Administrator Fore, center, with members of the delegation and CTTC staff   CTTC Director Victor Odegard, left, discusses the course work with a construction trainer and Administrator Fore

IRD'S Construction Trades Training Center Hosts USAID Administrator Fore in Afghanistan
Administrator and French, British and Norwegian Ambassadors Visit Project to see the "Best Practices" of the Rebuilding Effort

April 22, 2008 — Jalalabad, Afghanistan — Today, a delegation with USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore; the French, Norwegian and British Ambassadors to Afghanistan; the Director of the United Nations Movement and Access office for Afghanistan and World Bank and Asian Bank representatives visited IRD's Construction Trade Training Center (CTTC) in Jalalabad. The purpose of the visit was to review the the U.S. rebuilding effort's best practices in Afghanistan in preparation for the Paris Support Conference.

"One of the reasons we have come [to Afghanistan] is to talk about what we can do to be more effective, better coordinated, and more supportive of Afghanistan's development goals for the future," said Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance. "These best practices help us make our aid more effective."

The CTTC trains 120 construction industry workers and managers per month in carpentry, electrical skills, painting, plumbing, and masonry, in accordance with U.S. construction industry standards. The 28-day training is offered to unskilled construction industry workers and foremen, with a more specialized training provided to engineers that emphasize quality assurance procedures. The $2.8 million grant extends from April 2006 to 2008.

The Center also runs three programs: first, the Material Testing Laboratory, which inspects and tests the quality of materials used in building roads and concrete construction; second, the Building Inspection Program, in which teachers from the Center travel to building sites in Nangarhar province to inspect the quality of work on new and renovated buildings; and third, training programs on construction-related issues for other non-governmental organizations. These programs are funded by the U.S. government and private construction contractors working in-country.

The delegation is participating in a three-day visit to Afghanistan for a multinational Donor Coordination Forum in Kabul, and had planned to visit project sites in the area to see first hand some examples of the work being done and to speak to the people who are directly affected by these programs. The tour and presentation of the CTTC program and facilities lasted about an hour.

“We are hoping to establish training centers similar to the one in Jalalabad throughout Afghanistan,” said Victor Odegard, Director of the CTTC. “If we can start up these centers then there will be qualified workers throughout the country who will be working instead of becoming involved with the Taliban."

IRD has worked in Afghanistan since May 2004, implementing the Human Resources and Logistical Support (HRLS) program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Under this program, IRD provides technical support and monitoring activities for construction and rehabilitation projects sponsored by the USAID Office of Infrastructure, Energy and Engineering. IRD also recently began the Strategic Provincial Roads program in Southern and Eastern Afghanistan with USAID.

IRD is a charitable, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to reduce the suffering of the world's most vulnerable groups and provide tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency.

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