WEBVTT 00:04.730 --> 00:07.600 please tell your personalized with your 00:07.610 --> 00:11.070 job . Okay , julie 00:11.070 --> 00:14.060 nutter . Uh and U . T . T . E . 00:14.060 --> 00:17.120 R . Provincial reconstruction 00:17.120 --> 00:19.530 Team . Team leader . 00:22.110 --> 00:24.970 How long have you been working with ? 00:26.680 --> 00:30.520 I started with the P . R . 00:30.520 --> 00:34.400 T . In november and november was also 00:34.410 --> 00:37.740 the beginning of our PRT . Okay . I am 00:37.750 --> 00:40.510 one of my colleagues for the first team 00:40.510 --> 00:42.750 members . Uh you're talking about some 00:42.750 --> 00:46.130 of the unique challenges that go with 00:46.140 --> 00:49.300 every province . What belongs with 00:49.310 --> 00:52.980 with . Well , 00:52.990 --> 00:56.490 mason has a long history of 00:56.500 --> 01:00.150 having security challenges in the 01:00.150 --> 01:03.350 province . It was also one of the 01:03.350 --> 01:05.620 provinces that suffered under Saddam 01:05.620 --> 01:09.410 the most . The province has a 01:09.410 --> 01:12.290 significant population of marsh Arabs . 01:12.300 --> 01:15.280 And for example when Saddam drained the 01:15.280 --> 01:18.510 marshes , he took the livelihood away 01:18.520 --> 01:20.440 from a significant portion of the 01:20.450 --> 01:24.160 population . We we 01:24.160 --> 01:26.220 know that three quarters of my son 01:26.220 --> 01:29.550 provinces once marsh covered by marshes 01:29.850 --> 01:32.520 and now only a quarter of those marshes 01:32.520 --> 01:33.170 remain . 01:33.840 --> 01:37.840 How do the marshes 01:37.840 --> 01:39.729 contribute to live a livelihood ? 01:39.729 --> 01:42.110 Agriculture , yeah , there's 01:42.110 --> 01:45.850 agriculture and aquaculture folks 01:45.850 --> 01:49.570 grew crops that can be grown in 01:49.570 --> 01:52.400 marshy areas like rice . There's also 01:52.400 --> 01:54.511 some fish farming that goes on in the 01:54.511 --> 01:57.720 marshes and then people used the things 01:57.720 --> 02:00.020 in the marshes like reads to build 02:00.020 --> 02:01.798 structures , build their houses 02:01.798 --> 02:05.040 basically with a lot of time and 02:05.050 --> 02:08.670 nothing . No . Yeah . What 02:08.670 --> 02:12.090 happened was a lot of the ground that 02:12.090 --> 02:14.810 was drained has turned into desert . 02:14.880 --> 02:18.870 There's some arable land but a 02:18.880 --> 02:21.102 substantial portion of the marshes were 02:21.102 --> 02:24.080 drained . Are now desert . Is there any 02:24.080 --> 02:26.302 way that they could refill the marshals 02:26.302 --> 02:28.524 and get them back to what they want for 02:28.524 --> 02:31.990 or Yeah there is a region wide effort 02:31.990 --> 02:34.540 going on now to rehabilitate the 02:34.540 --> 02:38.210 marshes . I think the last 02:38.220 --> 02:41.420 figure that I saw for the whole of Iraq 02:41.430 --> 02:44.450 was that 48% of the marshes have been 02:44.500 --> 02:47.600 reflooded and are beginning to be 02:47.600 --> 02:51.430 viable again . What 02:51.430 --> 02:54.870 kinds of projects are going on ? What 02:54.880 --> 02:58.420 the pr key overseas so far ? 02:58.690 --> 03:01.660 Well , since the PRT started in 03:01.660 --> 03:05.300 november , we have been working on 03:05.310 --> 03:08.610 projects to improve essential services 03:08.620 --> 03:11.880 in the province . We've been working on 03:11.890 --> 03:14.970 a hospital to be built in mason 03:15.060 --> 03:18.740 water projects to increase the , the 03:18.740 --> 03:20.851 purity of the water , the cleanliness 03:20.851 --> 03:23.073 of the water that people are drinking . 03:23.073 --> 03:25.360 And um we've been working on road 03:25.360 --> 03:28.560 projects that will enable folks to get , 03:28.570 --> 03:31.300 for example , get their crops to market 03:31.370 --> 03:35.270 to sell them ? How 03:35.270 --> 03:38.370 long has our provincial control ? Just 03:38.370 --> 03:41.270 recently ? Very recently it was the 03:41.270 --> 03:44.950 18th of april , what was the 03:44.950 --> 03:47.760 last taken for the province switch 03:48.140 --> 03:49.807 control over the last thing ? 