And in 2005, another former minister for NGOs in Iraq, Mamo Osman, announced that “there are 2,000 fake NGOs targeting women’s issues who were receiving aid from donor countries for no justified reason”. Osman was the minister behind a drive to tighten up regulations on NGOs.
Part of the problem was the fact that registration requirements for NGOs under Order Number 45 were not tough enough. Because of the precarious security situation in Iraq at the time, NGOs did not have to verify their official premises in the country. And Order Number 45 is forgiving, saying that if the NGOs can’t fill in every part of the form, then they could apply for an extension and supply further information at a later date.
Just as it remains unclear exactly how many NGOs were registered in Iraq, it is also unclear as to what percentage of the billions of dollars worth of reconstruction funds pledged by both the USA (over US$18 billion) and other donor nations (around US$14 billion) between 2003 and 2004 went to go to Iraqi-based NGOs.
For example, in 2007 Zangana reported that Bremer had specified that US$750 million be set aside for local NGOs, and in particular those targeting local women. As of August 2011, USAID, the US government’s foreign aid agency, had budgeted for US$317 million for their Community Action program to be administered between October 2008 and September 2012, as well as around US$340 million for ongoing humanitarian efforts. Both efforts require USAID cooperation with NGOs.
So at least some of the money supplied by international governments, funds from the Iraqi government itself as well as private donations and fees has reached some of Iraq’s bogus NGOs.
During the time she worked at Iraq’s Ministry of Planning, which was responsible for the registration of NGOs in Iraq until 2005, Ansam al-Abaygi told NIQASH that hundreds of complaints of fraud by citizens against NGOs passed across her desk.
“Some of the organizations were collecting money from citizens and promising them land, apartments and financial grants,” she explained.
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