Since the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in January 2014 and the subsequent large-scale humanitarian, political and security crises, over 2 million Internally Displaced People (IDPs) face challenges in returning to their homes due to prevailing security threats, extensive damage to public infrastructure, homes and lack of livelihood opportunities. Circa 3.68 million IDPs have returned to rebuild their lives and almost 250,000 Syrians remain in protracted displacement, mainly in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). Notably, it is estimated that more than 60% of Syrian refugees and 90% of IDPs are living outside of camps.

UNDP developed the Iraq Crisis Response and Resilience Programe (ICRRP) to help people restore and rebuild their lives. ICRRP, a flagship programme of UNDP in Iraq, is providing immediate and long-term projects, targeting IDPs, Syrian Refugees, returnees and host communities, while supporting government and civil society. The programme also places emphasis on marginalized youth and vulnerable groups, such as women heads of households, widows and girls. ICRRP complements life-saving and shorter-term stabilization activities, as well as the longer-term development programmes undertaken by other partners through directly addressing the humanitarian development-peace nexus.

This annual report for 2017 details the achievements of UNDP’s ICRRP in the following areas:

1. improve crisis response coordination, processes and management;
2. improve local access to basic services and institutional delivery and accountability for those services;
3. improve livelihoods opportunities particularly for communities with IDPs and refugees;
4. protect vulnerable communities, specifically women and youth, who are at risk of Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and Gender Based Violence (GBV);
5. strengthen social cohesion and reconciliation through dialogue, peace education and capacity building of local communities.