Our Stories

Boys at school in Afghanistan, construction overseen by IRD. View the Afghanistan photo gallery.

Decades of conflict have ravaged Afghanistan, leaving the country near the bottom of development indicators. Much of the little infrastructure that had been in place has been destroyed, maternal and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world, and fields that once grew enough food to support the nation are now either languishing or growing illicit crops. IRD is bringing its expertise to Afghanistan to rebuild roads and other infrastructure and help farmers produce more food.

The $33.2 million Afghan Vouchers for Increased Productive Agriculture program will increase basic wheat crop production in Afghanistan. During the one-year program, IRD is providing 125,000 farmers affected by drought with vouchers to access agricultural inputs. The system not only supports agriculture input access for crop production, but more intimately engages the supply market and farmer demand. Only the most vulnerable farmers will be eligible, including unemployed heads of household, widows, farmers lacking extended family support, sharecroppers, and farmers who are not recipients of other development assistance programs. An additional $27 million modification to the original program will expand these services to as many as 100,000 more farmers in other provinces.

In 2007, USAID awarded IRD a $400 million cooperative agreement to implement a three-year program to increase stability and security in Eastern and Southern Afghanistan by rehabilitating rural roads and infrastructure. The Strategic Provincial Roads program goes beyond designing and constructing 2,000 kilometers of engineered new, as well as existing, gravel roads and bridges by December 2010. It also incorporates a substantial program for community involvement and training.

IRD works with local engineering firms and organizations whenever possible to encourage local ownership of the resulting improvements and smooth over some security concerns, since these organizations have deep ties to the communities in which they work. Each of the road projects has a dedicated project field team, including an outreach specialist whose role is to work with affected communities throughout the planning, construction, and post-construction processes.

The Human Resources and Logistical Services (HRLS) program is a unique and flexible tool that allows USAID to outsource specialized services at will. The program provides the USAID mission in Afghanistan the flexibility to meet nearly any programmatic requirement and broadens its capability to ensure program objectives are being met in a timely and professional manner. For example, under HRLS IRD is providing fully documented, start-to-finish oversight from pre-construction to final warranty inspection on all of USAID’s infrastructure projects. IRD also provides technical expertise to government ministries to systematically train and improve their capability.


Programs
- Strategic Provincial Roads - Southern and Eastern Afghanistan
- Human Resources and Logistical Support (HRLS)
- Construction Trades Training Center (CTTC)
- Agricultural Vouchers in Afghanistan (AVIPA)

  • Kabul Office:
    Dean Homleid
    Country Director
    dhomleid@ird-af.org

  • Bob Bassak
    Chief of Party, AVIPA

  • Gilbert Richard
    Chief of Party, HRLS

  • Frederick Chace
    Chief of Party, SPR