International

Building and using evidence to increase equity and opportunity across the globe.

Improving lives around the world

AIR is conducting research on agricultural and social protection interventions in the south of Madagascar where food insecurity affects more than 1 million people.

Experts at the American Institutes for Research® (AIR) work around the globe to improve the quality and relevance of social, economic, and education programs in developing countries to empower individuals, communities, and institutions, and to ensure equitable access for all. Our international work covers AIR’s broad practice areas—education, health, human services, and workforce development—across the lifespan.

AIR conducts and applies rigorous research and evaluation to provide governments and international aid agencies with the tools, expertise and information they need to measure the effectiveness of programs, initiatives, and institutions. Through our technical assistance work, we help leaders, policymakers, and organizations build, pilot, and implement field-based activities in developing countries.

Contact
Image of David Seidenfeld

David Seidenfeld

Senior Vice President, International Development Division

All International Topics

Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition
Climate Change and Resilience
Gender Equality
International Education
- Early Childhood and Child Development
- Foundational Learning
- International Comparisons in Education
- Safe and Supportive Learning Environments
- Standards and Assessment

International Health and Social Protection
International Labor and Workforce
Monitoring and Evaluation, and Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting
Refugees and Migrant Issues
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene

Related Work
African women farming

Challenges and Opportunities in Agricultural Value Chains

14 Feb 2023
Despite concerted efforts by various governments and international agencies, low agricultural productivity remains a persistent challenge in many developing countries. Using findings from three case studies of value chain assessments conducted by AIR in Uganda, Mozambique, and Georgia, AIR provided evidence-based policy recommendations to improve programming in value chains in ...
Illustration of Markus Broer

Meet the Expert: Markus Broer

17 Jan 2023
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) benchmarks educational progress of students across the U.S. In this Q&A, Markus Broer explains how NAEP allows for apples-to-apples comparisons across states and districts, how AIR helps validate NAEP's results, and important trends in educational outcomes. ...
Image of a diverse group of preschoolers

International Safe and Supportive Learning Environments

17 Jan 2023
AIR is committed to increasing the effectiveness of education globally at all levels through the provision of safe, supportive, and equitable learning environments. Our rigorous, state-of-the-art research and evaluation work provides important evidence for education policymakers and practitioners to use when answering crucial questions about program implementation, challenges, and solutions. ...
Young African girl writing in workbook

McGovern-Dole Food for Education Project in Cote d’Ivoire

Since 1989, the Government of Côte d’Ivoire has been implementing a school feeding program in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to improve food security and access to quality education. To continue supporting the school feeding program in seven priority regions, WFP mobilized McGovern-Dole funds from the ...
Teacher reading book to elementary school children in class

McGovern-Dole Food for Education Project in Lesotho

AIR, as a sub-contractor to Catholic Relief Services, and funded by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Education project, is implementing the Foundational Literacy Improvement Package (FLIP) model in Lesotho over the course of five years (2022-2026).

Evidence Synthesis of the Sustainable Development Goal 17 Partnership Pillar

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) serve as an urgent call for action to encourage all countries to work on ending poverty while improving health and education, reducing inequality, stimulating economic growth, and addressing climate change. With the endpoint of 2030 approaching, it is critical to assess progress toward the ...
Illustration of Ashu Handa

Meet the Expert: Ashu Handa

07 Dec 2022
Ashu Handa is an economist whose work centers on global poverty, health, and human development in sub-Saharan Africa. At AIR, he works to expand Equity Initiative work internationally and supports AIR’s global poverty research and policy efforts. He has been a professor at the University of North Carolina for 20 ...
Teacher showing computer experiments to children

The Future of Education

Google for Education collaborated with research partner Canvas8 to conduct a study across 24 countries, interviewing experts on how and why they are rethinking the role of education. AIR served as an advisor and consultant to this research, which contains insights from interviews with 94 education thought leaders, including experts in ...
Hands holding crops

Using Data to Respond to the Impacts of Climate Change

24 Oct 2022
The impacts of climate change are already affecting the health, economic well-being, and security of people across the globe. In this Q&A, Principal Economist Juan Bonilla describes AIR’s efforts to help governments and policymakers mitigate these effects and reduce the growing inequities that climate change can exacerbate. ...
Illustration of Carol Pier

Meet the Expert: Carol Pier

27 Sep 2022
At AIR, Carol Pier co-leads a growing portfolio of international labor technical assistance programming, with projects in Mexico and Honduras. Over the course of her career, she has focused on advancing workers’ rights, acceptable conditions of work, living standards, and inclusive economic growth and development globally. ...