام زمان في السبعينات , حين درست الهندسه في جامعة بغداد , وتذكرت كم كان اساتذتنا مخلصون معنا وكم كانت عملية التعليم مرهقه لهم , وكم كنا حمقى وصغار ولا نأخذ التعليم بجديه , لكن اخلاص طاقم التدريس وارتفاع المستوى الاكاديمي في الجامعات العراقيه , اجبرنا ان نتعلم الكثير ونستفيد من عملية التعليم بطريقة ايجابيه ..
مسألة ان تكون طالبا ومنشغلا بطلب العلم , هي مسألة جهاد فعلا, فهي تعزل الانسان عن الحياة الاجتماعيه وتحصره في مجال الدرس والبحث بدقة واخلاص , وهذه عمليه ممتعه جدا ومرهقه ايضا , لكن نتائجها هي حصاد مثمر لكل طالب جاد في دراسته , بينما بعض الطلاب الذين يدرسون الماستر يعملون في النهار , ويأتون للدرس مساء وهم متعبون , ولا وقت للدراسه والنقاش العميق , ولا وقت لكتابة ورقة البحث الا في اللحظات الاخيره , اعتقد ان الحصاد سيكون فقيرا على المستوى العام لهذا الشخص , مقدار الاستفاده الحقيقيه من العلم والدراسه ستكون نتيجته محدوده , وبعض الناس لا يهمهم سوى الحصول على شهادة الماستر لتعليقها على جدار المكتب او احدى غرف البيت , وهذا شيء محزن فعلا , ان يكون استثمار الجهد والوقت والمال من أجل الحصول على ورقة فقط , واضاعة الفرصه الذهبيه في التعلم والتطور ...
وهكذا هي ايضا الحياة الدنيا , البعض منا يقضيها في التفاهات والسخافات ولا يدري كيف مضت وماالذي تعلمه منها, والبعض يمضي بخطوات بطيئه يتعلم ويراجع نفسه , ويراجع ما حوله , ليرى ان الايجابيات واين السلبيات ؟ ويفكر دائما بدوره في هذه الحياة , من أين جاء والى اين يمضي ؟ والبعض الاخر يعيش مثل الدابة في مرعى البرسيم , الدنيا تمضي حوله مضطربه متناقضه وهو مشغول بالعلف والنوم .... تغيب عنه شهور وسنوات , وترجع لتراه على حاله.... لا ادري أتحزن عليه ام تحسده على الجهل السعيد الذي هو غارق فيه ؟
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 7:19 PM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The American University in Cairo...
Dear All,
I have just finished the second academic semester in the AUC, where I persue my Master studies in Public Policy and Adminstration.
I left to Jordan, to have short vacation with my family.
Also I would like to share with you this reserach paper about education reform in Iraq after 2003. Hopefully it will help many people to know more about facts on ground in Iraq.
Hopefully will have enough time in the coming days ,to write more about Egypt.
Best regards
Faiza
Educational Reform in Post-War Iraq: Successes and Failures
Introduction
This paper will focus on the education reform in Iraq after the invasion of 2003. Education is one of the priorities in the Iraqi society. People of Iraq are proud of its historical position as the cradle of civilization and the place in which the first human experience of writing occurred. That is why Iraqis are ready to sacrifice everything to put their children in school and to follow up on their performance, making sure that they are doing well and their future is promising. People want their children to be good citizens and to play an active role in the development of their country. Iraqis have suffered a lot during three decades of wars and sanction, and they have witnessed the deterioration of their quality of life in many aspects such as education and health. They are thus very eager, after the fall of the old regime, to see reforms take place in their country, especially in the sectors of education and health, which are considered to be crucial parts of life.
The Iraqi government has made many reforms in the education sector since 2003, but the people have seen those reforms as falling short of their hopes and ambitions. Since the invasion the government has been very considered very weak, and has been plagued by corruption. Many stakeholders in the country have tried very hard to control and eliminate the corruption.
Stakeholders such as political activists, local media, local civil-society organizations and international organizations are working together to minimize corruption in the Iraqi public sector, including the education system.
Despite the limited reforms which have been made in the education sector, the Iraqi people are not satisfied. The media is constantly reporting about the concerns of the stakeholders regarding the quality of education and the outcome of this system. People are concerned about the future of their children and civil society organizations are concerned about increasing literacy rates in the country. International education organizations such as the UNESCO and others have reported about problems in Iraq such as lack of school buildings, lack of modern equipment and laboratories, high student/teacher ratio, and so on. Those are difficulties affecting the level of education in a negative way and they need more attention. It will take strong will and serious commitment from the Iraqi government to improve the education sector. This will be critical for strengthening Iraq as education is considered to be the key to the development process.
The Formal Education System in Iraq
The Iraqi constitution of 2005 stipulated that education is a fundamental factor for the progress of society and is a right guaranteed by the state. Primary education is mandatory and the state has guaranteed that it shall combat illiteracy. Free education, in all its stages, is a right for all Iraqis. (World data on education,7th edition,2010/11)
The structure of the educational system in Iraq is broken into the following stages:
• Pre-primary education (kindergarten): It lasts for two years starting age 4 and it is not compulsory.
• Primary Education: It is a compulsory six years of education which starts at minimum age 6 and ends with standardized national examination.
• Secondary Education: It has two stages. The first one is intermediate which includes three years ending with standardized national examinations followed by the second stage which includes three years ending with the Iraqi Baccalaureate (high school diploma).
• Vocational Education: This starts after the successful completion of the first stage of secondary education and it takes three to five years. If the students join the secondary vocational school (agricultural, industrial, veterinary or commercial studies) this will take three years. If they enter a teachers training institute it will take two more years to graduate. The students thus spend the first three years in general vocational education and an additional two years in subject specialization.
• Higher Education in Iraq: This begins after completing 12 years of education and takes from four to six years, depending on the field of study. In the arts, sciences, law, economics and most engineering majors it takes four years to obtain a Bachelor’s degree. Pharmacy and some engineering majors take five years and medicine takes six years.
• Master’s Degrees are offered in numerous fields and are usually completed in two years.
• Doctoral Degrees are awarded in some fields. They usually take three years of study after a Master’s Degree.
The Iraqi Ministry of Education is responsible for all the levels of education prior to university including the planning, implementation, curriculum development, school management, teacher management, education research and innovation, education standards, coordination with national or international partners as well as any activities related to religion, sports, health, morals and the environment.
The Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is responsible for the administration and supervision of both private and public universities, colleges and technical institutions.
In this paper I will talk about the reform in pre-university education in Iraq after 2003.
The Concept of Educational Reform
The Education system in Iraq witnessed serious steps of reform during the1970s and 1980s which had a very positive outcome on society and the economy. UNESCO had selected Iraq in the beginning of the 1980s as a model for one of the best education systems in the region.
The results of education reforms in the 1970s and 1980s are evident in the high literacy rates in the adult population. However, over the past two decades, wars, sanctions, and harsh economic conditions have taken a toll on the educational system (UNDP 2004).
After the American invasion in 2003, the new Iraqi government has also made many reforms to the education system in order to increase its efficiency and effectiveness.
The government increased the salaries of all the teachers. In cooperation with UNESCO, the Iraqi government worked to change the curricula of all levels and printed millions of new textbooks for the Iraqi students.
International NGOs also worked on the rehabilitation of hundreds of schools in Iraq and trained thousands of teachers in the process of improving the quality of education in Iraq.
The government has joined many international education agreements such as Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and Education for All (EFA) Program, and is committed to ensuring those goals by 2015.
The government of Iraq has therefore indentified education as one of its main priorities. This was reflected in the increase of total government expenditure allocated for education from 7.2% in 2008 to 9.9% in 2009 (IAU, 2010).
The Problem
From national and international reports, as well as from local media, we can identify the main problems in the Iraqi education system. There is large scale corruption in the governmental education institutions. For instance, false documentation about expenditure for rehabilitation and reconstruction of schools has become common. Also, staff recruitment in the educational system is being affected by intervention of political parties.
Additionally, there is a high illiteracy rate according to international NGOs reports (UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO) in 2010. There are also high drop-out rates. Girls drop-out more commonly than boys, and rural drop-outs are more than urban, according to 2010 reports.
Moreover, weak performance of teachers – due to a lack of teachers training - has increased the student drop-outs. According to post war UN reports, about 85% of schools need rehabilitation – particularly in water and sanitation. Despite funding from international NGOs, there has been a very low scale of rehabilitation which the Iraqi government is exaggerating in its official announcements.
Furthermore, there is public discontent about the performance of the education system. Parents are paying extra expenses for private lessons to ensure a high level of education for their children and to ensure that their children will pass the final national examination.
A disparity exists between business market needs and the output of the education system. According to World Bank reports, the unemployment rate is about 40% among young adults and fresh graduates, especially those who have only finished Secondary Education.
Identifying the Specific Stakeholders
Here is the list of stakeholders in Iraq who could be involved in the education process:
• Government (The Iraqi Ministry of Education): The role of the government is still not effective due to the large scale corruption in all its institutions. Political parties in the government are trying to impose their ideologies through the education curricula and through the recruitment process for teachers, principals and other public sector workers in the education system as candidates are selected due to their political background rather than their competency.
• International donors (UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, World Bank and others): These organizations are trying to help Iraq to have high standards in the education system; they have written many reports since 2003 about the weakness of the system and have put many plans to help the Iraqi government to solve those problems.
• Teachers: In order to reduce corruption, the government increased teachers' salaries after 2003. This is specially to reduce the phenomenon of private lessons after school, which teachers used to give for their students when their salaries were low. At the time this was justified by the teachers' need to make a better income, but this phenomenon still exists and it adds a heavy financial burden on the parents. Teachers need to be trained about new teaching methods and effective management of their classes and schools. This will improve the quality of education.
• Students: Students are concerned about the quality of teaching, quality of the curriculum, and they want a fair grading system.
• Parents: Parents want to see good results from the education process. They want to see their children gain successful careers after their graduation.
• Private sector: The private sector needs a highly qualified work force, which are the products of the education system in any country.
• Local civil society NGOs: These groups want to be involved in any project or activity relevant to community development such as literacy reduction, capacity building for youth, women empowerment and so on. They are always willing to play an effective role and to have effective partnership with the government and the private sector
Approaches to Solve the Problem
Stakeholders should work together to improve the quality of education, to improve the performance of the system, and to gain better outcomes from the whole process.
The budget of education in the fiscal year budget should be increased in order to have enough space to improve many aspects relevant to the education process. For instance, the government should allocate a budget for building more schools and should recruit more teachers. This would reduce the ratio of students to teachers and thus improve the outcome of the education process.
