{"id":5830,"date":"2021-10-22T19:03:42","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T19:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/country\/iraq\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T21:17:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T21:17:35","slug":"iraq","status":"publish","type":"country","link":"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/country\/iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>Global Communities began working in Iraq in June 2003, just two months after the end of Saddam Hussein&#8217;s government. Over two decades, our programming has ranged from helping provincial governments effectively respond to community needs to distributing food baskets to internally displaced persons.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Global Communities is at the heart of Iraq&#8217;s economic recovery, supporting small- and medium-sized businesses and homeowners who were long excluded from traditional financial services.<\/p>\n\t<p>Through unique development finance instruments and a long-term commitment to the private sector in Iraq, Global Communities has advanced financial inclusion in partnership with Iraqi entrepreneurs and business students.<\/p>\n<p>Global Communities&#8217; work in Iraq has also included responding to significant emergencies and supporting survivors as they recover, as well as building long-term resilience for a sustainable future.<\/p>\n<h3>\n\t\t\tCurrent Programs\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GC-Iraq-CHF-Vitas-Aram-Kadhum-Success-Story-2018.jpg\" alt=\"Aram Kadhum - Baghdad - Mansour branch\nAram, a 27 year old single young man from Baghdad, is a fresh graduate in Dentistry. After completing his studies, he began looking for ways to establish his own practice. As a first step, he rented a small clinic in a medical clinic's center for a fair price. Afterwards, he began equipping the clinic with modest help from his family; however he was only able to afford basic equipment in order to begin serving clients. As time passed, it was clear that his clinic needs more investment in order to offer proper service to customers. This is when Aram headed to Vitas Iraq, about which he has heard from neighboring clinic owners, to borrow his first loan. He took a $4,800 loan for a period of 12 months, and with this amount he purchased a professional dental chair, and modernized his clinic.\nToday when Aram's business is at the peak of success and prosperity, he says: \"I am extremely grateful to Vitas Iraq for supporting me at the right moment. I am getting closer to fulfilling my dreams\".\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"797\" width=\"1200\" title=\"GC-Iraq-CHF-Vitas-Aram Kadhum-Success-Story-2018\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading='lazy' \/>\n<h4>\n\t\t\tCHF Vitas Iraq\t<\/h4>\n\t<p>For years, Iraq&#8217;s small entrepreneurs and homeowners were excluded from mainstream financial services and relied on local moneylenders, who often charged prohibitively high interest rates, to fill gaps in their finances. With the aim of stimulating the Iraqi economy, in 2003 Global Communities created the Access to Credit Services Initiative, now operating as CHF Vitas Iraq, a major development finance institution that provides loans to Iraqi entrepreneurs to expand their businesses.<\/p>\n<p>With access to fair financial services, some of Iraq&#8217;s most vulnerable people are improving their quality of life, enhancing their financial stability and personal safety, and improving their local economies in hundreds of communities. CHF Vitas Iraq is currently the largest microfinance provider in Iraq and offers micro enterprise, small business, home improvement loans, and a small consumer loan portfolio.\u00a0 CHF Vitas Iraq has fourteen branches, and 350 employees, all Iraqi.\u00a0 As of February 2025, CHF Vitas Iraq has a portfolio of $73 million and 22,359 clients.\u00a0 CHF Vitas Iraq&#8217;s lending has supported the creation of 30,000 jobs and sustained over 400,000 jobs.<\/p>\n<h3>\n\t\t\tImpact\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t<h2>282,000<\/h2>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<p>jobs created<\/p>\n\t\t\t<h2>$14 million<\/h2>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<p>in loans to women<\/p>\n\t\t\t<h2>150,000+<\/h2>\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<p>clients<\/p>\n<h3>\n\t\t\tNews\t<\/h3>\n\t<meta itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntityOfPage\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\" itemid=\"http:\/\/1143\" content=\"COVID-19 Response in Iraq\" \/><meta itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2020-04-07\" \/><meta itemprop=\"dateModified\" content=\"2025-09-05\" \/><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Global Communities\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/gc-logo.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/author\/bonnie\/\" \/><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Global Communities\" \/><meta itemprop=\"interactionType\" content=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CommentAction\" \/><meta itemprop=\"userInteractionCount\" content=\"0\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/covid-19-response-in-iraq-2\/\"  target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/post-featured-placeholder-1024x647-panorama-95591a8b4c85d3b3d625ce2b0193e0b2-.png\" alt=\"post-featured-placeholder\" itemprop=\"image\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"647\" width=\"1024\" title=\"post-featured-placeholder\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading='lazy' \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 itemprop=\"headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/covid-19-response-in-iraq-2\/\" title=\"COVID-19 Response in Iraq\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCOVID-19 Response in Iraq\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\tApril 7, 2020\t\t\t\t\t\t\n    <p>As in other countries, COVID-19 has led to lockdown in major cities in Iraq and is exerting pressure on the healthcare sector all over the country. As medical facilities and municipal services are essential to sustain overall continuity, Vitas Iraq, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Global Communities, is supporting these organizations with a series of humanitarian&hellip;<\/p>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/covid-19-response-in-iraq-2\/\" title=\"COVID-19 Response in Iraq\">Read More about COVID-19 Response in Iraq<\/a>\n\t<meta itemscope itemprop=\"mainEntityOfPage\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/WebPage\" itemid=\"http:\/\/1157\" content=\"Vitas Iraq: Together Against Corona\" \/><meta itemprop=\"datePublished\" content=\"2020-03-23\" \/><meta itemprop=\"dateModified\" content=\"2025-09-05\" \/><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Global Communities\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/gc-logo.svg\"\/><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/author\/bonnie\/\" \/><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Global Communities\" \/><meta itemprop=\"interactionType\" content=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CommentAction\" \/><meta itemprop=\"userInteractionCount\" content=\"0\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/vitas-iraq-together-against-corona-2\/\"  target=\"_self\" itemprop=\"url\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/bb-plugin\/cache\/post-featured-placeholder-1024x647-panorama-95591a8b4c85d3b3d625ce2b0193e0b2-.png\" alt=\"post-featured-placeholder\" itemprop=\"image\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"647\" width=\"1024\" title=\"post-featured-placeholder\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading='lazy' \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 itemprop=\"headline\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/vitas-iraq-together-against-corona-2\/\" title=\"Vitas Iraq: Together Against Corona\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVitas Iraq: Together Against Corona\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\tMarch 23, 2020\t\t\t\t\t\t\n    <p>Babylon Province Wednesday, 18-3-2020 The corona crisis hit Iraq hard, imposing lockdown in major cities and exerting pressure on the healthcare sector all over the country. As medical facilities and municipal services are essential to sustain overall continuity, Vitas Iraq set a new objective to support these organizations with a series of humanitarian initiatives. The&hellip;<\/p>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/blog\/vitas-iraq-together-against-corona-2\/\" title=\"Vitas Iraq: Together Against Corona\">Read More about Vitas Iraq: Together Against Corona<\/a>\n\t\t<!-- .pp-content-posts -->\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long-Term Recovery through Innovative Finance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5831,"template":"","tags":[],"gc_area_of_expertise":[],"regions":[448],"resources_type":[],"class_list":["post-5830","country","type-country","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-middle-east"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Iraq - Global Communities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For over 20 years, Global Communities has worked in Iraq with businesses and communities at the intersection of humanitarian assistance, sustainable development and financial inclusion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globalcommunities.org\/country\/iraq\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iraq - 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