Our Work

Drought relief in the Horn of Africa. Healthy snacks for schoolchildren in Indonesia and Liberia. Healthcare knowledge and steady income for rural women in Mozambique. Shelters for displaced people in the Republic of Georgia and earthquake victims in Haiti. Revived fruit orchards and new roads in Afghanistan. Vocational training and steady jobs for Iraqi refugees living in Jordan. Strengthened civil society and local government in West Africa. With the support of our donors, partners, and local communities, IRD makes all these things possible.

IRD is a nonprofit organization devoted to improving the lives and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people through inclusion, engagement, and empowerment. We build lasting relationships and strengthen our beneficiaries’ capabilities to create sustainable change and increase their self-sufficiency. Since 1998, IRD has provided more than $3.5 billion in humanitarian assistance. To the communities we serve, that means more hospitals and medicines to heal, schools to educate, roads to bring produce to markets, bountiful crops for household nutrition and incomes, safe homes to provide shelter, training to foster vocational skills, and steady jobs to put food on the table and ensure families’ wellbeing.

We are experts at working in challenging environments, including conflict zones and areas suffering from natural disasters. IRD approaches each situation with careful, systematic assessments and designs short- and long-term interventions. We don’t just deliver food and clean water, we also upgrade entire food, water, and sanitation systems. We don’t just repair a few roads, we also build reliable transportation systems that are revitalizing the economies of communities and countries. In short, IRD’s integrated development strategies solve interrelated needs and challenges simultaneously. That means more effective engagement between governments and communities, better use of resources, and longer lasting results.

Featured Success Stories

Vaccination Campaign Helps Prevent Measles

The spread of communicable diseases has become a high risk factor in the... more

IRD Swaziland Launches Climate Change Project

IRD Swaziland successfully handed over its completed project and launched t... more

Recovering from Loss Caused by Conflict

GHAZNI, Afghanistan – Living near a military base in Afghanistan is dangero... more

Recovering from Conflict, Stitch by Stitch

GHAZNI, Afghanistan – For many Afghan women, earning a living can be tough.... more

Crumbling Walls of Ignorance and Mistrust in Iraq

As the car nears the checkpoint, the roads are muddier and more potholed, and armed... more

IRD Distributes Clothing to Ukrainian Children’s Rehabilitation Center

The All-Ukrainian Children Rehabilitation Sanatorium “Chayka” (Seagull) is... more

Papuan-to-Papuan Business Development

JAYAPURA Indonesia – Papua ranks last of 33 Indonesian provinces in human developme... more

IRD Pakistan Launches the Conflict Victims Support Program

ISLAMABAD Pakistan – IRD launched the USAID-funded Conflict Victims Support Program... more

Refugee Herdsman Becomes a Settled Farmer

MANDJOU, Cameroon – Saliou Adamou, 55, fled to Cameroon from unrest in the Central... more