The Iraqi Ministry of Education should monitor and evaluate the implementation of the new curricula to be sure of its positive impact on the students’ understanding. The improved system should improve their skills, for example their communication and leadership skills, and their knowledge of modern technology, so that they can contribute to the future of their country. The Ministry of Education should constantly check on and follow-up with its teachers and supervisors in order to get feedback.
Iraqi schools need more equipment and better technologies now to promote the quality of teaching and to enhance new teaching methods. This should include updated computer, language and science laboratories. Also a new emphasis on extra-curricular activities should be made, including sports and arts. This should have a budget allocation.
The Iraqi Ministry of Education should also keep working with local and International NGOs to focus on training of teachers in school management, child-friendly teaching methods, and psychological care for traumatized children. This is a second priority after curricula reform. Teachers’ training is a very important issue in the process of education reform. This step will increase the qualification of teachers and their performance and will reduce the phenomenon of private lessons which is currently another burden on parents’ budgets.
Parents can play an effective role in the education system, not only by watching and heloing their children study, but also being decision makers in the process of evaluating the new curricula and teaching methods. A dialogue should be opened with the school staff during periodic meetings along the academic year.
Private sector can suggest specific skills to be included in education system like studying economics from early stages in schools and continuous training for graduated students who have either pre-university education or have graduated from Iraqi universities. This process will prepare the student for wider knowledge about local and global markets, industries, agriculture and about what kind of skills they need to know before getting any job in the local markets. It will also prepare students to be active actors in the economy of their country in the future. Workshops about different careers and guidance councillors in secondary schools should help students plan for their future and decide which careers they are interested in. This will make it easier for them to focus their studies and decide which post-secondary institutions to apply for.
Local civil society organizations can take a positive role in reducing illiteracy rates especially in rural area when they can share with international NGOs or governmental campaigns to provide literacy classes for men and women in their communities. Also they can provide capacity building training courses for youth, to prepare them with needed skills in the markets to help them gain jobs and reduce unemployment rates.
Recommendations
The government should work seriously to reduce corruption in education institutions and stop the intervention of political parties in the process of recruiting teachers.
The government can keep working with international NGOs in the process of rehabilitating the infrastructure of more schools. The process should be transparent and accountable to ensure it is implemented in the right way and within the estimated budget. Documentation will be the best way to keep high credibility for all partners. The people of Iraq are tired of corruption, and hearing about millions of dollars being spent by the government and international donors while seeing few changes on ground. If the Iraqi Ministry of Education or any education international NGO such as UNESCO or UNICEF would publish the list of schools which have been rehabilitated, or the names of teachers which have been trained, people would feel comfortable. It would give credibility to all the partners who have been working in this process to go forward in their successful partnership and make more positive changes on the ground.
The government should support schools with more audio/video supplies, and laboratories (for science lessons or language) to strengthen the practical knowledge of the students.
Computer learning is another hot issue in modern learning methods; it should be available in all Iraqi schools to keep the students updated about the new technologies and keep them aware about how to use it to enrich their knowledge and skills. Also it will increase the ability of students to be more independent and seek knowledge through individual efforts.
Teachers’ training should remain as a priority in the reform process, to increase their effectives and improve their performance. Also this will ensure high standards in the education system of Iraq.
The budget for Ministry of Education should be increased in the coming years so that the government can build more schools and purchase modern equipments to be used in the learning and teaching process.
Private sector and civil society should play more effective role in the process of education reform, they can have partnership with the government to impellent many projects which are relevant such as be a part of monitoring and evaluation of the education system, being an active part in reducing corruption in the system, implementing programs to reduce illiteracy in the country or capacity building programs to promote the skills of graduate students to be qualified work force in the future.
Conclusion
Education reform is a critical issue in the process of development and strategic planning in any country. The goal of the educational process is not only to put the children in schools; strategic planning is needed with regards to the outcome of this process and its benefits and impact on the future of any country.
The government is not the only actor in making reform. Many stakeholders have to work together to implement the changes, it cannot be done single-handedly. The process will require cooperation of stakeholders, national and international, internal and external. On all sides a great effort must be made to control corruption, as it is the biggest challenge and threat to positive change. It is an obstacle on the way to achieve goals such as reducing illiteracy rates, building new schools or training more teachers around the country.
Despite the limited reforms which were made in Iraq after 2003 - whereby the government increased the salaries of all teachers and modified the curricula - the problems remain, as does the public discontent regarding the performance of the education system.
This proves that limited reforms cannot bring about a real and positive impact on the ground; Planning is needed for long term progress. Evaluation and monitoring must always be done on any reform in order to ensure that the decision makers stay on the right track while implementing long-term reform and to cultivate the positive outcomes of all stakeholders’ efforts.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Iraq was one of the best countries in the region in terms of its education system, due to UNESCO reports. After the 1990 war and thirteen years of sanctions, followed by the American occupation since 2003, the education system has deteriorated to be one of the worst in the region. This situation demonstrates that a stable political environment can be the key to success for any sustainable development in public sector services.
In a country which is passing through hard conditions such as Iraq, there are many obstacles to successful reform. There is violence and corruption at large. Many stakeholders, such as the private sector and the civil society organizations, are not effectively fulfilling their roles. The parents do not actively participate in the education system, and their feedback has not been taken into consideration. International organizations are not being monitored. All of these obstacles make it very difficult to create positive changes in Iraqi education, despite all available resources. Millions of oil barrels are produced every day. However, the government’s bad management and lack of cooperation between all stakeholders has kept the country weak, and has affected the outcome of the education system. The Iraqi people are eager to see successful development of their children through education, and any improvement of the education system will be an investment for the future of prosperity in Iraq.
References
• Kevin Watkins.2011.Speech for UNESCO Education for All Global Monitoring Report launch, Amman, Jordan
• Ms. Irina Bovoke.2011. Speech of the General Director of the UNESCO, Istanbul, Turkey.
• UNESCO report .2003. Report about Iraq education
• UNDP report .2004. Education in Iraq
• John Daniel, UNESCO Assistant Director- General for education, Education for All in the Arab World,2003
• UNDP report. 2010. IAU report. Education and Development in Iraq.
• UNDP report. 2009. IAU report, Facts and Figures ,literacy in Iraq Fact sheet
• UNICEF report. 2010. Girls education in Iraq
• World Data on Education, 7th Edition, 2010/11. Principles and general objectives of education
• UNICEF report. 2006. A quality education in Iraq
• UNESCO report. 2006. Teacher training in Iraq
• Necmi Aksit. 2006. Education Reform in Turkey
• Tishiyuki Mizukoshi. 2001. Educational Reform in japan
• An interview with Sir Michael Barber. 2006. Education Reform Lessons from England
• George Zegarac. 2007. Secondary School Reform in Ontario, Canada
• Shunji Tanabe.2000. Education Reform in Japan, ways towards quality
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 1:00 PM
Thursday, September 15, 2011
A letter from a community group in Utah
Good afternoon Faiza!
I wanted to take a moment to commend you on the Family in Baghdad blog. What a fascinating blog! I really appreciate and enjoy the blog posts made by yourself and your family members. It is a really enlightening look at a culture with which I have very little experience, and I enjoy reading about your various experiences and view points. I particularly enjoyed your recent post about declining rates of literacy. Literacy is so important, not only to individuals, but to families and to societies as a whole. Your posts on the subject are fascinating, and I wish you luck in spreading the word, which is very important.
Anyway, I am also writing because I was wondering if you'd be interested in publishing a guest post that we would supply on the topic of 5 Reasons to Be Thankful For a Great Family. I work in association with the Daybreak community in Utah, which takes a great deal of pride in family values and clean living, and we are interested in reaching out to your readers and others who visit your blog, and helping to educate them on this subject.
****************************************
Five Reasons to Be Thankful For a Great Family
--Philip J Reed, on behalf of Daybreak
In life, there are few things more important than family. We can have good days, and we can have bad days. We can have days where everything goes our way, and we can have days where nothing feels right. We can have friends who care about us, and enemies who do not wish us well. But in spite of everything, at any time of the day or night, there is one thing that we always have: family. That is why we are writing this article: to salute great families everywhere, and to remind us of why we are so fortunate to have them.
1) They Are Your Support Group
Your family will be there to help you and support you in many ways! From basic needs such as food and shelter all the way through emotional needs such as caring and companionship. Your family will be there for you to laugh at your jokes, to make you feel better after a bad day, and to remind you of what is most important in life. Whether playing together, eating, or simply enjoying the time you spend together, your family can be the highlight of your day. And you can be the highlight of theirs!
2) They Will Always Be Your Family
You may have very close friends, but they were not always your friends, and some of them may not always be your friends. You may lose contact with your friends, or they may do something that you find objectionable and you may not be able to see them in the same light. In a similar way, you may have a great job that you love, but it was not always your job and you will leave that job eventually. You may love your town, but you may always move. Your family, however, has always been your family, and, no matter what happens, you will always have them as your family. You are together throughout your entire life, and there is something magical about that fact.
3) There is Nobody Else Like Them in the World
Every member of your family is a unique individual. You would not mistake them for anybody! The way they talk, the things they say, the way they act, or even just the look in their eyes will always remind you of who they are, and why there is nobody else in the world quite like them. While you will always care for others as well, and always be able to find the good in many people, the fact remains that your family is your family, and that will always set them apart in your mind. And that is the way it should be!
4) They Are the Reason You Are Who You Are
Without your family, you would not be the same person you are today! With different parents you would look differently, act differently, and possibly even live in another part of the world. You may never have met your friends, and you may have taken a completely different path in life. Without your spouse you would be living somewhere else as well, perhaps with an entirely different family, or perhaps without a family of your own at all. Everybody we meet shapes our lives in some way, and our families shape our lives in such large ways that we would not exist at all in the same way without them!
5) They Are Thankful For You
It is true! You should be thankful for your family, because they are thankful for you! Whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother or sister, your family needs you and is glad for you. Their worlds would be very different without you, and they are thankful to have you in their lives. What better feeling can there be in the world than to know how much your family cares about you? Be sure to thank them in return!
The importance of strong family bonds cannot be overstated. Many communities, such as our own Daybreak in Utah, recognize this, and work to provide strong relationships within the community. But wherever you may live, anywhere in the world, it is your own family that is most important. Remind them how much you love them today, and tell them how thankful you are to have them be such an important part of your life!
http://www.daybreakutah.com/
http://www.daybreakutah.com/live-here
I wanted to take a moment to commend you on the Family in Baghdad blog. What a fascinating blog! I really appreciate and enjoy the blog posts made by yourself and your family members. It is a really enlightening look at a culture with which I have very little experience, and I enjoy reading about your various experiences and view points. I particularly enjoyed your recent post about declining rates of literacy. Literacy is so important, not only to individuals, but to families and to societies as a whole. Your posts on the subject are fascinating, and I wish you luck in spreading the word, which is very important.
