Indian Institute for Rural Development (IIRD) was established in 1994 as a non-profit voluntary organization with an aim to further the wellbeing of rural communities in Rajasthan. The Indian Institute for Rural Development (IIRD) was founded with the aim to provide the most underprivileged individuals with equal conditions, enhancing their capacity to control their own lives, health, education, economic empowerment and political participation and thus allowing them to lead a life of dignity. IIRD undertakes integrated programmes for the upliftment and economic development of rural stakeholders in the villages of Rajasthan and providing backward and forward linkages to the rural economy. Through its non- rigid, locality specific, felt need-based, beneficiary oriented and committed nature of service, it has established multitude of roles which effects rural development.
In its early years of existence, IIRD acted as an evaluating, training and nodal agency for projects focused on Health and Sanitation issues. Through the collaborative implementation of various projects with different partners, it gained valuable experience in framing and facilitating training sessions, developing IEC (Information, Education and Communication) material, coordinating and providing technical support to implementing agencies and conducting surveys and evaluation studies.
Empowerment of the rural poor and enhance standards of living for the underprivileged.
To facilitate sustainable development through qualitative Human Resource Development, people’s participation leading to the resolution of societal problems including empowerment of the unreached and underserved. In the due course of time, the scope of work increased with time. Its role also became that of an implementing agency too, for projects related to education, economic development, environmental protection, child development and gender issues. From (evaluation of) literacy campaign to empowerment of women commission representatives’ to micro enterprise promotion and vermicomposting, IIRD has planned and implemented a multitude of projects in active cooperation with national and international partners like Government of Rajasthan (GoR), Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), NABARD, UNICEF, UNIDO, World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). Moreover, field offices and skilled and motivated professionals also became a part of IIRD, who worked in close contact with our rural brethren. With its head office in Jaipur and eleven field offices in the districts of Tonk, Bundi, Baran and Jhalawar in Rajasthan with a powerful professional body of more than 600 women and men, IIRD has worked in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. These twenty (25) years of hard work have resulted in recognition and confidence from the community of beneficiaries’ our partners and us. It has put us on the right path towards the enhancement of human potential and thus serves us as a great encouragement to continue our journey towards rural transformation in India.