When relief efforts end, communities must be equipped to continue their recovery. Through economic development programs, IRD works to help generate business, train workers and create jobs that will sustain families and fuel growth through social loans, business loans, vocational training and employment.

	Iraq Community Stabilization Program (CSP)
	Job creation and conflict mitigation
	Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA)
	Helping community groups to take control of local economic development
	Construction Trades Training Center (CTTC)
	Vocational training in the construction trades in Afghanistan
	Lebanon Relief and Employment Program
	Micro-grants, business development, and vocational training in southern Lebanon following the 2006 July War
	Emergency Livelihoods Recovery in Indonesia
	Micro-grants and business development training the Aceh province following the tsunami
	The Serbia Agribusiness Project (SAP)
	Expanding opportunities for farmers
	Addressing HIV and Poverty in Ethiopia
	Creating Opportunities to Break the Cycle of Poverty and Disease
	Entrepreneurship for Refugees (EFR) Program
	Apprenticeship Training for Iraqis Living in Lebanon

Since 1999, IRD’s economic development programs have addressed some of the most difficult issues facing farmers and entrepreneurs in vulnerable communities around the world. Often integrating health, democracy and governance, and other sectors into its programming, IRD’s economic growth sector programs have helped individuals and whole communities to respond to recurring disasters and provide for themselves.

The economic growth sector focuses on five core areas:

• Development of sustainable agriculture systems, including support for agribusiness competitiveness, market linkage, and value chain development in an environmentally friendly production and processing systems environment;
• Livelihood security;
• Micro-enterprise development and small/medium enterprise development;
• Local economic planning and development, supporting economic development, and public/private sector partnerships; and
• Job creation and access to training, market information, and credit.

By developing programs that take into account communities as a whole, not just the agricultural context, IRD has assisted tens of thousands of farmers and their communities better respond to global agricultural conditions. In Western Serbia, for example, programs have focused on agricultural sector development through both the introduction of new technology and improvements in quality production, market linkages, and market access for local businessmen, including everything from livestock marketing, green market development, and small dairy processing to strengthening cooperative developments and associations. IRD provides micro-grants and technical assistance to vulnerable individuals, marginal groups, and resource-poor farmers to provide them with both the financial resources and skills they need to develop a sustainable livelihood. In Iraq, IRD has helped thousands of internally displaced people and others affected by conflict with grants covering start-up costs for small businesses such as music stores and auto repair shops. IRD operates similar emergency livelihood security programs in Lebanon, Montenegro, and Serbia.

Micro and small businesses form the backbone of many local and rural economies, but the business owners often need help learning how to effectively increase their business’ reach. IRD assists with business and market linkage services, access to improved production technologies, organizational assistance to improve their efficiency and bargaining power, and integration into existing value chains to ensure growth and sustainability. For example, projects in Montenegro have sped up and streamlined the business registration process and increased market access for small businesses.

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