Anyway, I am also writing because I was wondering if you'd be interested in publishing a guest post that we would supply on the topic of 5 Reasons to Be Thankful For a Great Family. I work in association with the Daybreak community in Utah, which takes a great deal of pride in family values and clean living, and we are interested in reaching out to your readers and others who visit your blog, and helping to educate them on this subject.
****************************************
Five Reasons to Be Thankful For a Great Family
--Philip J Reed, on behalf of Daybreak
In life, there are few things more important than family. We can have good days, and we can have bad days. We can have days where everything goes our way, and we can have days where nothing feels right. We can have friends who care about us, and enemies who do not wish us well. But in spite of everything, at any time of the day or night, there is one thing that we always have: family. That is why we are writing this article: to salute great families everywhere, and to remind us of why we are so fortunate to have them.
1) They Are Your Support Group
Your family will be there to help you and support you in many ways! From basic needs such as food and shelter all the way through emotional needs such as caring and companionship. Your family will be there for you to laugh at your jokes, to make you feel better after a bad day, and to remind you of what is most important in life. Whether playing together, eating, or simply enjoying the time you spend together, your family can be the highlight of your day. And you can be the highlight of theirs!
2) They Will Always Be Your Family
You may have very close friends, but they were not always your friends, and some of them may not always be your friends. You may lose contact with your friends, or they may do something that you find objectionable and you may not be able to see them in the same light. In a similar way, you may have a great job that you love, but it was not always your job and you will leave that job eventually. You may love your town, but you may always move. Your family, however, has always been your family, and, no matter what happens, you will always have them as your family. You are together throughout your entire life, and there is something magical about that fact.
3) There is Nobody Else Like Them in the World
Every member of your family is a unique individual. You would not mistake them for anybody! The way they talk, the things they say, the way they act, or even just the look in their eyes will always remind you of who they are, and why there is nobody else in the world quite like them. While you will always care for others as well, and always be able to find the good in many people, the fact remains that your family is your family, and that will always set them apart in your mind. And that is the way it should be!
4) They Are the Reason You Are Who You Are
Without your family, you would not be the same person you are today! With different parents you would look differently, act differently, and possibly even live in another part of the world. You may never have met your friends, and you may have taken a completely different path in life. Without your spouse you would be living somewhere else as well, perhaps with an entirely different family, or perhaps without a family of your own at all. Everybody we meet shapes our lives in some way, and our families shape our lives in such large ways that we would not exist at all in the same way without them!
5) They Are Thankful For You
It is true! You should be thankful for your family, because they are thankful for you! Whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, brother or sister, your family needs you and is glad for you. Their worlds would be very different without you, and they are thankful to have you in their lives. What better feeling can there be in the world than to know how much your family cares about you? Be sure to thank them in return!
The importance of strong family bonds cannot be overstated. Many communities, such as our own Daybreak in Utah, recognize this, and work to provide strong relationships within the community. But wherever you may live, anywhere in the world, it is your own family that is most important. Remind them how much you love them today, and tell them how thankful you are to have them be such an important part of your life!
http://www.daybreakutah.com/
http://www.daybreakutah.com/live-here
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 12:27 PM
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Research paper/ Education sector in Iraq
Dear All,
I have just finished my first semester in the American University in Cairo, where my master study about public Adminstration and public policy was started last Febrauary 2011.
I wrote this research paper about Public Policy regardding Education sector in Iraq since 1970.
I know that the paper was not perfect 100% due to lack of refernces sometimes, but I did my best to be honest and neutral as any professional researcher should be.
this is the paper, and I hope it will add valuable infomation for any reader who wants to know more about Iraq, before and after the invasion.
Public policy about education in Iraq since 1970
Abstract
In this paper I will try to explore different public policies that have been implemented in Iraq's education system since 1970. This overview will discuss the political and economic changes that took place in Iraq during the last three decades.
I will use the framework of UNESCO for analysing the education system, which includes three factors: supply, demand and quality.
I will also divide the period from 1970-2011 to a number of stages; each stage has many things in common.
Stage one: from 1970-1980 was stable with a high economic growth and positive impact on the education system.
Stage two: from 1980-1990 that includes eight years of war against Iran, which affected the economic system in a negative way, however its impact on the education system was not particularly clear.
Stage three: from 1990-2003 it started with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 followed by the sanction in 1991 which was removed after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the American forces and their coalition.
Stage four: from 2003-2011 where Iraq faced political and economic disturbances which degraded all the public services and the education system as well.
Introduction
Formal and informal education in Iraq
Iraq’s educational system used to be among the best in the region; one of the country’s most important assets remains its well-educated people. The results of education reforms in the 1970s and 1980s are evident in the high literacy rates among the adult population. However, over the past two decades wars, sanctions, and harsh economic conditions have taken a toll on the educational system. (UNDP 2005)
The administration and management of education in Iraq is highly centralized within two ministries, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. A similar structure is found in the three Northern governorates (UNESCO 2003).
The Ministry of Education is responsible for the management and implementation of pre-school, primary, and secondary education, the latter of which includes teacher training, fine arts institutes, and vocational education. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is responsible for the administration, planning, and management of higher education. Post-secondary education in Iraq includes technical institutes, colleges, and universities. Universities are semi-autonomous in most financial, technical, and administrative matters (UNESCO 2003)
The education ladder in Iraq (formal education programs)
Kindergarten: age between 3-4 years (non-compulsory).
Primary school: six years of education (compulsory) where schools accept children who are 7 years old. National exams are held by the end of the last year (sixth grade).
Intermediate school: three years then students pass a third form baccalaureate
Secondary school: three years then student should pass the sixth form baccalaureate
As for vocational training after intermediate school, students can choose a vocational training study of three years with commercial, industrial or agriculture domain.
For teachers' institutes after intermediate school, students can continue their studies for five years in any teaching institute.
Students who have finished intermediate and high schools can continue their studies in a college or university for a minimum of four years, and then they will gain a bachelor degree.
Post-graduate studies: students can continue their master and PhD degrees, each will take two to three years.
Also there are informal education schools for illiterate adult between 15-45 years, where they have a special program of three years (instead of six) to finish primary school.
UNESCO framework (as per their reports) for analysing the educational sector has three main components: supply, demand, and quality. The supply of education includes: infrastructure, which is comprised of the number of teachers, availability of school buildings, and other necessary educational material; government policies, and public spending on education.
The demand for education is related to the number of students at different levels, enrolment, and participation in education.
The quality of education refers to how the system works internally: what the children learn at school; their progress, and whether or not the system is successful at keeping the children in school.
According to UNDP 2005 report In Iraq: 99% of students attended public schools, 73% of primary schools students in Iraq needed less than 15 minutes to reach the nearest school with normal transportation. The accessibility of schools in urban areas is better than in rural areas. The availability of secondary schools is lower than primary schools and in most governorates the majority of the students need less than 30 minutes to get to secondary school, which can be considered a reasonable distance.
When I used to live in Iraq, I saw that the policy of the government was clear about the regulations of students' enrolment in schools; everyone has the right to be enrolled in the nearest school to his/ her residence. This rule is general and implemented in all Iraqi cities, to make a kind of fairness for all students; no school has privilege more than others. A limited number of public schools, that prove themselves to have particularly better teachers and higher average of students results in baccalaureate exams, get the status of Magnate Schools, and hence get to be more selective about the students they accept, the principal or his deputy would usually personally study every student file and decide if they are to be accepted in the school or not, and for average students applying, they will give priority for students coming from better schools and nearer geographical locations.
During sanction time, when the government was incapable of providing schools with new furniture or covering the maintenance expenses of all schools, parents were responsible of providing donations, we used to send heaters or fans to classrooms or participate with painting material and expenses to paint the school or to fix the restrooms in the schools for our children, because we saw that it is a part of reciprocation to our homeland. We parents ourselves have graduated from Iraqi public schools and universities during the golden era of 1970s and 1980s.
Stage one 1970-1980
When the Ba’ath Party came to power in 1968, eradication of illiteracy was made a primary objective. Educational policy was set by three laws passed in the 1970s: the Illiteracy Eradication Law (1971); the Free Education Law (1974), whereby the state would cover the costs of education at all stages; and the Compulsory Education Law (1978), which made six years of primary education compulsory for all children (Sousa 1982). In 1978, the government launched the National Comprehensive Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy, which aimed at eradicating illiteracy for all those between the ages of 15 and 45. The campaign mobilized the media, trade unions, and civic organizations; all sectors of society were targeted, and there was an emphasis on the full participation and emancipation of women. (UNDP 2005)
In that period of time I was a high school student in one of Baghdad's large schools, then was enrolled in Baghdad University, college of Engineering, and have graduated in 1976. I have lived all the positive practices that were implemented on the education sector.
Due to political and economic needs the government decided to nationalize the oil in Iraq in 1971, and this step was the beginning of a big growth and development process in the country on all sectors.
(These views on sectoral priorities receive some support from the recent record of mineral economies. A few countries such as Algeria, Iraq and Venezuela, which have deployed their mineral earnings to invest in human resources and not neglected agriculture, have strengthened the basis for diversifying their economies). WDR 1979
On the education sector growth, the indicators were: building more schools and universities all over Iraq and starting the literacy campaign. Living costs were moderate and teachers were from the middle class, they were enjoying good standards of living, my aunts were teachers and I witnessed them enjoying a very good level of life, they owned their houses and had cars, in summer holiday they used to travel to Egypt or Lebanon to spend their vacation, that means they had salaries enough to make good savings.
In that time also the government made political reconciliation with the Kurd parties in the north part of Iraq and gave them self- autonomy, one of the regulations of that law is to integrate teaching Kurdish language in the curricula of Arab schools, and Arab language teaching in Kurd schools curricula as well.
Also we got French language teaching in selected schools in Baghdad, my school was one of them, after I graduated from it they implemented this program of French language as an option, in the final exams, students who got highest marks from all schools, could go to Paris for a visit of two weeks, on the expense of France government. My two sisters got highest scores and they went to Paris with a group of girls and boys.
There was a central agency from the Education Ministry to verify the scores and distribute the students on different universities due to the scores they got in the sixth form baccalaureate exam and with accordance to a preference list filled by students. All students and their families trusted the system in that time, there was no fraud. Discipline was very high.
The government granted top ten students graduating from all Iraqi universities to travel abroad and study their Master or PhD either in the US or any European country, all expenses were covered by the Iraqi government, and those who finished their studies abroad, should come back to Iraq to work as teachers in Iraqi universities, with permission for all of them to bring their personal house furniture and a personal car, tax free.
