IRD works at the ground level with local partners to promote planning, education and training to rebuild community life when it has been disabled by tragedy and conflict. IRD programs encourage citizen participation, guide the distribution of humanitarian aid, and help identify community goals and priorities.

	SERASI
	Peace-building and conflict mitigation across Indonesia
	Iraq Community Action Program (ICAP)
	Rebuilding Iraq by working with community groups
	Gulf Coast Community Services Center (GCCSC)
	Helping the people of Mississippi move back into their homes following Katrina
	Cultural Bridges to Reconciliation in Iraq (CBRI)
	Helping to reduce conflict and advance democracy by giving citizens a voice in their community
	Construction Trades Training Center (CTTC)
	Vocational training in construction trades in Afghanistan
	Decentralized Basic Education (DBE-III)
	Life skills development and workforce preparation for junior high students in Central Java
	Distribution of Radios in Southern Sudan
	Raising Public Awareness of Governance Issues
	Kosovo Cultural Heritage Program
	Strengthening Kosovo's Heritage Through Cultural Preservation
	National Initiative for Sorting and Recycling
	Promoting recycling in Lebanon's schools
	Iraq Cultural Heritage Program
	Restoring the glory of Iraq's ancient past
	Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA)
	Helping community groups to take control of local economic development

IRD seeks to empower informed citizens to participate in the democratic process in areas ranging from HIV/AIDS awareness to education and road building to business development.

IRD’s current portfolio includes programs in vocational training, life-to-work education, and community social work. These programs are implemented in vastly different contexts — Afghanistan, Indonesia, and post-Katrina Mississippi — each with its own unique set of challenges. The common thread, however, is IRD’s efforts to promote strong community participation, as well as the long-term sustainability of its interventions.

Since April 2006, IRD has operated the Construction Trades Training Center (CTTC) in Afghanistan, running intensive, practical 28-day training courses in site engineering, carpentry, plumbing, electrical wiring, painting, and masonry. IRD has graduated more than 3,400 students from its core training programs. More than 85 percent of its graduates have found employment in the construction trades. The program ended on May 31, 2008, and IRD is implementing a plan to transition the CTTC into an independent NGO entity by June 2008.

Millions of Indonesian youth leave school every year unprepared for the workforce. IRD, Save the Children, the Academy for Educational Development, the Asia Foundation, and USAID are working together in seven provinces to bring a new curriculum to students, which integrates life skills, technology, and community resources into a program that helps junior high school students become better prepared for participation in community development. Over the five years of the program, Decentralized Basic Education II (DBE3) will provide life skills training modules to 200,000 teachers in 400 schools. And there are already signs the program will be sustainable: materials created for DBE3 have been replicated by other institutions, and IRD teaching methods have been adopted by Indonesian Ministry of Education trainers.

Through the Gulf Coast Community Service Center in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 2007 IRD US served more than 1,676 families affected by Hurricane Katrina and closed 489 cases. Significantly, IRD US has raised more than $1.5 million on behalf of its clients to help repair more than 700 homes and completely reconstruct more than 30 homes. IRD US is also working with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and Mississippi Presbytery to provide at-risk youth with high school equivalency education, service learning, and on-the-job construction training through building affordable homes.

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