DIT signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) with WFP

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) – The KRG’s Department of Information Technology (DIT) on Tuesday signed a Letter of Understanding (LoU) with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in order to collaborate on improving and reforming the Social Protection System in the region. 

The main aim of this initiative is to provide the services to the people in need, benefit from the digitalization of the social protection system, and digital transformation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The DIT reiterated support for WFP to tackle poverty, and affirmed that the Population Information System is a major project of the 9th cabinet of the KRG to provide crucial data for decision making.

The partnership with WFP includes concentrating on supporting the digitalization of the national Public Distribution System (PDS) for food rations which will integrate with the National single registry; improving public awareness of the newly digitized processes; establishing data infrastructures at the DIT to improve the administration of social protection schemes. 

Additionally, the partnership with WFP will ensure that digitalization initiatives are aligned with the KRG digital transformation’s objectives and strategies.

“Data governance is one of our core strategic directions where trusted data from various sources need to be consolidated, managed, and shared with the right internal and external entities empowering them to execute their functions. We are committed to make our systems and databases such as population information system and identity management system securely available to Social Protection System and are grateful to the WFP for their commendable coordination and tireless efforts,” said the Head of DIT, Hiwa Afandi.

“The collaboration between the World Food Program and the KRG’s Department of Information Technology is an important step towards making meaningful change to improve the social protection systems in the region. Through this partnership we will jointly scale up digitalization of the social protection programs and further support e-governance in the KRI to enable more efficient delivery of services to the most vulnerable families and improve their lives,” said Ally-Raza Qureshi, WFP Resprestatitve to Iraq.

The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.