Washington, DC – January 29, 2010 – IRD launched its new Community Stabilization Sector today. The new unit emphasizes IRD’s innovative approach to stabilization and development, focusing on citizen engagement, community priorities, connections between citizens and governments, and the re-establishment of jobs and livelihoods in conflict and post-conflict areas. IRD aims to give citizens a voice with which to participate and to engage in local decision-making processes.

“Stabilization activities can only succeed when local communities, officials, and private groups take ownership of development efforts,” said Dick Owens, Director of IRD’s Community Stabilization Sector. “Community involvement in planning and decision-making is an important part in building local capacity and a critical element to IRD’s stabilization approach.”

In conflict and post-conflict situations, often entire infrastructure systems, including food production and delivery, water infrastructure, and sanitation systems, must be rebuilt. Economic opportunities, employment, and access to markets need to be restored. In addition, social services, such as health and education, require rehabilitation. IRD has the experience and technical and management expertise to address this full spectrum of social and economic needs in unstable conditions. IRD development solutions encourage local ownership and strengthen local capacity, leading to more stable and productive communities.

IRD currently implements community stabilization programs in Afghanistan and Yemen. The Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Productive Agriculture (AVIPA) Plus project, a $360 million U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project, is aimed at increasing rural family farm production and strengthening links between the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its people in 20 provinces, including Helmand and Kandahar. AVIPA Plus implementation is closely linked with Afghan government leadership and local community ownership. The small grants program works closely with community and government officials to identify and process awards for in-kind materials and equipment. The in-kind grants give farmers and rural communities the resources to increase farm production and productivity. Government officials help AVIPA Plus identify cash for work projects, such as repairing irrigation systems, in local communities. Cash for work projects employ men who might otherwise produce illegal crops or participate in insurgency. In recent years, IRD has also managed stabilization programs in Iraq, Serbia, and Montenegro.