Joint ministerial evaluation of Germany’s civil engagement in Iraq

The present summary of the report on the joint ministerial evaluation of the engagement by the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in Iraq presents the cross-ministry findings, conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation. It was drafted by a specially constituted working group consisting of the German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) and a consortium led by GFA Consulting Group GmbH (GFA). In addition to the joint ministerial report, two ministry-specific reports were prepared for the AA and the BMZ, in which aspects specific to each ministry are discussed at further length. The following Executive Summary is released for publication.

Over recent decades the German government has steadily increased the frequency and scale of its engagement in fragile contexts and is likely to continue to do so in the future. One such context is Iraq, where the German government has been engaged since 2014 to help end the dominance of the terrorist organisation known as Islamic State (IS), rebuild basic infrastructure, overcome fragility and strengthen the country’s statehood. The German government's engagement in Iraq is broad in scope. It encompasses both foreign and development policy approaches and both civilian and military aspects of security. Since 2014 these have been supported with high financial inputs (equivalent to USD 2.7 bn)1 budgeted across several ministries, principally the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg).