The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with groups such as the Knights of Columbus to increase its efforts in northern Iraq, according to International Christian Concern.

Last October, Pence told a conference hosted by nonprofit In Defense of Christians that America “will work hand-in-hand with faith-based groups and private organizations to help those who are persecuted for their faith.”

In June, Pence said the United States would intensify efforts to deliver aid to Iraqi Christians.

At the State Department’s first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in July, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States would provide an additional $17 million for demining efforts in the Nineveh region of Iraq.

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson expressed hope “that our joint and combined efforts will bring open and concrete improvement to the situation confronting minority communities targeted by ISIS.”

Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, said USAID “has been very slow in getting aid out the door, and it’s just starting to make a difference, with reconstructing schools, electricity switched on, etc., since mid-September.”

Fewer than 250,000 Christians are estimated to remain in Iraq, a decline of approximately one million people since 2002. Most live in the Nineveh Plains and Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

Furthermore, the United States government has agreed to a partnership with the Knights of Columbus to help the administration facilitate the much needed aid and assistance to help persecuted religious minorities in the Middle East.

The U.S. Agency International Development agreement with the Knights of Columbus is designed to “facilitate partnerships to help communities in the Middle East recover from genocide and persecution” and connect the agency with local faith and community leaders to help deliver aid rapidly to persecuted Christian communities.

Under the agreement, the Knights will help USAID by sharing information and identifying projects and potential recipients of aid.

The Knights of Columbus have been one of the most active U.S.-based groups on the ground supporting the recovery effort for the beleaguered Christian community in the Nineveh Plains, which was decimated when IS gained control from 2014 to 2017. The Knights have already committed $20 million to recovery and humanitarian efforts in Iraq since 2014.

The agreement comes as the U.S. government continues to face criticism amid claims that the U.S. hasn’t provided aid to Iraq’s Christian community.

In a press release, USAID acknowledged that it could use the help of Knights of Columbus because “their deep experience promoting interfaith dialogue provides them with a reach and a voice in communities that often exceeds our own.”