name: International Relief and Development
text: International Relief and Development, Inc., is a charitable, humanitarian organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people in the most economically deprived parts of the world by facilitating and supporting assistance that is tailored specifically to their needs.
  
  Founded in 1998 by Dr. Arthur B. Keys, Jr., IRD has provided more than $185 million in humanitarian assistance to Asia, Latin America, the Balkans, the Newly Independent States (NIS) and the Middle East. IRD continues to expand its operations in these geographical areas as well as to new regions that present the same social, political and technical challenges.
  
  The mission of IRD is to reduce the suffering of the worldâ€™s most vulnerable groups and provide tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency.
  
  IRD plans to implement a program in the northeastern Kunduz and Baghlan provinces of Afghanistan. The program will be directed at improving and restoring necessary infrastructure and collateral activities in order to stimulate the rural agricultural economy of two provinces, and support Afghanistanâ€™s recovery following twenty-three years of war, and five years of drought. Sheladia Associates, Inc. will also contribute to the project. The objective of the program will be to construct farm to market roads and bridges, agriculturally related storage facilities, small sized dams for the provision of drinking water for livestock in pastures and catchments dams for erosion control and recharge of ground water, and work with various producers and marketing associations to improve the efficiency of all infrastructure investments. All activities will be related to the market and will have demonstrable economic impact.
  
  http://www.ird-dc.org/