USAID-Tatweer Scholarship Program
January 8, 2011
USAID Press Officer: Hal Lipper, +964 (0) 790-111-2702
Email: hlipper@usaid.gov; http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/
IRAQI PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION GRADUATES TO BE HONORED
Seventy-three Public Administration and Public Policy graduates were honored January 8 at a ceremony sponsored by the U.S. Government and USAID’s National Capacity Development Program, or USAID/Tatweer in Arabic.
The graduates will work in Iraqi government ministries and departments to improve the public sector. They studied at universities in Cairo, Amman and Beirut, and are returning to Iraq with Masters in Public Administration and Public Policy degrees.
“The degrees, which these people have received from the most prestigious universities in the region, put them in the top tier of Iraqi professionals from the public and private sector,” said Alex Dickie, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Iraq. Dr. Dickie was the keynote speaker at the event at USAID/Tatweer’s Mansour compound.
More than 1,550 people applied to participate in the scholarship program to upgrade public administration skills among Iraqi civil servants. A total of 110 have completed graduate studies since the program was launched in 2007. They represent 17 ministries and executive offices in 15 Iraqi provinces and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
This education program is part of broader U.S. Government efforts to work with Iraq to fully implement the Strategic Framework Agreement. Since 2003, the U.S. Government has spent over $1 billion on education across all of Iraq’s provinces through USAID and other assistance programs. U.S. Government exchange programs in Iraq are also some of the largest in the world, boasting more than 2,600 unique exchanges since 2004.
