Empowering citizens Engaging governments Rebuilding communities

“
Many colleagues have told me
that Awni gave IRD a lot of credibility
in that region of the world”
—Dr. Arthur B. Keys
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Box 2
Awni Quandour: IRD’s original elder statesman (continued)
Building community trust
At the time, aside from foreign military, they were the only non-Iraqis around. Quandour’s experience and familiarity
with the country, however, proved crucial in getting ICAP and IRD’s regional operations established quickly. “Dr. Keys
said that he wanted to go to the poor areas of Baghdad first, before the others,” Quandour said. “I told him that all
the areas were poor.”
Quandour and Keys knocked on doors and talked to the residents, and they learned that in some areas people were
sleeping on their rooftops because their houses were flooded with sewage. With trash and debris everywhere, and
with sewage backed up as high as a foot or more on some roads, “we determined that just cleaning the streets
would be our first project, after listening to people talk about how they were living.”
In the matter of a few weeks, Quandour and ICAP’s chief of party, Terry Leary, hired their staff, created a training
plan, began street-cleaning and trash-removal operations, and started organizing ICAP’s first community action
group. “People were desperate and wanted some type of sign that life would improve,” Quandour said. “We gave
them hope.”
Quandour’s first position with IRD was as ICAP’s community outreach director. Before long, he became the program’s
deputy chief of party before assuming the chief of party role. He hired and trained IRD’s initial Iraqi staff,
many of whom still work with IRD almost a decade later. He played a critical role in adapting the ICAP model on a
wider scale-up when IRD began implementing CSP in 2006.
In Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, and other locations, Quandour helped hone IRD’s project work in unstable
environments, and many current staff credit him with being the founding father of IRD’s community development and
stabilization programs.
“Many colleagues have told me that Awni gave IRD a lot of credibility in that region of the world,” Keys said. “His
relationships with local communities were invaluable to making the Iraq programs work. Local staff looked up to
Awni as an elder statesman. He was ready to go back to Iraq, saying that when he regained his strength, he would
return to that country.”
While Quandour never had the opportunity to return to Iraq, his legacy and his work live on through the organizational
strategy he helped craft and through his own personal ties—his daughter Zain and his niece Farah both work on IRD
projects in Jordan.
(box 2). According to Quandour, as the community
groups flourished, tension developed between IRD
and local political leaders, some of whom accused
Quandour of “causing problems” and subsequently
used their power to delay the approval of projects.
“There was some rivalry between the council
members and the community action groups,” he said,
“because the CAGs suddenly had the ability to create
projects that weren’t part of the council’s administrative
structure.”
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