The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is submitting this report pursuant to the Transition Initiatives (TI) account heading of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141, Div. K). The provision directs USAID to “submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations at least five days prior to beginning a new program of assistance” with TI funds.

Accordingly, USAID is submitting this report in anticipation that its Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) will begin a new assistance program in Iraq with TI funds. The USAID/OTI program seeks to bolster the efforts of the United States Government (USG) to ensure the lasting defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Syria (ISIS) by promoting an inclusive and stable Iraq, including the preservation of religious, ethnic, and cultural pluralism. Specifically, the Iraq Transition Initiative (ITI) will assist in preventing the return of ISIS through the following:

1. Engaging with civil society and governing bodies to address potentially destabilizing socio-cultural and sectarian tensions by working with historically marginalized and vulnerable communities.