In 2020, the Iraqi government launched the reform White Paper as a result of a financial and structural crisis facing the Iraqi economy that undermined its ability to work effectively, as the White Paper sought to address the problems accumulated for years and ways to transform these challenges into opportunities that can be invested in achieving a healthy and sustainable economy through bold reform measures and packages that enable Iraqis to achieve their aspirations for equal opportunities and decent standards of living. However, the criticism and strong opposition to the White Paper as a result of the lack of knowledge of its contents, makes it necessary to work to spread the concepts of reform contained in the White Paper among the social and academic elites, intellectuals, and workers in the civil society. It is a need to explain the importance of this paper and the solutions and procedures it came with to modify the course of the Iraqi economy and put it on the path of sustainability and dynamism, by diagnosing and addressing the problems facing the Iraqi economy in the short and medium term.
The Sumer Foundation for International Affairs has started implementing a project to introduce the effective and influential social groups in society to the concepts and themes of the reform White Paper launched by the Iraqi government. The team at the Sumer Foundation for International Affairs, in cooperation with Konrad Edenauer Stiftung, conducted a series of discussion sessions of eight hours for each workshop to provide the required support and assistance to raise awareness about the white paper, and in light of this, the objectives of the project can be summarized as follows:
- First: Introducing the reform White Paper and its concepts and objectives to enhance the effectiveness of the Iraqi economy.
- Second: A review of the accumulated and overlapping problems and challenges that the Iraqi economy has been facing.
- Third: Introducing the proposed reforms and procedures in the reform White Paper themes.
- Fourth: Determining the nature of the challenges, obstacles and proposed solutions for implementing the reform projects mentioned in the White Paper.
- Fifth: Including gender and take into account the participation of the vulnerable and poorest social groups of Iraqi society in the reforms of the White Paper in a way that enhances their chances of obtain- ing an adequate standards of living.