RTI International Brochures

Sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, RTI supported the 2005 Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices (CMEC). This project sought to develop improved information on the capabilities of U.S. medical examiners and coroners and the types of data systems and record retention procedures they use, as well as to identify the resource needs of these offices.

RTI is collaborating with researchers from the University of Kentucky to conduct a comprehensive, longitudinal study of alcohol and tobacco use among approximately 5,000 sailors and airmen at five military installations.

As part of RTI International’s Decentralization Support Program funded by USAID, RTI International (Research Triangle Institute) is awarding a series of micro-projects to help commune authorities meet some of the critical needs in social and economic sectors. Criteria for selection for funding includes having the activity inscribed in the communal development plan developed by the commune in conjunction with active citizen participation, significant matching contribution and a strategy for sustainability. Benin is one of many West African countries that are transitioning from a centralized top-down structure to decentralized government that aims to have local citizens take more responsibility in all aspects of their community. Like most West African countries, Benin is economically poor with a per capita gross domestic product of $1,070 and a ranking of 161 out of 177 nations in the 2004 United Nations Human Development Index. In 1999 Benin legislation was passed to implement decentralization and, though progress has not been easy, change is under way. Under the old system the Sous-Préfet – someone named by the central authorities and not beholding to the local constituents but rather to the central political powers – had the leadership role for local development. Now it is the Mayor and the rest of the elected local councilors. The history of top-down development in projects designed at people or worse initiated for other aims. Now with a bottom-up approach, citizens help assess their own needs and priorities and help elected officials in determining which activities become realities. This approach not only helps make better use of limited resources but, with the ownership of the activities clearly in the hands of the local citizenry, increases likelihood of activity success and maintenance to sustain investments. Responding to the needs of the citizens also should help the locally elected Mayor and Councilors maintain their jobs – not always a critical factor for the old Sous-Préfet.

RTI International has developed, implemented, and evaluated innovative interventions that target hard-to-reach populations, such as crack-using urban African-American women in North Carolina and black/African and coloured women in South Africa.

Under two USAID contracts, RTI has been working in Iraq to build capacity in local government and to increase citizen participation during the transition to a democratic system. Through these projects, RTI’s reach has extended into all 18 provinces.

Building on its work across Eastern Europe over the past 15 years, RTI International has assisted Kosovo in strengthening legislation for decentralized government, building local leaders’ management capacity, and meeting citizens’ service needs.

Graphical representation of the key events in the discovery and development of camptothecin.

Funded by the National Institute of Justice, RTI conducted the Campus Sexual Assault (CSA) Study to examine the prevalence, nature, and reporting of sexual assault on college campuses in an effort to inform the development of targeted intervention strategies.

This brief examines efforts of the Iraq Local Governance Program to strengthen the local governance in Iraq and presents lessons that may be applicable to other interventions in failed states and postconflict societies.

RTI International is serving as the data coordinating center for a trial examining the effi cacy of a community-level intervention to reduce HIV/STD incidence and high-risk behaviors in China, India, Peru, Russia, and Zimbabwe.

Under the Local Governance Program in Morocco, RTI is working to strengthen government officials’ capabilities at every level in participatory planning, service delivery, transparency, and accountability to the public. LGP has worked with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and the governments of seven provinces and 26 communes to make effective local governments a force, not a stumbling block, for sustainable development in Morocco.

This brief examines efforts of the Iraq Local Governance Program to strengthen the local governance in Iraq and presents lessons that may be applicable to other interventions in failed states and postconflict societies.

On behalf of the CDC, RTI is developing a module for a multi-state reporting system that collects data on violent deaths. This module will produce attainable, useful, and practical data elements on deaths committed by an intimate partner.

Since 1994, RTI has led several studies in community-based international research. This document describes four RTI-led projects to design, implement, and evaluate prevention interventions to reduce substance use, HIV risk behaviors, and sex-related violence among women.

