Without real evidence that life will get better in Iraq, people have little motivation to risk their personal safety and resources to invest in the good of the larger society. People are used to breathing in pessimism along with the dusty air of the desert.
And yet, many Iraqis are not waiting around for someone else to fix their country. Thousands of civil society organisations (CSOs) have sprouted since 2003. While there are many forces that drive Iraqi CSOs – like international donors, sectarian politics, or simply the opportunity to finally have a job – Iraqi civil society as a whole is fuelled by a growing movement to take ownership over the fate of their society.
One example of an Iraqi CSO working hard to meet people’s needs is REACH (Rehabilitation and Community Health). Local stakeholders invite REACH to help communities plan, organise and implement their own strategies for local improvements, such as irrigation and micro-enterprise projects. Often this requires members of rival sectarian groups to sit down together to figure out how to achieve a shared goal. REACH reports that community-based approaches like this have greatly increased the spirit of volunteerism and civic participation in grassroots communities.
Another example is a group of Iraqi CSO leaders with legal backgrounds who sat down to analyse the new Iraqi constitution in 2007 to see how it would shape the country. Dozens of clauses laid out far-reaching rights and freedoms that looked quite progressive on paper. But few observers seemed to notice sly and understated Article 46, which casually asserted that the government could suspend any other provision of the constitution if it was deemed necessary.
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