Efforts to rebuild Afghanistan have been seriously hampered by the lack of qualified construction labor and management. While the construction industry in Afghanistan employs a large proportion of the workforce, the level of technology and labor productivity has been low. Quality of construction is often poor; there are frequent time delays and cost overruns on projects; new materials, technologies, and management practices are seldom adopted due to the lack of awareness among construction professionals; and the general workforce can lack the most basic skills.

To address this problem, IRD established a Construction Trades Training Center (CTTC) in Jalalabad in September 2005. The goal of the center is to train workers and managers in accordance with construction industry standards, offering specialized training courses to unskilled construction industry workers, foremen, and field engineers. Collaborating with other vocational schools, U.S. government-funded projects, and donor initiatives in Afghanistan, CTTC has successfully implemented the three-tiered training program concurrently, training 100 construction workers, 50 foremen, and 10 field engineers per month.

The CTTC was initially funded by the U.S. Army Combined/Joint Task Force on land provided by the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) and the Nangahar Province Governor and then funded by USAID until 2008. The CTTC is now an independent, self-sustaining NGO, run by Afghans and supported by the fees employers pay to have their employees trained.

CTTC curriculum is taught using a combination of classroom work, laboratory work, hands-on experience and oral testing. Training for the program for construction workers and foremen includes both specific construction skills (plaster and paint, masonry, carpentry, plumbing) and general topics such as safety, work ethic and punctuality, productivity, and quality control. Training for the management program for field engineers includes safety, blueprints, leadership, quality assurance, sub-contract management, and conflict resolution.

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