NIRD is a school for practicing managers engaged in rural development. Over 150 programmes involving about 3000 participants are organized annually mostly sensitizing policy makers, elected representatives of the people, young civil servants and media professionals. It also trains functionaries from the Government, development banking institutions and community based organizations to help carry forward and spread the message of all-round rural development.

Curriculum development, preparation of training manuals and training guidelines are its forte. Custom-made training programmes were conducted for the senior officers of Bangladesh, Ethiopia Nigeria, Uganda, in recent years. Besides, it offered study visits to rural development functionaries from some of the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe

For nearly two decades, NIRD has been offering international training programmes to participants from 30 countries annually. These are in the fields of Rural Industries, Income-generating Activities for Women, Decentralized Planning and Sustainable Economic Development. Each programme attracts about 25 to 30 participants from different countries. offered by NIRD