Abstract
USAID/Iraq's Community Action Program (CAP) is the mission's longest-running development program. Begun in May 2003, it was designed to develop the ability of Iraqi citizens to effectively address pressing community needs through organized democratic processes. The CAP III program fits under the USAID/Baghdad Mission's results framework for USAID Strategic Objective 9: Effective Local Government Established, as defined at the time of CAP's project design, implementation, and evaluation activities. From October 2008 to September 2012, CAP's third phase (CAP III) had three specific objectives: (1) communities better articulate their needs and mobilize resources within and outside the community to solve common problems; (2) local executive and representative government in CAP communities better meet the articulated needs of the community; and (3) civilian victims of conflict assisted. The independent end-of-project performance evaluation had two purposes: (1) accountability (to what extent CAP III's objectives and goals have been achieved); and (2) learning (to inform the implementation of future projects, especially those working at the community level. The resulting evaluation report provides numerous findings, conclusions and recommendations from the evaluators. (Excerpt, modified)