Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy

Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy (IFDD) "is a regionally based non-governmental organization committed to supporting democracy and development in Iraq by fostering dialogue between decision-makers and citizens on important social, economic, and political issues. A primary goal of the Foundation is to bring together people of diverse ethnic, religious, political and tribal backgrounds to build consensus on finding solutions to the issues most important to the Iraqi people and for assisting in the promotion of freedom and democracy. With the material and advisory assistance provided by IRI's Baghdad staff, the IFDD has convened several conferences to achieve these goals." 

"Headed by Ghassan Atiyyah, a respected Iraqi dissident and publisher of the oppositionist periodical The Iraqi File, the IFDD is a regionally based non-governmental organization committed to supporting democracy and development in Iraq by fostering dialogue between decision-makers and citizens on important social, economic, and political issues. A primary goal of the Foundation is to bring together people of diverse ethnic, religious, political and tribal backgrounds to build consensus on finding solutions to the issues most important to the Iraqi people and for assisting in the promotion of freedom and democracy. With the material and advisory assistance provided by IRI's Baghdad staff, the IFDD has convened several conferences of substantial importance." 

Ghassan Attiya is the Founder and Executive Director of IFDD. 

In 2004, the NED gave the International Republican Institute (IRI) $80,000 "To strengthen prospects for democracy and to encourage the active participation of Iraqi citizens in the democratic national reconstruction. IRI will continue its support for the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy (IFDD) as a forum for constructive dialogue. IFDD will commission a series of studies based on program events, conferences and ongoing events in Iraq for use by academic researchers and policy makers and will conduct its own series of conferences to present the findings of its commissioned studies and provide a forum for the discussion of major issues affecting Iraq's transition to democracy." 

In 2003, the NED noted that "IRI is currently working with the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy's (IFDD) project to assist in the process of writing a new Iraqi constitution."