Sheep, Car Batteries and Money in Tal Afar, Northern Iraq

I am a big fan of William Easterly at NYU. This guy gets it. For the UN, I believe that Easterly is a powerful voice helping to shape the way that we work throughout the world. One area where Easterly has been extremely helpful in shaping the programmes that I have been associated with focuses on strengthening field practices/modalities that emphasize the importance of working with local partners to develop innovative and appropriate solutions to the problems and challenges that confront the communities and stakeholders we work with.

Over the last seven (7) years, UNIDO’s Agri-Business Development Branch has slowly grown its presence in some of the most challenging operating environment on the planet. Our Branch provides important technical assistance in a large number of post-conflict/post-crises states. In terms of UN organizations, UNIDO is a very small specialized agency and as a result our Branch size affords us a great deal of opportunities to inter-face and share information on Lessons Learned from our technical assistance programmes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, southern Lebanon, northern Uganda, and other fragile operating milieus.

Over the next week or so, I will draw attention to some of the small local solutions that are generating large returns for the individuals and communities we work with. Although we actively work to ensure that our local efforts exhibit strong synergies with larger UN sector programming, we really are more focused on what is working at the local level. By working with entrepreneurs, focal leaders, extension workers, and other stakeholders we are able to compliment local knowledge and expertise with our own technical assistance and programming strengths. One such success has been in Ninewa governorate Iraq, where UNIDO has been working with local producers to improve shearing practices, wool collection, and income-streams for pastoralists in Tal Afar district.

As a result of international isolation, war, and on-going sectarian and political strife the security situation in northern Iraq is highly volatile. Amplifying this instability is the impact that criminality and a fractured social fabric has on efforts to establish and promote economic activities that add value to local resources. Livestock ownership in northern Iraq is not only an important commercial activity but also is a clear and tangible indicator of wealth. As a result, many pastoralists are deeply concerned about not only protecting their wealth but maximizing the value that they receive from their livestock holdings.

Through comprehensive discussions with a large number of shepherds, wool brokers, and extension officers, UNIDO was asked to assist in identifying a shearing technology that would reduce shearing time, afford maximum mobility, and lead to better economic returns on livestock holdings. With these criteria guiding our technology identification efforts we were able to focus in on a 12V (car battery) operated sheep shearer that would be mobile enough to operate in any possible location. To introduce this new technology into the district, UNIDO procured a small number of units, shipped them into country, contracted a local training provider and conducted a pilot production run. The results from this pilot phase led to a large order of 50 units which we also augmented with the procurement of a number of different shearing attachments. UNIDO organized, with the support of a local livestock association, a training programme for project nominated shepherds.

The result is that, in Tal Afar, we have shepherds that are able to shear their sheep in any environment, leveraging best practices which anchor our training programme, which together result in high quality outputs that are generating substantially enhanced income flows for our project beneficiaries.

Our role in improving socio-economic outcomes for these pastoralists is becoming widely recognized and has recently resulted in official notification being made to UNIDO HQ (Vienna) confirming the appreciation that project stakeholders have regarding our innovative approaches to local technical assistance requests. This seems to confirm Easterly’s belief that small targeted and locally relevant initiatives can lead to or generate larger social rates of return. 

The Right Mix

Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with a number of government officials in a variety of operational contexts. One of the lessons that I have learned from this engagement is that development practitioners whose outputs are measured in number of meetings held, symposiums attended, and/or study tours conducted typically don’t produce much of an impact on the ground. Failure to produce meaningful/tangible results on the ground is unlikely to be appreciated by those living on the ground.

My experience is also shaped by the unsubstantiated sense of importance that many of these practitioners have about the relevancy of their work to shaping development outcomes; especially in environments that remain highly unstable. I am not sure how these well tailored and credentialed members of the international development field managed to navigate their way into these sorts of positions but I suspect that it has less to do with improving the quality of life for the citizens of these countries under stress and a lot more to do with the generous entitlements that come with these positions. In some circumstances, when it is clear that these individuals are without a doubt incompetent, many petition their home governments to lobby on their behalf to ensure that they will have a place at the trough for years to come.

We are at a critical junction in our work in fragile states. There is a growing storm that is approaching. A storm that can also be traced back to certain failures that have become obvious to all to see in many extremely important parts of the world. I know it is easy to say but what we need to see more of is the right inputs, in the right mix, at the right time, and at the right price. To continue on the current path, given the encroaching winds of instability, will only exacerbate the difficulties that are visible under the current culture or entitlements. We need fewer meetings and more people on the ground willing to dismantle the relations/network of powerful forces that prolong these dreadful conflicts and crisis.

Over the next few weeks I will be highlighting and reporting on some of the innovative and courageous field practitioners that are bringing real results to the people that are most in need of our assistance.