In that time, when I was studying in the Engineering College in Baghdad University, we used to have Egyptian teachers, where the Iraqi government had made contracts with Arab PhD holders to come and work as professors in Iraqi universities due to the shortage of a qualified staff to cover all Iraqi universities.
The graduated students from universities, can find jobs in the government directly after graduation, there was central planning for the number of graduating students, and where to put them according to the market needs. Everything was centralized, and the government had strong role putting policies and strategies for all sectors.
UNIESO had selected Iraq in the end of 1980 as one of the best education systems in the region, the enrolment rates were about 100% and the illiteracy rates were about zero.
The education was for free for all Iraqis, from kindergarten to the doctoral level. The books are for free, and then students have to return them back to the school or university at the end of academic year. University uniforms were tailored and sold in each university with minimal prices.
When I graduated from the university in 1976, many of my colleagues chose to continue their master degree in Baghdad university or abroad when the capacity of Baghdad university was not able to accommodate for all the post- graduate students from all Iraqi universities. And those were the professors of Iraqi universities in the following years. They have played a positive role in their societies, two of my brothers were among them, one had finished his PhD in America, he is a dentist, the other one, a neurologist, had finished his PhD from Britain.
Stage two 1980-1990
In September 1980, the Iraqi-Iranian war started, and it continued for eight years.
The public policy was shifting towards militarization, but oil revenue and money came from Gulf countries to support the war against Iran helped Iraqis maintain the same level and quality of life, there were no significant indicators of deterioration in public sector services (infrastructure, education, health, etc..) it was all functioning well.
The government kept its positive policies about education; many universities were established in many provinces such as Kufa University built in 1987, Tikreet University in 1987, Anbar University 1987.
Iraqis with PhDs went back home, to contribute through their positions in universities, hospitals and other public sector departments.
Stage three 1990-2003
After the end of the war with Iran in 1988, Iraqi decision makers faced the reality of the huge loss the country endured and how it affected the growth of the economy. They took another unwise decision in 1990 when they invaded Kuwait, allowing the US to take the green light from the UN to bomb Iraq, which destroyed the infrastructure of the country like schools, hospitals, bridges, highways, communication systems besides the military factories and sites.
Then the UN imposed economical sanction on Iraq which lasted for 13 years (they moved it after the invasion of Iraq in 2003).
Here in this stage, Iraq started to suffer, and the process of deterioration started on ground to be a part of Iraqis life.
It is safe to say that this was the end of the golden era, and the beginning of the destruction era.
(Over the past two decades, wars, sanctions, and harsh economic conditions have taken a toll on the educational system. The youth (aged 15-24) literacy rate at 74 percent is slightly higher than the literacy rate for the population at large, yet lower than literacy rates for the age group 25-34, indicating that the younger generation lags behind its predecessors on educational performance. (UNDP 2005)
Iraq was not allowed to receive the revenues of the oil. The UN took the authority to deal with the oil revenue of Iraq, and kept a trust fund to fund the monthly food rations for Iraqi people, it was an agreement called the Oil for Food Program which was started in 1995.
Now the government is not wealthy anymore, has no authority and no sovereignty on its national revenues. Economy went through recession and the currency went down and down with strong rates of inflation. In the period from 1970-1980, one Iraqi Dinar used to equal $3. Now in this stage one US Dollar equals 3000 Iraqi Dinars!
Prices of food and other goods in the markets increased beyond reason and imagination.
At this stage a real problem started with the public sector employees' salaries, especially the teachers. While they were used to a high standard of living, now their salaries can hardly buy anything!
A salary of 4000ID = less than $2 a month.
How a school teacher and his family can survive with this 2$ per month?
The quality of teaching went down, bribes started to be a part of the education sector in Iraq, and the idea of private tutoring emerged to bring further income for teachers.
The phenomena of poverty started in Iraq, and drop-out of students from poor families started to be another challenge.
Let's see this table to indicate the decreasing rates of enrolment of children. (UNDP 2005)
Year of birth Has completed grade 4 All
1986 92 100
1987 93 100
1988 93 100
1989 93 100
1990 90 100
1991 87 100
1992 78 100
Children has completed grade 4 are 85% in rural areas, 91% in urban areas, due to same report of UNDP.
At the end of the sanctions stage, the reports of UNESCO indicate increasing in drop-out rates, and increasing of illiteracy rates in Iraq.( 2008 global report).
On regard to schools building there was no indicator that the government opened new schools. Also the government faced a problem of printing new books every year for students. The budget wasn't enough to cover that process, so schools kept old books for many years to be used by different students within the same school, there were very limited numbers of new published school books.
In the universities the problems were bigger and more complicated, there was no updating of knowledge, as everything was suspended after 1990 when the war and then the sanctions started. No new books or magazines were found in the libraries for researchers, and there was a very limited access to internet in that time. This was a very hard time for post-graduate students in all Iraqi universities; there was a real degradation in the level of higher education.
The curricula in the universities were old and no new references were available, and the number of existing books was limited, many students had to share one book.
I worked in Baghdad University as a part-time teacher in 1995 in the Engineering College, and saw with my eyes the destruction of the system, most of the professors were living hard financial conditions, the salaries were very law, and there were no performance appraisals and no incentives, most of the professors lost their satisfaction with their jobs, and they were not allowed to travel abroad. Many of them have worked as taxi drivers in the afternoon to gain further income for their families to survive.
Also I have seen one of the high-school teachers of my son, who quit his job in the school to work as a gas station worker when I asked him why, he said that the salary was not enough anymore.
Also the students lost their interest, what kind of future is waiting them?
The economy went down and high unemployment was obvious because most of the public sector factories and agencies were either destroyed by bombing through 1991 war, or the sanction caused to close them, there was no enough fund to keep them functioning and taking work force from Iraqis. Private sector was also limited and weak, most of foreign companies and investors left the country during sanction years.
Most of Iraqi families kept the education of their children as a high priority, they paid for the private lessons big amounts of money every year, and this ends the notion of free education on ground. It was another burden on their budgets.
The government policy was bad in one clear point, when it gave +5 degrees for each student on his or her final GPA in the sixth form baccalaurean exam if one of their parents were Friends of the President! (A Friend of the President is a status you get in return of various acts favoured by the government) also +5 for any student who's father was killed in duty during any of the wars, +5 if the student is married, in addition to many other reasons that could grant you 5 degrees, there was no limit on the total grades you could get if more than one of these conditions apply to you, a student could possibly get 15+ grades to their final GPA, which ultimately decides which university would accept the student and usually a tenth of a point makes a difference. here we lost the criteria and credibility of the system, after adding all these "bonus grades" to the GPA, some students in this stage had a GPA of over 110%, and the quality of students who were accepted in universities degraded as they didn’t deserve to be accepted if it wasn't for these extra bonus points, and those sons of Friends of the President were not doing well in university, and were ready to pay the teachers to get a copy of any exam questions, Which was an indicator of the collapse of the education system in Iraq.
Despite these hard economic conditions, the government kept opening new universities in many provinces: Babil University was opened in 1991, Theqar University in 2002, and have opened many new departments in old Universities (check the website of each university). Also the government granted the right to open private universities in Iraq during this stage.
While I was writing this paper I have seen the balanced public policy towards the education system in Iraq since 1970 through facts on ground, the government have opened many universities in Iraq whether in the north or south, regardless of any ethnic or sectarian discrimination.
In an interview with the Iraqi minister of higher education in 2004, he said that there were 20 governmental universities in Iraq, an average of one university in each Iraqi province, and 11 private universities.
The government gave enough access for all the parts of Iraq to have enough education institutions from the north to the south.
Stage four 2003-2011
After the fall of Baghdad in 2003, and the American invasion, the country had entered another hard stage. In the beginning many people were deceived with the American administration rosy promises that Iraq will be the shining example in the ME.
We will discuss what happened to the shining example regarding the education system public policy.
The first big story was the contracts signed between the American administration with “Bechtel corporation “, it was a big fuss in the international and local media, that this construction company will make rehabilitation for all schools in Baghdad. We had to wait for months to see facts on ground, then things ended up with an Iraqi local contractor painting the schools and fixing some broken glass (these local contract costs only 2000$ for every school, while the contract of Bechtel was 60 000$ for each school rehabilitation they bragged about in the media).
Then we have faced the period of violence (2003-2008) where many school buildings were destroyed, or children stopped going to schools due to bad security conditions.
(In conflict-ridden areas, schools are not spared. In Iraq more than 2,700 schools were looted, damaged or burned in 2003. Only 30 per cent of Iraq’s 3.5 million students are attending classes, compared to 75 per cent in the previous school year. (UNESCO 2008 Global Education Report).
Also we have faced the problem of displaced persons inside the country due to sectarian violence between 2005 and 2008, where thousands of children lost access to school. (In Iraq, analysis of data from the governorates of Baghdad, Basra and Ninewa found that IDP families were far less likely to send their children to school than families in the local population. (Global education UNESCO report 2008)
So far, the Iraqi government had made two major changes: first it re-printed the text books for schools without any story or picture about Saddam and Al-Baath party, second they raised the salaries of all public sector employees, and teachers were included.
Now the salary of a primary school teacher is about 500$, and the salary of a university professor is 3000$, which is fair to keep them living in a decent way, put in consideration that prices and life costs increased multiple times since the 2003 war, but still, these salaries are much better than what they used to get before the war.
But no indicator about building new schools, or improving the performance of the teachers to use modern teaching tools or ways.
The country started to suffer from three problems: increasing rates of illiteracy according to UNESCO representative in Iraq in his press conference in Baghdad(2009) where he stated that the UNESCO estimation of the numbers of illiterate persons in Iraq is about 5 million Iraqis most of them are women. He said that they have a program with the Iraqi government to solve this problem, the aim is to reduce this number to the half in 2015, and this project will cost 40 million Dollars.
Repetition rate is a second problem in Iraq now (In Iraq, 89 percent of children enrolled in school reach grade five. Repetition rates are high: 20 percent of children
(23 percent boys, 16 percent girls) currently enrolled in primary school have repeated at least one year. A high repetition rate generally indicates a low quality of education. (UNDP 2005)
The third problem facing Iraqi schools is the high numbers of drop-out of students before the last year of high school, in the age between 12-18 years. The government has no clear official numbers about this issue. The UUNISEF announced in a press report in Jordan that the estimated number is about 600 000 Iraqi students were dropped the school in Iraq ( UNISEF press report in Amman 2006)
The Iraqi government announced its budget for the year 2011 which is 86 Billion Dollars. Education is supposed to get 10% of this budget (8.6 billion) which is supposed to be fair enough to solve part of these problems, but corruption is the plague in Iraq now.