03:51.740 --> 03:54.670 Well , there's a decision making 03:54.670 --> 03:57.240 process that goes on and the decision 03:57.240 --> 04:00.540 making process um follows several 04:00.540 --> 04:03.520 criteria that have to be met 04:03.530 --> 04:07.010 before the province goes to provincial 04:07.010 --> 04:10.190 Iraqi control . But in Nathan's case , 04:10.820 --> 04:14.280 the transition to pick was really a 04:14.280 --> 04:18.180 formal recognition of what 04:18.190 --> 04:21.540 the coalition forces already knew that 04:21.550 --> 04:23.920 the provincial officials were able to 04:23.920 --> 04:25.976 provide security for the citizens in 04:25.976 --> 04:28.700 the province . Does that make a 04:29.020 --> 04:32.230 difference between local Iraqis when 04:32.230 --> 04:35.500 they see that switch the control or 04:35.500 --> 04:38.030 they have here , is there , can they 04:38.440 --> 04:40.770 progress when coalition is no longer 04:40.770 --> 04:44.610 around ? Well , I hope we'll be 04:44.610 --> 04:47.040 able to see a difference . Um The 04:47.040 --> 04:50.070 biggest difference that I hope for is 04:50.620 --> 04:53.310 that the provincial government , which 04:53.310 --> 04:56.700 had been very , very involved in the 04:56.700 --> 04:59.430 negotiations going toward pick , 04:59.440 --> 05:01.770 especially the Governor will now be 05:01.770 --> 05:03.548 able to concentrate more on the 05:03.548 --> 05:05.770 provision of essential services for the 05:05.770 --> 05:08.510 people in the province . Uh Mason has 05:08.520 --> 05:11.860 um some really big challenges in the 05:11.860 --> 05:15.310 areas of for example , sewage disposal , 05:15.320 --> 05:19.240 healthcare and and uh water and 05:19.240 --> 05:20.070 electricity . 05:26.290 --> 05:28.457 Can you describe the different aspects 05:28.457 --> 05:31.600 of what your teen health rebuild , the 05:31.610 --> 05:35.530 whole capacity building ? Sure . Um 05:35.540 --> 05:39.120 uh just recently we had a 05:39.130 --> 05:41.770 seminar with the provincial officials , 05:41.770 --> 05:43.770 representatives from the Governor's 05:43.770 --> 05:45.992 Office , the provincial council , which 05:45.992 --> 05:48.460 is more or less like a state assembly , 05:48.740 --> 05:52.080 um and some of the Technical director , 05:52.080 --> 05:54.630 it's the technical folks in the 05:54.630 --> 05:56.520 province that work on different 05:56.530 --> 05:59.910 infrastructure , um areas like water 05:59.910 --> 06:02.910 through sewage healthcare , all those 06:02.910 --> 06:04.890 things I mentioned before under 06:04.900 --> 06:08.750 essential services and we had a seminar 06:09.140 --> 06:12.060 to revise their draft of their 06:12.060 --> 06:14.740 provincial development strategy . This 06:14.740 --> 06:18.330 is the first time the provinces in Iraq 06:18.340 --> 06:21.230 have their own budget to spend . So 06:21.230 --> 06:23.950 what they have had to do is sit down 06:23.950 --> 06:25.980 and determine what are the most 06:25.980 --> 06:29.460 important priorities for Nissan . 06:29.840 --> 06:33.680 And what they've done in that process 06:33.690 --> 06:36.490 is they've set up a system where they 06:36.490 --> 06:39.230 went out to the public through business 06:39.230 --> 06:41.520 groups , through local councils , 06:41.530 --> 06:44.110 neighborhood and district councils to 06:44.120 --> 06:47.660 ask the people in those places 06:47.670 --> 06:50.200 what the people thought the critical 06:50.200 --> 06:53.290 needs were . They took that back , They 06:53.290 --> 06:55.570 will take it all of this information 06:55.570 --> 06:57.459 back eventually to the provincial 06:57.459 --> 07:00.880 council and the provincial council will 07:00.880 --> 07:03.740 revise their development strategy . 07:03.750 --> 07:06.160 This is where the P . R . T . Comes in 07:06.540 --> 07:09.870 to assist the provincial officials in 07:09.880 --> 07:12.820 revising the strategy so that for 07:12.820 --> 07:15.910 example next year in their budget , 07:15.920 --> 07:18.210 when they get to provincial budget they 07:18.210 --> 07:20.990 can automatically determine what 07:20.990 --> 07:23.046 projects are going to be next in the 07:23.046 --> 07:25.670 pipeline because they will have already 07:25.670 --> 07:28.240 mapped out what they think the most 07:28.240 --> 07:31.200 important things are needed from 07:31.200 --> 07:34.080 renaissance development . Alright . 