40 YEARS OF PEOPLE
HELPING PEOPLE
IDRF’s story, spanning four decades.
Our story began in 1983, when a conference was held to discuss how the community could respond to the famine in East Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Somalia.
There, the seeds were sown.
We started out as the International Refugee and Relief Program (IRRP),
and successfully sponsored 60 refugee families on their journey to Canada.
Recognizing the need to address the underlying causes of vulnerability, IRRP evolved, focusing more on development — growing into the International Development and Refugee Foundation.
Amid policy changes in 2000, we ceased
REFUGEE SPONSORSHIP.
We evolved into a dual-mandated emergency response and sustainable development organization — the
that you know and 💚 today.
Over the past
40 YEARS
we have expanded our reach from supporting just
60 FAMILIES
to impacting
over 4 million people
globally — in the last year alone.
And we’ve only just begun.