Last year (2010) I was working in Iraq as the Country Director of an International organization, one of my female employees was working as a public school teacher in the afternoon with the kind of schools that gave informal education for students who had dropped the school in the past years. She told me that the school student’s number should be 150 students at least; so that the ministry of education would keep it opened and pay salaries for the staff. The reality is that the majority of students are not coming to attend classes, most of them pulled out because they are working to bring food for their families or are not very interested with this kind of education. She and the principal and all the staff used to fill a false list every day of the attendance of students, so that when a supervisor visits the school would see the names in the records are above 150, to keep the school opened and keep their salaries going.
I have seen corruption, but who will hold those people accountable?
Due to Global integrity report 2008 (many appointments in the Ministry of education, for example, are based on patronage despite laws preventing nepotism and patronage in the civil system).This is another problem in Iraq now, which increased corruption lack of transparency in the education system.
Another famous story of corruption relevant to the education system in Iraq happened last year, when Washington Post newspaper wrote about a scandal of 8000 personal computers that were shipped to Iraq as a gift from American people to Iraqi students, and the education ministry distributed only 4000 computer to schools in Babil province to the south of Baghdad, while the other 4000 were sold in Basra port to a local Iraqi businessman. All Iraqi media talked about this story, and the government opened an investigation about it under the pressure of the public, but can never guarantee that this kind of story will not be repeated.
In Universities the main problems faced them were the looting and destruction of many universities that happened after 2003, which affected negatively the performance of the universities and their staff. The second major problem is the assassination of the university professors all over Iraq, no one can understand why and who is behind it, while the rest of Iraqi professors and academics fled the country to live in the exiles, this is an on going brain drain process. The government did nothing to protect the amazing brains of Iraq.
(280 academics have been killed since the fall of Saddam Hussein, 296 members of
Education staff were killed in 2005, and 180 teachers were killed between February and
November 2006. (UNESCO report education under attack 2007)
(Baghdad universities are reporting attendance down by 40 per cent, in some departments attendance is down to one-third. More than 3,000 academics have fled the country.(UNESCO report 2008)
Also the university students have faced violence, kidnapping, and many have been arrested by different groups of sectarian militias.
This hard condition affected the attendance of teachers and students to their schools and universities as well, and affected the quality of teaching for sure.
Old teaching methods, old curricula, is still a problem in Iraqi universities besides the lack of teaching staff. Many universities had closed post-graduate studies in many of their departments.
Also Iraq has now high unemployment rates (due to local Iraqi reports it's about 40% especially among the youth). This is another threat for the outcome of the education system, graduate youth need sustainable jobs and life, and they are eager to be active actors in their societies and the economy of Iraq.
New universities
Last year when I was in Baghdad, I have seen that there were three "open-study" universities or "online study" universities which are private and have post-graduate studies, but they are still under struggle to gain recognition from the Iraqi Higher Education Ministry.
In the northern part of Iraq, which is called now Kurdistan, this region contains three provinces: Erbil, Suliamaniya, and Dohuk with population between 5-6 million. There political parties have separated their area from Baghdad central government since 1991, after the war with Kuwait, and with the help and support of the US.
They have good international support for their education system since 1991, through UNCEF, and UNESCO to reduce illiteracy rates in their provinces. Also they had opened the American University in Suliamaniya since 2007. They used to have two universities in the past: Suliamaniya University 1968, Erbil University 1980.
There are three official languages of education in their universities: English, Arabic and Kurdish.
Conclusions
After this overview of the political and economic history of Iraq since 1970, I have seen same political regime staying in power from 1968-2003. The regime implemented good educational policies which raised Iraq to be the best in the region at the end of the 80s according to UNESCO reports. The same political system had faced hard economic conditions which pushed the decision makers to reduce the level of support for the education system, and the departure of all international NGOs from Iraq also increased the shortage and problems in the education system (international NGOs only kept their relations and fund to the north of Iraq since 1991 after the north gained independence from the central government).
In the middle of 1990s Iraqis started to see the real deterioration in the education system when the salaries were about $2 a month for each teacher, and this pushed teachers to depend on the income of private lessons, or rewards, gifts and bribes from their students and their parents. Here we started to lose the quality and credibility of the education system in Iraq. The government did reforms for the salaries of public sector but it was still below the required level.
After 2003, Iraq was invaded, and the UN removed the sanctions imposed on Iraq. International organizations entered Iraq to work with the government on many development programs to improve the level of the education system, we read on the websites of these international NGOs how many millions they have spent in Iraq to improve the education system, but nothing of positive change was seen on ground due to corruption and bad security condition which cannot allow the international NGOs representatives to check facts on ground by themselves.
Oil is still the main source of the revenue for the Iraqi state. That means we have no real economic problems with no sanctions against our state, and international NGOs are functioning in Iraq with their heavy fund. Where is the problem then?
The problem now in Iraq mainly is political, the country is living through political unrest since 2003, even though we have had two elections since that time, but the government is weak and divided, because it’s based on sectarian and ethnic alliances, those groups are fighting in power for their own interests, they don’t have the time and capacity to think about public service improvement or empowerment.
The World Bank website reports talk about literacy rates in Iraq for adult with estimation of 78% (above age of 15) which is in the same rank of most poor African countries as I have checked the long list on the mentioned website, while Iraq is a rich country with both natural and human resource and it had a good and successful experience in the 1970s and 1980s regarding education.
It only takes a political will to make a good and clear strategic plan to improve the education sector and solve its existing problems like reducing illiterate rates, drop-out rates, building new schools, renew the curricula, apply training for teachers in deferent school levels, build modern laboratories in schools, and so on. This process can promote the quality of education in the whole country and give positive impact on the economy of the country in the coming years, to provide markets with a qualified workforce.
Also the government should hold control on the corruption in the country, which caused the bleeding of millions of Dollars that came to Iraq as donations but have disappeared without implementing or solving problems and no witnessed results since 2003,.
Yesterday I have seen an interview with the new minister of education in Iraq and he talked about a new agreement between the Iraqi government and the UNICEF plus the EU to work on four axis to implement a strategic development on the Iraqi education sector: the four axes are : schools buildings, schools curricula, training and development for teachers and finally working on reducing the drop out of students by improving the whole system to keep the satisfaction of the students as high as possible.
We will see, we have heard many of these stories since 2003, and nothing was done on ground despite the millions of dollars were given to Iraqi government as grants we have read about in all the reports of World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO and other international organizations.
The key of solution in Iraq is political stability. Iraq needs stable and strong government to start the process of development in all of life sectors, and the reform in education is one of the most important factors in any country to promote its situation.
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 9:46 AM
Friday, April 15, 2011
Useful Experiences…
Part 1
Peace be upon you…
I am still in Cairo, busy and dedicated to studying. My life here is very quiet and only filled with studying and researching. I don’t have any social relationships except with my school colleagues. We meet twice a week at the campus. I might go one more day to the University to spend sometime in the Library…
This world is much more comfortable than work experiences. Work is so exhausting and we always have to work with people that we don’t have much harmony with. May be their behavior and intellect don’t match our behavior and intellect.
Of course, studying is a rest station from where you launch again to work environment again, but I hope that I finish my Master and PhD degrees then I would be able to work fulltime at a university. The environment here is much more stable and the tasks assigned to faculty staff are clear and specific. It is more comfortable than working with local or international organizations. It is even better than working with governments…
Why?
Because my past experiences exhausted me a lot. I am a human being who lives by steadfast principles. This world is becoming like a blend of colors that is mixed in a way causing confusion and exhaustion for someone who doesn’t have constants and who will remain in conflict state to compromise between work and principles.
Would he give up his principles to please his colleagues and managers? Or would he abide by his principles and pay the price of becoming lonely. The path of righteousness is always lonely and those who walk through it are very few…
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The more I studied about project management for example or about Management of Human Resources, I look back and evaluated my experiences. I mean that there is a difference between the field experience and academics. Each one of us needs both to leverage his understanding to things and improve his intellect and performance…
I think back to recall my tough experiences of work during the recent years. I worked in Jordan in the year 2007 with a renowned Jordanian women organization as a coordinator of Iraqi Refugees in Jordan. This organization presents itself as progressive leftist. They participated in many protests against the invasion of Iraq. Of course, this gives strong indication that they are patriots who have principles. Therefore, I agreed to work with them even though my directions are more moderate religious and independent. I never was associated with party or extremism. They were secular. I told myself, I don’t care about their religion. All I care about is their disclosed principles that root for women rights and invaded nations such as Iraq and Palestine. But after one month of working there, I discovered the secrets of management within the organization. I observed the ciaos, indifference and bad management. I observed lying and cheating in documenting projects for fund providers. The manager justified it as natural right to obtain the fund to pay for organization utility bills (water, electricity) and salaries of our permanent employees…
The manager conducted periodic meetings with project coordinators (Each project has a fund provider and a coordinator is assigned for each project to submit project progress reports to fund provider). The manager was teaching coordinators how to present an illusive documentation so that they get the fund legally in a way that cannot be detected for forgery by fund provider auditor who may submit a report against the organization…
I sat in those meeting smiling, wondering and looking around for someone to raise her hand and object. I didn’t find one single woman during the year I worked there who did so. I was astounded with those people whose conscious died and who justified it by saying (What can we do? We’ve got to live!)
Living human beings are so pitiable…
I pitied the new generation, the young ladies who were taught by this manager how to become thieves without any conscious. They are in their early twenties and at the beginning of their career. Unfortunately, this manager is their role model. In a confusing world, people no longer know the meaning of a role model.
Role model is becoming someone who has power such as a manager or a minister. He would have the authority to spend money and decide on administrative issues such as how work should be executed. The role model to them is someone with power who cannot be objected. People are usually weak and the manager is usually corrupted…
Life goes on in most places of our modern world…
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I refused to apply her instructions of course. I knew that she respected me and that she was afraid of me because she perceives me as someone confident and stubborn. She knew that I was authorized by the fund provided (The High Commission for Refugees in Jordan) to call in any cheating or forgery in documentation. I knew that she and her staff didn’t like me because I didn’t bring the organization any money. I spent all the money on deserving Iraqi women and children according to budget plan. Spending included also procurements for the project and the salary of employees who worked on the project.
The employees’ salary remained a weak point that I didn’t have any control over. The employees were poor women who were hired by the manager. She deducts a mandatory cut from their salary as a donation for the organization and makes them sign that they received a full amount. This is an obvious extortion. They were not members of this organization; they are just employees who were scammed by this manager. She told them that this cut is a saving for them and that they will receive it at the end of the project. Of course, she didn’t fulfill her promise. At the end of the project, their contracts were ended and she took all of their money fallaciously.
