The project supports the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) COVID-19 response plan in areas of Iraq that are particularly ill-equipped to manage and/or hardest hit by the pandemic. In response to COVID-19, a portion of Canadian funding to the Funding Facility for Stabilization (FFS) has been reallocated to support UNDP’s COVID-19 response plan. UNDP’s COVID-19 response plan seeks to: (1) prevent the spread of COVID-19, manage confirmed cases and save lives; (2) strengthen the Government of Iraq’s (GOI) crisis management and response; and (3) support the GOI in designing post-COVID-19 recovery strategies to address the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19. Project activities include: (1) raising community awareness and sharing official/authorized guidance on COVID-19, including key gender messages, through an online platform; (2) equipping three medical labs with priority medical equipment to strengthen testing capacity; (3) equipping ten healthcare facilities with 180 beds and 180 single-patient airborne infection isolation rooms, in addition to medical furniture/equipment and personal protective equipment for healthcare workers; (4) supporting the United Nations Country Team in Iraq to develop a gender-sensitive post-COVID-19 Recovery Strategy; (5) reaching 25,000 people, particularly women and youth, through social cohesion activities; (6) undertaking three gender-sensitive socio-economic needs and impact assessments, including an assessment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the most vulnerable groups; and (7) identifying gender-sensitive short- and medium-term recovery strategies for Iraq.
The expected outcomes for this project include: (1) strengthened healthcare system in Iraq to prevent the spread of COVID-19, manage confirmed cases and reduce the mortality rate; (2) strengthened integrated crisis management and response to enable the GOI to maintain core functions and manage its response; and (3) Iraq’s post-COVID-19 recovery.
