3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

Story by Pvt. Jared N. Gehmann

BAGHDAD – U.S. Army officers and members of the University of North Carolina's Graduate School of Government teamed up to teach local Iraqi director generals in east Baghdad about the practice of lobbying during a governance workshop at Joint Security Station Loyalty, Iraq, Oct 7.

This seminar is just one of several that have been carried out by officers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, with support of the UNC members over the past few months.

"The UNC School of Government has done a lot for us all year. Prior to our deployment, they did a series of governance classes for us—how to support fair elections, increasing citizen involvement; how to hold public meetings," said Lt. Col. Michael Shinners, the deputy commander for the 3rd BCT.

Leaders and service providers from Baghdad's al-Karrada and 9 Nissan districts attended the conference to get a better understanding in the practice of lobbying. The goal of the workshop was to help the local leaders use these methods to influence decisions made by the government and to assist them in fulfilling the needs of the residents in their communities.

"We want to encourage the local officials to work with upper-level government officials and to provide better services for the people that they serve in their respected areas," said Anthony Swalhah, a senior governance advisor in eastern Baghdad, an area of more than two million people.

During the conference, Shinners continuously stressed to the DGs that the future of the nation lies in their hands and it's important they address all issues of concern to their senior leaders.

"Despite what your leaders may say about national issues, it's up to you to solve the problems. You need to become experts in your specified fields so you can let the leaders know what needs are present."

For some in attendance, the idea of lobbying was nothing new but many found interest in the different approaches of how to get their concerns addressed.

"I already knew the overall concept of lobbying, however this class gave me new ideas on how to lobby effectively and get people who share my ideas to support me when suggesting new ideas to higher officials," said Kareem Aziz Elbokhatuy, the director general of Beladiyat.

The conference then turned into an open-forum discussion where leaders talked about the problems that are frequent in their community, and what new steps they must take to lobby for more support on crucial issues and projects, such as clean water.

Elbokhatuy said there are many problems that still need to be improved in his community such as the cleanliness of the local water and the efficiency of the sewage system.

"Many things have improved tremendously since 2003, but we are still not back to the standard of living we had before the war."

Although the Iraqi government continues to improve their democratic mind set, they have still not perfected all the aspects of what a democratic government consists of due to the years of dictatorship under the Saddam Hussein regime where lower-level officials had no say in the government. Lobbying was a practice not used during the totalitarian government.

With democracy comes more responsibility at the lower levels for leaders to help citizens in their community, said Shinners.

Shinners added that throughout the past several months, UNC has been a huge help to the Army and the government of Iraq.

"Whenever we had a question in relation to civil capacity, they were there to help," he said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials plan to hold another conference next month, and it is expected to be the largest one yet, with nearly 180 director generals from all over Iraq coming to discuss government strategies and voting in preparation for the upcoming national elections.

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