Who would submit a complaint against her?
I don’t know, maybe there is lack of monitoring by the state. If the complaints were submitted against this manager to be accountable and if she was punished for what she did, her behaviors will not be repeated by anyone. But where is the authority of law? Why people are so weak and silent? I believe that these weak points still characterize our societies everywhere…
The year has ended and my contract with them has ended. I left them without any regrets. The manager told me before my work was ended that she admired my loyalty and dedication to work and that she would like me to continue working with them as a permanent employee. I smiled and apologized. I said to myself how can live with you? What is common between me and you? Will I become one of the slaved in the herd who lies and forges to receive his salary at the end of the month? Thank you, I don’t need this humiliating life…
*****************************************************************
# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 1:37 PM
Part 2
I said to myself, these local organizations are losers. Maybe the international organizations have a better system, more reliability and more auditing…
In 2009, I received an email from an Iraqi lady who lives in America and of course she is a US citizen. She runs an organization for women and has 8 branches in all over the world including Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in Africa. She said that she needs a Country Director for the Organization branch in Iraq, Baghdad.
I thought very deeply about this offer, in the meantime, she came to Jordan and we met in person. Initially, I was convinced of her and her intellectual mind. I said at least she’s Iraqi and is concerned with Iraqi people. I agreed to work with their NGO in Baghdad Head office . I agreed that I will spend 3 weeks in Baghdad and one week in Jordan. I requested that the contract is signed for 3 months and it can be renewed for a year if I wished to do so…
They sent me many e-maisl with all the literature regarding the organization including the ideas, the vision, the mission and the objectives. I read it with complete serious notion. But I had a feeling that something is odd about their literature. They use the word “Investment”.
They say that the organization started with only 100 thousands dollar capital before 16 years and now they have 26 million dollar. They aim to increase the capital to 48 million dollar in few years.
I didn’t understand that reasoning?
It is supposed to be a humanitarian non-profit organization. Why do they have this kind of discourse as business men more than humanitarian workers?
I read their report about Iraq and found it unconvincing. The numbers were not reasonable and exaggerated. There is no high professional detail demonstrating that women circumstances are improving. They focus on one important point that is how these women spend the cash that they receive from this organization. The organization collects 27 dollar donations from American women and gives the Iraqi women10 dollar only. The remaining 17 dollars supposed to cover operation expenses such as offices lease, water, electricity, trainers’ salary…etc.
I went to Baghdad and I found the situation in the office very mysterious and uncomfortable. When I asked the programs manager to provide me with reports on the number of women and their names, he refused, and he yelled at me and left the office. When I asked the financial manager to give me the details of the monthly expenses, he frowned and resigned on the next day…
I was very confused. These two are the most important employees in the organization and has been working for 5 years during which the Head office has no manager. These two employees sign each invoice. I thought for a while. The smell of corruption is very strong and doesn’t need a brainer or deep analysis to figure it out. I sent an e-mail to the Iraqi lady, the founder of the organizations who sits in Washington DC and told her what happened with me that day. What shall I do? How shall I act with them? She said, don’t touch them. They are trustworthy. Be nice to them and they will get used to you…
Be nice to them? What does that mean?
I used every mean to convince them to come back to work. It was clear that they were scared to death. I remember the financial manager’s shaky hands when he submitted the financial reports in my office. He was shaking every time I called him or asked him about an invoice detail…the second employee who is in charge of the women’s list should submit lists signed by women for receiving the monthly salary of 10 dollars. Each woman is supposed to join the program for one year. It means that each woman receives 120 dollar by the end of the year if she collected all of her monthly salaries. This is not enough for buying an Indian made sewing machine that costs 150 dollar.
The thieves came back to work under the protection and support of the head quarter in Washington.
In my opinion, they deserve to be dismissed from service to clean the place.
Up until the time I left work there, the place remained unstable and unable to operate in the required level of competency and transparency that I aspire to.
I started checking the monthly reports prepared by employees and submitted to Washington office. Most of it contained lies. The vocational training manager wrote that she has 80 women in the sewing and embroidery class. I visited the class every week and found no one there. The sewing machines were dirty and broken. The room was dusty and there were oily spots on the already dirty carpet.
I investigated the matter with the her and it turns out that women don’t like embroidery. They just want to learn sewing. They refuse to attend sewing classes because the teacher is male and they are asking for a female teacher. Only 4 women attend the class…
The organization founder was so happy there in Washington. She sent me reports( after I have signed my work contract with them ) saying that there are 80 women enrolled in the sewing class and 240 women enrolled in hair dresser and beauty class and so on…
But when I came to Baghdad, I found the facts on the ground don’t match the documents and the reports that are submitted to Washington. I started a plan for change so that things materialize on the ground. I consulted with the vocational manager whom I considered the most stupid, ignorant, and chaotic person with bad management skills. She is the most senior employee in the organizations. She’s been working with them since 2003. I wondered, why didn’t she learn and built her capacity?
We bought sewing machines and fabrics , and enrolled new women in the program. I asked her to take attendance for women and trainers. I suffered from her stupidity and stubbornness. By the end of the 10 months that I worked there before I left Baghdad heading back to Amman, I hope that she learned many things that she will find useful in the future.
I went to the hair dressing and beauty classroom. I found broken furniture, dirty carpet, broken dirty and old chairs. I asked the financial manager if there is a budget for vocational classes.
I bought new furniture, chairs and beauty supplies. The center became clean, tidy and women were happy with this change. I know that the financial manager hated me because I spent his budget.
I noticed that employees don’t register their attendance and leaves in an organized daily register. There is an old register where days were mixed up together. It contained the time employees came to work but not the time they left…
We prepared a special file for attendance, absence and emergency leaves. Employees’ signature is essential of course. I went to the accountant and asked him to give a to look at the software accounting program. He refused of course and claimed that he keeps it in a lap top at home. The other employee who is responsible for the women lists and signature also keeps the lap top at home. What an amazingly corrupted organization?
Every time I sent an e-mail to the head quarter complaining and asking for authority to change the staff. They respond: No, no keep the current staff. We invested many hours in them and trained them. You can’t change them…
I think this is one of the worst problems a new manager can face, when he find the facts in reality are untrue. There were wrong principles, ignorance, indifference and irresponsibility at work. There was ambiguity and hiding of financial information. It implies that there is a conspiracy among these employees regarding the program and the financial management. The other female employees demonstrated extreme stupidity and learning difficulty (they didn’t seem corrupted, but they have rare case of stupidity)
By time, I observed that the counts of women in the lists don’t match the real number. There were 700 names in the lists whereas there were 350 attending women only. Where did women go? Why didn’t they attend?
I kept spinning for an answer. I conducted meetings with staff. I heard their point of view. Each month we outline a new plan to attract women back, but in vain…
I talked to the head quarter about this problem and they said that this is a dangerous problem that may affect our reliability in front of donating American women. We cannot return the fund to the bank. We cannot register new women after 6 months of starting the program… it is a predicament.
The employee in charge of the women lists said to me one day that he will tell me a secret: He has a talent of faking signatures. I looked at him and I didn’t understand…
I forgot that subject and ignored it completely…
But now, I recall my memories there. I treated them with good intentions. No doubt, I was surrounded with thieves. But I didn’t have any authority to punish them or end their services. Also, I didn’t have any real evidence against them. There is a big chance that the names of women listed are not real and the signature forger signed for them. He’s probably been conspiring with the financial manager on this charade for years. What a failed management. They hire a manager for Iraq office with instructions not to touch the employees or change anything. I don’t know. I started to lose my satisfaction with this job . And I started to lose my trust in the management of the head quarter in Washington DC, as well…
I followed up with the work of trainers and I found them very exhausted and paid very little. I asked the head quarter to hire additional trainers. The response was delayed and didn’t carry any sign of approval. They want to save money and control the budget. That is the most important thing for them .
I asked if they do prefer to save on the account of work quality ? Yet, I didn’t receive a convincing answer. They always evaded any real solution to the presented problem in Baghdad office. In fact, they don’t want to hear about problems. They want to hear “yes sir, everything is going well” as if they are army captains and we are soldiers in the field carrying out orders without any argument.
I followed up the work of Monitoring and Evaluation employee. I found her very weak at what she does. She only fills out forms and sends them to Washington DC. I asked her if women get loans after graduating from the organization. She answered no, what is the use of enrolling in a program for one year? Is it to get 10 dollars a month? I found her very ignorant and that she doesn’t understand anything. She just fills forms in Arabic. There are multi choice answers. There is an English translation for each answer word in Arabic. This means that Washington office will understand the selected answers…
They write the final report according to their opinion. I don’t know what is my role as a manager of Baghdad office? What is the value of evaluating each training term for women who graduate after a year? There are no copies in the office. All original forms were sent to Washington. What kind of work is that? If I were asked for an interview and someone asked me about the Iraqi women, the program or the percentages, I wouldn’t have any answer. If fact, it was prohibited to talk to the media. We are like ghosts. No one is supposed to see us. Only employees in Washington DC can talk to the media and present the situation of Iraqi women, not us in Baghdad. It was prohibited to make any contact with local organizations or have joint activities with them. Thus the program remains only associated with the American organization. I told them that one of the key success factors of any local organization is to be effective in the society it operates in and not hide as if it is a secret organization. They didn’t like my perspective.
The work in Baghdad office was very exhausting. It requires opening new branches, hiring new staff of employees for each branch and managing them remotely. Because the employees in Baghdad office are so incompetent and not able to direct or help the new staff in the other branches, I had to do so myself by making trips to these branches from time to time, hold meetings there or in my office , and follow up the implementation either by daily phone calls or e-mail. I followed up their orders with suppliers according to the budget. Following up with suppliers was another problem, especially dealing with delays, bad supplies or broken equipments that are delivered to the centers…
All this requires a daily follow up…
During the week that I spent in Amman, I go back to find employees return to ground zero. I start giving instructions all over again and make arrangements so that work is back to order.
After a while, I felt that I live a different reality from that experienced by the organization founder and her American employees in DC. There is huge inconsistency in opinion and perspective.
I found that Washington DC office is only concerned with keeping the “image”, only the image , so that they keep addressing the American media and collect donations. They want to be able to say that we have offices in Iraq , we have employees, and we have women enrolled in the programs. But ciaos, mismanagement and thefts don’t matter.
