LAD-IQ

  American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) hosted the second Leadership Academy for Development-Iraq (LAD-IQ) training program focusing on development of the private sector for Iraqi government officials, academics, and members of the business community at its campus from August 26-30 2018.   The program was offered in partnership with the Leadership Academy for Development (LAD) at Stanford University, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), and National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The training featured lectures by Dr. Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and the Mosbacher Director of FSI’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), as well as Professor Erik G. Jensen who holds joint appointments at Stanford Law School and the CDDRL.   Titled, “The Role of Public Policy in Private Sector Development,” the five day training included some 31 participants who took part in case study learning, group study, lectures, and a final assignment. Case study topics included “The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (India),” “Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission,” “Yogyakarta Bus Terminal: The Private Provision of Municipal Infrastructure,” “Legal  and Judicial Reform in Bangladesh,” and “Administrative Decentralization in Peru.”   Participants were also treated to a guest lecture by AUIS alumni and business leaders Zring Faruk Mustafa and Bayad Jamal Ali on their work in Iraq’s private sector.   The training ended August 30, 2018 with final group presentations and a certificate ceremony.  

  American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) hosted the first class of the Leadership Academy for Development-Iraq (LAD-IQ) training program from July 1-6.   The program is a partnership with Dr. Francis Fukuyama’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Thirty Iraqi participants -- mid- and high-level government officials, business and civil society sector leaders from all over the country -- were selected through a competitive application process. The instructors -- Associate Professor of the Practice, Mary E. Hilderbrand, from the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University, and economist, social entrepreneur and policy innovator, Elena Panaritis -- are leading experts in their fields with decades of experience conducting such trainings.   The four-day intensive program focused on addressing how government can encourage and enable the private sector to play a larger, more constructive role as a force for economic growth and development. It provided participants with an analytical framework to build these leadership abilities and operate effectively under adverse conditions. Major themes additionally covered during the training were: 1) the state and institutions as catalysts for private sector development and economic growth, 2) reforms to strengthen the quality of government, including anti-corruption initiatives and decentralization, 3) strategies for addressing informality, and 4) public-private partnerships in infrastructure.   The last day of the training featured group presentations for which the participants were asked to prepare since the beginning of the training with their respective groups. In short, the groups were required to create powerpoint presentations that addressed an issue in their community and approached that issue using the analytical framework learned during the training. Some major issues addressed by participants in their presentations included plastic waste management in Babil, the unemployment rate among university graduates across Iraq, and women’s rights in the job market. Participants were awarded with certificates for their participation in the training.