07:38.140 --> 07:39.751 I was working with different 07:39.820 --> 07:41.840 organizations like the Corps of 07:41.840 --> 07:45.800 Engineers usa uh culture does make 07:45.800 --> 07:49.240 it easier responsibilities here or or 07:49.240 --> 07:51.129 with different expertise provided 07:52.330 --> 07:55.140 we've had a very close working 07:55.140 --> 07:57.251 relationship with these organizations 07:57.251 --> 07:59.307 and we couldn't complete our mission 07:59.307 --> 08:03.190 without them . We have had really 08:03.190 --> 08:06.390 wonderful help from U . S . A . I . D . 08:06.400 --> 08:08.730 And from the Army Corps of Engineers . 08:09.070 --> 08:12.200 The Army Corps of Engineers has helped 08:12.200 --> 08:15.980 us to work with the 08:15.980 --> 08:18.450 Iraqis with the provincial government 08:18.540 --> 08:22.240 in determining with economic support 08:22.240 --> 08:25.700 fund money how best they could meet the 08:25.700 --> 08:29.230 needs of the province right now . U . S . 08:29.230 --> 08:32.130 A . I . D . Is more on the training 08:32.130 --> 08:36.120 side . So the P . R . T . Teams up with 08:36.130 --> 08:38.320 U . S . A . I . D . And we run things 08:38.320 --> 08:40.431 like the development strategy seminar 08:40.431 --> 08:42.630 that I was talking about . So they are 08:42.630 --> 08:46.530 full partners in the purity process and 08:47.060 --> 08:50.430 we we really couldn't do what we're 08:50.430 --> 08:54.260 doing right now without them . Alright 09:00.260 --> 09:02.980 decides switching over , we're having 09:02.980 --> 09:05.550 the province now under Iraqi control . 09:05.550 --> 09:09.390 What are some of those successes as the 09:09.580 --> 09:12.040 different successes than you find in 09:12.210 --> 09:15.140 other provinces ? Well , one of the 09:15.140 --> 09:17.990 things that mason is very good at 09:18.410 --> 09:21.740 spending money , they have 09:21.750 --> 09:25.330 uh they have been able to create the 09:25.330 --> 09:29.200 processes to determine what they 09:29.200 --> 09:31.420 have to do to get what they need for 09:31.420 --> 09:34.840 the province . They'll continue doing 09:34.840 --> 09:36.784 this . I mean they're refining the 09:36.784 --> 09:38.784 process as they go along , but they 09:38.784 --> 09:41.200 have really good technical expertise in 09:41.200 --> 09:43.770 the provincial government . It's more 09:43.770 --> 09:47.040 an issue of uncovering that expertise 09:47.050 --> 09:50.430 and directing it rather than creating 09:50.430 --> 09:53.130 it because in a lot of cases it's there 09:53.140 --> 09:55.362 and what we're doing is we're trying to 09:55.362 --> 09:58.550 act as a catalyst to take that talent 09:58.560 --> 10:02.000 and to apply it toward um in a 10:02.010 --> 10:05.170 systematic way toward the most 10:05.170 --> 10:08.540 important needs of the song . So that's 10:08.550 --> 10:10.772 that's what we're doing . That's what I 10:10.772 --> 10:12.883 think is one of the biggest successes 10:12.883 --> 10:16.560 is that we're finding that we are 10:16.560 --> 10:18.449 catalysts and that's an extremely 10:18.449 --> 10:20.260 important role . 10:20.340 --> 10:24.040 But this is the Iraqis 10:24.050 --> 10:27.270 future and they know that they're 10:27.270 --> 10:30.820 really excited about that and they're 10:30.830 --> 10:33.130 eager to work with us . I remember 10:33.130 --> 10:36.910 that that at a 10:36.920 --> 10:39.800 seminar that we had before this 10:39.810 --> 10:42.340 provincial provincial development 10:42.340 --> 10:45.440 strategy seminar . One of the Iraqi 10:45.440 --> 10:49.360 leaders said to me , we would like for 10:49.360 --> 10:52.460 Missan province to become a model for 10:52.470 --> 10:55.370 other provinces in Iraq to follow . And 10:55.370 --> 10:58.700 that to me was the most hopeful comment 10:58.700 --> 11:00.867 that I've heard since I've been here . 11:01.550 --> 11:05.120 Uh they have a lot of energy 11:05.120 --> 11:07.870 and optimism going into this . They 11:07.880 --> 11:10.102 have the skills that they didn't have a 11:10.102 --> 11:12.213 lot of chance to shine under Saddam . 11:12.213 --> 11:15.350 So now they have the right to provide 11:15.350 --> 11:17.572 the opportunities that they didn't have 11:17.572 --> 11:18.870 before . Yeah . 11:22.440 --> 11:24.662 Do you have anything else you'd like to 11:24.662 --> 11:27.260 have ? It's about the province , 11:27.260 --> 11:29.730 Anything your team ? I don't think so . 11:29.740 --> 11:31.070 Okay .