I was so sad for the poor crushed Iraqi women who were enrolled in the program. They suffer the heat in the branches and they need a fan, an air conditioning unit or water cooler. The accountant always responded that there is no budget for that. I told him that there is a 27 dollar donation for each woman and we give each woman 10 dollars and the remaining 17 should cover training expenses and providing suitable environment for the class including at least drinking water in the summer. I am not asking for offering tea or coffee. He says that the instruction from Washington DC mandate controlling the budget…
I am speechless…
Every time I attended a graduation class, I asked them about their opinion of the program and what they suggest to improve it. The answer was: we need loans to start our small projects. What is the use of learning a profession when we don’t have the capital to open a small sewing project or a beauty Salon?
I wrote many e-mail messages to DC office asking them to do something about the loans or partner with an international organization that grant small loans to our graduates. I always receive short and silly answers implying that this subject doesn’t concern them…
What does concern them then?
**************************************
The fund for the branches’ projects has ended. The financial manager told me that he agreed with the head quarter to end the services of some employees and cut back the salaries of the remaining employees. If they wish to remain working, they have to stay as volunteers until a new fund is received.
I asked him, do you want to save money for Washington DC office on the expense of these poor women?
These poor women work in offices outside Baghdad and in remote poor areas, and you want them to volunteer their work for free of charge so that we save money for the organization?
Now I understand the story of how the capital has increased from 100 thousand to 26 million of that organization. They took 27 dollar monthly donation for each woman in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Then they found a donor to fund the operation expenses for these women (office rent, trainers’ salaries, utility, supplies…etc) and they keep the remaining 17 dollars in a their bank account in Washington DC.
This is a real investment. This is not a humanitarian organization, this is profit making investment.
Let me compare between what Iraqi participant women gain from this programs, and what the Founder and her team in the head office in DC, do gain from this program?
Each Iraqi women gain 120$ after one year of tiring traveling , through risky environment ,to attend the centers .while the ladies in the head office of DC, used to have high salaries ,with luxurious life, travelling and accommodation expenses are all covered by the organization . Thereby, who is most getting benefit from this NGO? I am always asking myself this question, to evaluate the outcome of those so-called humanitarian organizations.
Then I saw that the organization founder and her American employees live on the expense of poor women in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. This is an investment and a business. The organization founder used to appears on the American TV networks crying for the Iraqi women. Then Poor American women respond to her with Millions of dollars as donations, thinking that they are supporting the Iraqi and Afghan women and clearing their conscious regarding what their government under the Bush administration has done against them invading their countries and raising the number of illiterate poor and widows. This highly intelligent Iraqi woman has taken advantage of that and created what appears to be a humanitarian organization. In reality, she operates with 100% commercial and investment principles. She doesn’t have a shred of mercy toward Iraqi women in her heart.
What a dupe I am? What brought me here to be the escape goat?
I remained 10 months in Baghdad exhausted while suffering physically and mentally to complete work with the best of my ability because I am an Iraqi and I consent to my sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice for the American organization or its fake Iraqi owner; it is for the poor widowed women who were crushed by the hardship of life after the invasion in 2003.
One day, I received an e-mail from the black berry phone of the organization’s founder telling me that she’s attending an important conference in Europe and she wants me to send her an idea about the economic problems in Iraq to submit for this conference…
I smiled and thought to myself what an arrogant and ignorant lady. She doesn’t want to bother with researching about Iraq economic problems in the internet or specialized scientific research site. I wondered and felt very sad about the triviality of these people. What a big liar she is.
I sent her a short response saying sorry, but I am not the right person to address this request. I recommend that you consult with experts on Iraq economy.
I started to lose my faith in the organization and its declared humanitarian mission. I started to see how corrupted and weak the employees around me are. They are submissive slaves who are afraid of the Washington DC office and don’t have management skills or ability to solve problems in a mature way. They were raised to follow orders like slaved, humiliated hypocrites. They spend their days in non sense talk conspiring against each other…
This is why the Washington DC office had a firm grip over the Baghdad office since 2003. This is the culture infused in them for five years. I thought to myself, how similar this organization to the situation in Iraq. Is it a small version of the relationship between the government of Iraq and the American invasion? I felt like a stranger among them. I don’t accept to be humiliated or submissive. I don’t accept to work with empty arrogant people who don’t have any principles and humanity. I don’t want to be among this team in Baghdad. Unfortunately, it is a hypocrite team with endless malicious behavior. They are not united. They hate each other and wish to crush each other. I held many meetings addressing the importance of high moral, transparency in work, loyalty and the necessity of uniting our efforts and hearts to become a successful team, but in vain.
There was duality in management. I preach certain culture and Washington DC office preaches a different culture. Washington DC office pays the salaries and they give the orders. My position was very weak…
In Baghdad office, the employees were slaves to those who had power and money…
I left them without any regrets…
When I reached Jordan, I received a phone call from one of the employees in Baghdad office informing me that he has documents and photos proving that the financial manager and the program manager forged documents and signatures worth of 50 thousand dollars and that they stole the organization’s fund during the previous years. I asked him why he didn’t come forward when I was a manager. He said that he was afraid. I said thank you, this means that the noble person among them is a speechless devil. He didn’t bother alerting me or giving me a copy while I was in Baghdad. Unfortunately, this is the case in Iraq now. It is torn and full of thieves and speechless devils. This organization deserves the thieves because it is a corrupt organization. As the proverb says this beard deserves this comb.
It was a hard and deep experience that I learned so much new lessons from. I learned a lot about the secrets of managements and work. I met many clean and kind people and I met corrupt souls that cannot be rehabilitated. I thank God for protecting me and getting me out of this tough experience while maintaining my physical and spiritual health.
I remember now because memory helps evaluating the past experiences and figuring out the pros and cons…
I like to be a positive person. I perceive things positively and always move forward. I don’t like to look back or cling on the past…
There is always a shining sun in my life that I follow and smile to…
This is the secret of my happiness and steadiness,
Thanks to God Al Mighty…
**********************************
I said to myself, these local organizations are losers. Maybe the international organizations have a better system, more reliability and more auditing…
In 2009, I received an email from an Iraqi lady who lives in America and of course she is a US citizen. She runs an organization for women and has 8 branches in all over the world including Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in Africa. She said that she needs a Country Director for the Organization branch in Iraq, Baghdad.
I thought very deeply about this offer, in the meantime, she came to Jordan and we met in person. Initially, I was convinced of her and her intellectual mind. I said at least she’s Iraqi and is concerned with Iraqi people. I agreed to work with their NGO in Baghdad Head office . I agreed that I will spend 3 weeks in Baghdad and one week in Jordan. I requested that the contract is signed for 3 months and it can be renewed for a year if I wished to do so…
They sent me many e-maisl with all the literature regarding the organization including the ideas, the vision, the mission and the objectives. I read it with complete serious notion. But I had a feeling that something is odd about their literature. They use the word “Investment”.
They say that the organization started with only 100 thousands dollar capital before 16 years and now they have 26 million dollar. They aim to increase the capital to 48 million dollar in few years.
I didn’t understand that reasoning?
It is supposed to be a humanitarian non-profit organization. Why do they have this kind of discourse as business men more than humanitarian workers?
I read their report about Iraq and found it unconvincing. The numbers were not reasonable and exaggerated. There is no high professional detail demonstrating that women circumstances are improving. They focus on one important point that is how these women spend the cash that they receive from this organization. The organization collects 27 dollar donations from American women and gives the Iraqi women10 dollar only. The remaining 17 dollars supposed to cover operation expenses such as offices lease, water, electricity, trainers’ salary…etc.
I went to Baghdad and I found the situation in the office very mysterious and uncomfortable. When I asked the programs manager to provide me with reports on the number of women and their names, he refused, and he yelled at me and left the office. When I asked the financial manager to give me the details of the monthly expenses, he frowned and resigned on the next day…
I was very confused. These two are the most important employees in the organization and has been working for 5 years during which the Head office has no manager. These two employees sign each invoice. I thought for a while. The smell of corruption is very strong and doesn’t need a brainer or deep analysis to figure it out. I sent an e-mail to the Iraqi lady, the founder of the organizations who sits in Washington DC and told her what happened with me that day. What shall I do? How shall I act with them? She said, don’t touch them. They are trustworthy. Be nice to them and they will get used to you…
Be nice to them? What does that mean?
I used every mean to convince them to come back to work. It was clear that they were scared to death. I remember the financial manager’s shaky hands when he submitted the financial reports in my office. He was shaking every time I called him or asked him about an invoice detail…the second employee who is in charge of the women’s list should submit lists signed by women for receiving the monthly salary of 10 dollars. Each woman is supposed to join the program for one year. It means that each woman receives 120 dollar by the end of the year if she collected all of her monthly salaries. This is not enough for buying an Indian made sewing machine that costs 150 dollar.
The thieves came back to work under the protection and support of the head quarter in Washington.
In my opinion, they deserve to be dismissed from service to clean the place.
Up until the time I left work there, the place remained unstable and unable to operate in the required level of competency and transparency that I aspire to.
I started checking the monthly reports prepared by employees and submitted to Washington office. Most of it contained lies. The vocational training manager wrote that she has 80 women in the sewing and embroidery class. I visited the class every week and found no one there. The sewing machines were dirty and broken. The room was dusty and there were oily spots on the already dirty carpet.
I investigated the matter with the her and it turns out that women don’t like embroidery. They just want to learn sewing. They refuse to attend sewing classes because the teacher is male and they are asking for a female teacher. Only 4 women attend the class…
The organization founder was so happy there in Washington. She sent me reports( after I have signed my work contract with them ) saying that there are 80 women enrolled in the sewing class and 240 women enrolled in hair dresser and beauty class and so on…
But when I came to Baghdad, I found the facts on the ground don’t match the documents and the reports that are submitted to Washington. I started a plan for change so that things materialize on the ground. I consulted with the vocational manager whom I considered the most stupid, ignorant, and chaotic person with bad management skills. She is the most senior employee in the organizations. She’s been working with them since 2003. I wondered, why didn’t she learn and built her capacity?
We bought sewing machines and fabrics , and enrolled new women in the program. I asked her to take attendance for women and trainers. I suffered from her stupidity and stubbornness. By the end of the 10 months that I worked there before I left Baghdad heading back to Amman, I hope that she learned many things that she will find useful in the future.
I went to the hair dressing and beauty classroom. I found broken furniture, dirty carpet, broken dirty and old chairs. I asked the financial manager if there is a budget for vocational classes.
I bought new furniture, chairs and beauty supplies. The center became clean, tidy and women were happy with this change. I know that the financial manager hated me because I spent his budget.
I noticed that employees don’t register their attendance and leaves in an organized daily register. There is an old register where days were mixed up together. It contained the time employees came to work but not the time they left…
We prepared a special file for attendance, absence and emergency leaves. Employees’ signature is essential of course. I went to the accountant and asked him to give a to look at the software accounting program. He refused of course and claimed that he keeps it in a lap top at home. The other employee who is responsible for the women lists and signature also keeps the lap top at home. What an amazingly corrupted organization?
