On June 26, 2019, during a ceremony, attended by the KRG’s Minister of Interior, Karim Sinjari, Head of Foreign Relations Department, Falah Mustafa, Governor of Erbil, Newzad Hadi, JCC Council Members and other KRG officials as well as German diplomat, Ms. Barbara, representative of GIZ and QUDRA program leader, Ms. Jenny Hornisch, and Senior representatives of the UN-Agencies and local and International NGOs in Kurdistan, the new building of the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) was officially opened.
In his welcoming speech, Mr. Hoshang Mohamed, the Director General of the JCC, thanked H.E. Minister Karim Sinjari for giving the building to JCC and for his support and guidance to JCC since 2014. Also thanked GIZ for the financial and technical support for renovating the building. He stated that JCC, since its establishment, has enjoyed an excellent cooperation and support from partners in the government and UN agencies, donor countries and NGOs.
He added that JCC has so far implemented 60 percent of its strategic plan for establishing disaster and crisis management system in the Kurdistan Region including drafting a law, developing a strategy for crisis management academy, developing a gender police, establishing GIS, data and information management system, construction of two logistic centers and electronic financial management system.
Now JCC is working on several other projects within the framework of the strategic plan including establishing rapid response teams, volunteering system, development of software for electronic management of logistic centers and visualization of the threat and risk matrix for the Kurdistan Region.
Minister Karim Sinjari in his opening remarks commended the JCC and GIZ teams for supervising and implementing the renovation of the building successfully within a short time. And also thanked the German and EU for supporting JCC and Kurdistan through QUDRA Programme. He also thanked the MADAD Board for extending the QUDRA programme.
Minister Sinjari added that having a developed institution for crisis coordination, response and management in Kurdistan is very important and needed, stating that within a short time, JCC has played a central role in managing coordination internally within the KRG and federal ministries and departments as well as with the international partners.
His Excellency called upon the partners to continue provide technical and financial assistance to the JCC to be able to develop institutional infrastructure and human resources within the framework of the strategic plan to be able to manage current humanitarian crisis and future emergencies.
On behalf of the German Consulate General in Erbil, Ms. Barbra, stated they are very pleased with their support to JCC and stressed on continued German support in the future.
She said that working on all hazards, and coordinating between governorates, ministries, Baghdad and the International community needs excellent infrastructure, hoping that the new building, renovated through Germany’s contribution through QUDRA and GIZ, can fulfill these tasks.
Then, Ms. Jenny highlighted the GIZ support to JCC technically and financially for the purpose of strengthening crisis management system in Kurdistan. And She stated that so far more than 100 JCC employees improved their skills and knowledge on Disaster Risk Management, Coordination principles, and Process Management. She also added that renovation of JCC building enables JCC to further evolve and Qudra will be happy to continue to support JCC institution building.
The new JCC building is provided by the KRG Ministry of Interior and GIZ through QUDRA program has renovated the building.
The Qudra Programme is a regional project, financed by the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the 'Madad' Fund) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), seeking to strengthen resilience for Syrian refugees, IDPs and host communities in response to the Syrian and Iraqi crises. The programme is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Expertise France (EF), Spanish Agency for International Development (AECID) and Hungarian Interchurch Aid (HIA) in programme partner countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Together, they are providing support through QUDRA, an Arabic word meaning ‘strength, ‘ability’ or ‘resilience.’
Minister Sinjari's speech:
Director General's welcoming speech:
https://jcckrg.org/contents/files/30-06-2019/1561894167.Hoshang welcoming speech.pdf
