Executive summary
Despite the ongoing challenges and insecure environment in Iraq, people surveyed still feel safe in their day-to-day lives and when accessing aid or services (84% and 81%, respectively). Safety is perceived differently at the governorate level, with 100% of respondents in Erbil feeling safe in their day-to-day lives, compared to just 56% in Sulaymaniyah.
• Aid recipients continue to view their relationship with aid providers positively. Ninety percent of the people surveyed feel that aid workers treat them with respect, and 70% trust the humanitarian community to act in their best interest.
• People feel less able to participate in the response than in 2018. Only 16% of the people surveyed feel that their opinions are considered by aid providers, a decrease from 33% in 2018. 69% are unaware of how to make suggestions or complaints about the aid or services they receive. With regard to sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and sensitive complaints, around half (48%) of respondents say that their communities feel able to report abuse or mistreatment by humanitarian staff, down from 68% last year. There is a need – and an opportunity – to capitalise on people’s feelings of trust and strengthen both accountability to affected populations (AAP) and PSEA mechanisms.
• The majority (71%) of people surveyed report that their most important needs remain unmet. The primary unmet needs they identify are cash, food, and health services.
• Around half (53%) of respondents feel informed about the aid and services available to them, but 39% do not feel that aid is targeted fairly. Those who feel targeting could be improved say that the most impoverished in their communities, persons with disabilities, and people suffering from illness or disease are left out.
• Only 12% of people say that aid empowers them to live without humanitarian assistance in the future. They want job opportunities, cash assistance, and food and household items to help them reduce dependency.
• Few respondents (28%) feel that people’s lives are improving in Iraq.
Nevertheless, this is an improvement over our 2018 survey, when only 19% felt conditions were getting better.
• While gender does not appear to significantly impact responses, differences do exist at the levels of status*, accommodation, and governorate. On issues of trust, access to information, aid targeting, and relevance of aid (among others), those outside of camp settings have a more negative response. Returnees and vulnerable host community members also tend to feel more negatively than other population groups. Proximity and access to aid programming continues to contribute to trust in and satisfaction with humanitarian action and must be taken into account as camps continue to close.