Every time I sent an e-mail to the head quarter complaining and asking for authority to change the staff. They respond: No, no keep the current staff. We invested many hours in them and trained them. You can’t change them…
I think this is one of the worst problems a new manager can face, when he find the facts in reality are untrue. There were wrong principles, ignorance, indifference and irresponsibility at work. There was ambiguity and hiding of financial information. It implies that there is a conspiracy among these employees regarding the program and the financial management. The other female employees demonstrated extreme stupidity and learning difficulty (they didn’t seem corrupted, but they have rare case of stupidity)
By time, I observed that the counts of women in the lists don’t match the real number. There were 700 names in the lists whereas there were 350 attending women only. Where did women go? Why didn’t they attend?
I kept spinning for an answer. I conducted meetings with staff. I heard their point of view. Each month we outline a new plan to attract women back, but in vain…
I talked to the head quarter about this problem and they said that this is a dangerous problem that may affect our reliability in front of donating American women. We cannot return the fund to the bank. We cannot register new women after 6 months of starting the program… it is a predicament.
The employee in charge of the women lists said to me one day that he will tell me a secret: He has a talent of faking signatures. I looked at him and I didn’t understand…
I forgot that subject and ignored it completely…
But now, I recall my memories there. I treated them with good intentions. No doubt, I was surrounded with thieves. But I didn’t have any authority to punish them or end their services. Also, I didn’t have any real evidence against them. There is a big chance that the names of women listed are not real and the signature forger signed for them. He’s probably been conspiring with the financial manager on this charade for years. What a failed management. They hire a manager for Iraq office with instructions not to touch the employees or change anything. I don’t know. I started to lose my satisfaction with this job . And I started to lose my trust in the management of the head quarter in Washington DC, as well…
I followed up with the work of trainers and I found them very exhausted and paid very little. I asked the head quarter to hire additional trainers. The response was delayed and didn’t carry any sign of approval. They want to save money and control the budget. That is the most important thing for them .
I asked if they do prefer to save on the account of work quality ? Yet, I didn’t receive a convincing answer. They always evaded any real solution to the presented problem in Baghdad office. In fact, they don’t want to hear about problems. They want to hear “yes sir, everything is going well” as if they are army captains and we are soldiers in the field carrying out orders without any argument.
I followed up the work of Monitoring and Evaluation employee. I found her very weak at what she does. She only fills out forms and sends them to Washington DC. I asked her if women get loans after graduating from the organization. She answered no, what is the use of enrolling in a program for one year? Is it to get 10 dollars a month? I found her very ignorant and that she doesn’t understand anything. She just fills forms in Arabic. There are multi choice answers. There is an English translation for each answer word in Arabic. This means that Washington office will understand the selected answers…
They write the final report according to their opinion. I don’t know what is my role as a manager of Baghdad office? What is the value of evaluating each training term for women who graduate after a year? There are no copies in the office. All original forms were sent to Washington. What kind of work is that? If I were asked for an interview and someone asked me about the Iraqi women, the program or the percentages, I wouldn’t have any answer. If fact, it was prohibited to talk to the media. We are like ghosts. No one is supposed to see us. Only employees in Washington DC can talk to the media and present the situation of Iraqi women, not us in Baghdad. It was prohibited to make any contact with local organizations or have joint activities with them. Thus the program remains only associated with the American organization. I told them that one of the key success factors of any local organization is to be effective in the society it operates in and not hide as if it is a secret organization. They didn’t like my perspective.
The work in Baghdad office was very exhausting. It requires opening new branches, hiring new staff of employees for each branch and managing them remotely. Because the employees in Baghdad office are so incompetent and not able to direct or help the new staff in the other branches, I had to do so myself by making trips to these branches from time to time, hold meetings there or in my office , and follow up the implementation either by daily phone calls or e-mail. I followed up their orders with suppliers according to the budget. Following up with suppliers was another problem, especially dealing with delays, bad supplies or broken equipments that are delivered to the centers…
All this requires a daily follow up…
During the week that I spent in Amman, I go back to find employees return to ground zero. I start giving instructions all over again and make arrangements so that work is back to order.
After a while, I felt that I live a different reality from that experienced by the organization founder and her American employees in DC. There is huge inconsistency in opinion and perspective.
I found that Washington DC office is only concerned with keeping the “image”, only the image , so that they keep addressing the American media and collect donations. They want to be able to say that we have offices in Iraq , we have employees, and we have women enrolled in the programs. But ciaos, mismanagement and thefts don’t matter.
I was so sad for the poor crushed Iraqi women who were enrolled in the program. They suffer the heat in the branches and they need a fan, an air conditioning unit or water cooler. The accountant always responded that there is no budget for that. I told him that there is a 27 dollar donation for each woman and we give each woman 10 dollars and the remaining 17 should cover training expenses and providing suitable environment for the class including at least drinking water in the summer. I am not asking for offering tea or coffee. He says that the instruction from Washington DC mandate controlling the budget…
I am speechless…
Every time I attended a graduation class, I asked them about their opinion of the program and what they suggest to improve it. The answer was: we need loans to start our small projects. What is the use of learning a profession when we don’t have the capital to open a small sewing project or a beauty Salon?
I wrote many e-mail messages to DC office asking them to do something about the loans or partner with an international organization that grant small loans to our graduates. I always receive short and silly answers implying that this subject doesn’t concern them…
What does concern them then?
**************************************
The fund for the branches’ projects has ended. The financial manager told me that he agreed with the head quarter to end the services of some employees and cut back the salaries of the remaining employees. If they wish to remain working, they have to stay as volunteers until a new fund is received.
I asked him, do you want to save money for Washington DC office on the expense of these poor women?
These poor women work in offices outside Baghdad and in remote poor areas, and you want them to volunteer their work for free of charge so that we save money for the organization?
Now I understand the story of how the capital has increased from 100 thousand to 26 million of that organization. They took 27 dollar monthly donation for each woman in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Then they found a donor to fund the operation expenses for these women (office rent, trainers’ salaries, utility, supplies…etc) and they keep the remaining 17 dollars in a their bank account in Washington DC.
This is a real investment. This is not a humanitarian organization, this is profit making investment.
Let me compare between what Iraqi participant women gain from this programs, and what the Founder and her team in the head office in DC, do gain from this program?
Each Iraqi women gain 120$ after one year of tiring traveling , through risky environment ,to attend the centers .while the ladies in the head office of DC, used to have high salaries ,with luxurious life, travelling and accommodation expenses are all covered by the organization . Thereby, who is most getting benefit from this NGO? I am always asking myself this question, to evaluate the outcome of those so-called humanitarian organizations.
Then I saw that the organization founder and her American employees live on the expense of poor women in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. This is an investment and a business. The organization founder used to appears on the American TV networks crying for the Iraqi women. Then Poor American women respond to her with Millions of dollars as donations, thinking that they are supporting the Iraqi and Afghan women and clearing their conscious regarding what their government under the Bush administration has done against them invading their countries and raising the number of illiterate poor and widows. This highly intelligent Iraqi woman has taken advantage of that and created what appears to be a humanitarian organization. In reality, she operates with 100% commercial and investment principles. She doesn’t have a shred of mercy toward Iraqi women in her heart.
What a dupe I am? What brought me here to be the escape goat?
I remained 10 months in Baghdad exhausted while suffering physically and mentally to complete work with the best of my ability because I am an Iraqi and I consent to my sacrifice. It is not a sacrifice for the American organization or its fake Iraqi owner; it is for the poor widowed women who were crushed by the hardship of life after the invasion in 2003.
One day, I received an e-mail from the black berry phone of the organization’s founder telling me that she’s attending an important conference in Europe and she wants me to send her an idea about the economic problems in Iraq to submit for this conference…
I smiled and thought to myself what an arrogant and ignorant lady. She doesn’t want to bother with researching about Iraq economic problems in the internet or specialized scientific research site. I wondered and felt very sad about the triviality of these people. What a big liar she is.
I sent her a short response saying sorry, but I am not the right person to address this request. I recommend that you consult with experts on Iraq economy.
I started to lose my faith in the organization and its declared humanitarian mission. I started to see how corrupted and weak the employees around me are. They are submissive slaves who are afraid of the Washington DC office and don’t have management skills or ability to solve problems in a mature way. They were raised to follow orders like slaved, humiliated hypocrites. They spend their days in non sense talk conspiring against each other…
This is why the Washington DC office had a firm grip over the Baghdad office since 2003. This is the culture infused in them for five years. I thought to myself, how similar this organization to the situation in Iraq. Is it a small version of the relationship between the government of Iraq and the American invasion? I felt like a stranger among them. I don’t accept to be humiliated or submissive. I don’t accept to work with empty arrogant people who don’t have any principles and humanity. I don’t want to be among this team in Baghdad. Unfortunately, it is a hypocrite team with endless malicious behavior. They are not united. They hate each other and wish to crush each other. I held many meetings addressing the importance of high moral, transparency in work, loyalty and the necessity of uniting our efforts and hearts to become a successful team, but in vain.
There was duality in management. I preach certain culture and Washington DC office preaches a different culture. Washington DC office pays the salaries and they give the orders. My position was very weak…
In Baghdad office, the employees were slaves to those who had power and money…
I left them without any regrets…
When I reached Jordan, I received a phone call from one of the employees in Baghdad office informing me that he has documents and photos proving that the financial manager and the program manager forged documents and signatures worth of 50 thousand dollars and that they stole the organization’s fund during the previous years. I asked him why he didn’t come forward when I was a manager. He said that he was afraid. I said thank you, this means that the noble person among them is a speechless devil. He didn’t bother alerting me or giving me a copy while I was in Baghdad. Unfortunately, this is the case in Iraq now. It is torn and full of thieves and speechless devils. This organization deserves the thieves because it is a corrupt organization. As the proverb says this beard deserves this comb.
It was a hard and deep experience that I learned so much new lessons from. I learned a lot about the secrets of managements and work. I met many clean and kind people and I met corrupt souls that cannot be rehabilitated. I thank God for protecting me and getting me out of this tough experience while maintaining my physical and spiritual health.
I remember now because memory helps evaluating the past experiences and figuring out the pros and cons…
I like to be a positive person. I perceive things positively and always move forward. I don’t like to look back or cling on the past…
There is always a shining sun in my life that I follow and smile to…
This is the secret of my happiness and steadiness,
Thanks to God Al Mighty…
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# posted by Faiza Al-Araji @ 1:35 PM
