Empowering citizens Engaging governments Rebuilding communities

Given the volatile sociopolitical
environment CSP operated in, a planning
process that included all relevant local
leaders and officials was crucial
Box 5
CSP: Project development process
2
Given the volatile sociopolitical environment CSP operated in, a planning process that included all relevant local
leaders and officials was crucial for expediting project work, demonstrating transparency, and promoting fairness.
CSP activities varied from city to city; and even within cities, the development process would vary. Staff and senior
leadership strove for as much consistency as possible, and all projects relied in some way on collaborative efforts
with different stakeholders. CSP in Baghdad followed this basic development process for community infrastructure
and essential service projects.
Hold introductory meeting
with provincial council and
district and neighborhood
advisory councils. Agree
upon initial project ideas.
Project
idea
Send project idea to
Amanat, the local
overseer of public
works projects
Send project idea
to appropriate
government ministry
for approval and
coordination
A complete stabilization package
Send scope of
work to Amanat
for approval
Submit scope of
work to appropriate
government ministry
for approval and
coordination
Develop scope
of work with
directorate general
Send project idea to
directorate general
for approval
Conduct technical
review of project
idea
Complete project
proposal packet
Begin
provincial
program
process
Project
implementation
Tendering, contracting,
performance, monitoring,
completion, and handover
to take cash-for-work laborers and move them into
training programs and sports activities like soccer. We
were looking for other means of engaging people and
bringing them together, so we could talk to them about
their needs and what they felt was really important.”
This is our way forward
Once the site of youth sports competitions, Tameem
Quarter Soccer Field in Ramadi had become a dump.
Garbage trucks couldn’t get to it because the town’s
narrow streets were controlled by insurgents and
littered with debris and improvised explosive devices
(IEDs). Tameem Quarter’s field was just one example
of how city services—and civil society in general—had
collapsed in Ramadi by 2006. Homes and shops, from
bakeries to clothing stores to kebab stands, were
abandoned. Empty or shelled-out buildings lined desolate
streets. “I remember projects that CSP conducted
in our area, youth sports and the like,” Wilson said.
“In part of Ramadi, they cleaned out whole areas of
neighborhoods. That place was like Stalingrad. Every
street you went down, every first row of homes was
destroyed, blown up, almost in rubble. The streets
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