IRD’s mission is to improve the well-being of vulnerable communities through innovation in research and health delivery.
IRD was founded in Karachi, Pakistan where a lack of well-trained researchers and development professionals, unrealistically low salaries in academia and the non-profit sector, and working environments that do not support innovation presented real challenges to overcome. Our solution lay in attracting back to Pakistan as many recent graduates as we could from some of the best global health and development training programs in the world.
To achieve this, IRD established an operational model where all managers in the organization are 100% grant-based and are primarily responsible for bringing in funding for themselves and their teams. In exchange for the risk they undertake for this responsibility, IRD managers benefit from a professional environment that supports innovation and experimentation, while being compensated salaries that are comparable to academia and the non-profit sector in North America and the EU.
With over 300 staff operating in 8 countries, IRD has become a regional resource for innovative global health research and delivery. Now based out of the UAE, IRD operates in Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uganda. New opportunities in Asia, Africa and Europe have allowed us to expand the IRD model to other countries – bringing the best-trained nationals back to their countries for meaningful and rewarding work. In 2012, our teams are implementing new grants in Central and East Africa and in Eastern Europe.
Our managers and associates have world-class training, and access their local and global networks to develop and implement innovative new solutions to health and social problems. Our pioneering work in areas where global health, development economics and information technology converge have provided an exciting impetus for growth. While our growth has been remarkable by any standards, it is the people that work here that truly stand out. Because no matter where we work, our team brings the same drive for innovation and commitment to saving lives.