For more than 20 years, RTI has conducted surveys related to the DoD Lifestyle Assessment Program (DLAP) under the guidance of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) and the TRICARE Management Activity. These surveys assess the prevalence of alcohol, illicit drug, and tobacco use, as well as negative consequences associated with substance use and critical assessments of emotional stress and other issues.

For more than 20 years, RTI has conducted surveys related to the DoD Lifestyle Assessment Program under the guidance of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) and the TRICARE Management Activity. In 2006 a new survey expanded the population base beyond the active duty force to incorporate the Guard/Reserve components of the military.

EdData II, sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provides survey expertise to help national and local governments as well as the donor community to assess education status and to design methods for improvement.

In April 2005, RTI International began implementing a 5-year USAID program to support decentralized education management in Indonesia. As prime contractor, RTI is helping local governments in seven Indonesian provinces improve management systems, develop and implement more efficient and equitable systems of education finance, enhance community participation in education governance, and strengthen private-sector support for education.

Like many other countries in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria began its transition to democracy in 1990. In the early years, the country established the basic institutions of democracy, including local governments with elected mayors and councils. This flyer describes RTI's accomplishments under the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID's) Local Government Initiative (LGI). Since 1997, RTI has worked on issues such as encouraging citizen participation, strengthening fledgling municipal associations, and improving municipal finance.

In collaboration with the government of Egypt, with funding from the USAID, RTI International began implementing the 3-year Girls’ Improved Learning Outcomes (GILO) project in February 2008 to provide access to quality education in several communities with low school enrollment for girls. GILO will support the implementation of Egypt’s strategy of school-based reform in local communities by helping to improve learning outcomes in an estimated 2,700–3,000 primary and preparatory classrooms by 2011.

Working in seven municipalities, the USAID-funded Crime and Violence Prevention Project (CVPP) is helping build the capacities of national and local governments, civil society organizations, and high-risk communities to better understand crime and violence patterns. The project also implements interventions that increase citizen security and offer alternatives to vulnerable youth.

As part of the Environmental Health IQC team, RTI supports USAID’s Water and Sanitation for Health (WASH) Project and Environmental Health Project (EHP). The goal of these efforts is to reduce exposure to infectious and toxic agents that cause disease and to physical forces that cause injury.

On behalf of the Navy Personnel Command and the Navy Human Performance Center, RTI studied the usability of two electronic performance appraisal systems. We tested the systems’ usability, recommended system modifications, and retested to ensure that the changes actually reduced the number and duration of usability errors.

RTI evaluated the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, conducting conducted a comprehensive cross-site evaluation and supporting consortia of local evaluators who conducted independent evaluations. The goal of these complementary evaluation strategies was to assess the effectiveness of collaborative community efforts to promote safe schools and facilitate healthy child and adolescent development.

In 2004, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention awarded the Girls Study Group project to RTI. GSG activities include a comprehensive literature review, a review of programs targeting girls’ delinquency, a review of screening and assessment instruments, and development of best practices program models for girls.

Health interventions in under-served and under-resourced communities world-wide often work around the deficiencies in a country’s health system to improve service delivery. RTI is strengthening the pillars of countries’ health systems—governance, finance, and operations—around the world to sustain the impact of such interventions to ensure better health outcomes for citizens.

The Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) conducts research to improve the health and readiness of a worldwide deployed force of over 725,000 active-duty and reserve Sailors and Marines. Through the study Health Surveillance Research in Foreign Military Populations, RTI International is assisting NHRC staff of the U.S. Department of Defense HIV/AIDS Prevention Program (DHAPP) in developing and implementing an HIV Behavioral Health Surveillance Program for the armed forces in Mozambique and Uganda.

With funding from USAID, RTI International is working to help contain the spread of HIV/AIDS in Pakistan. This 3-year project is operating in major urban areas and high-risk cities and will support a larger effort in Pakistan to contain the spread of the virus before it becomes rooted in the general population.

The Zambian Electronic Perinatal Record System (ZEPRS), a Web-based electronic medical records and referral system, is one of the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. ZEPRS was developed by RTI, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Today, ZEPRS is helping medical personnel to improve care, combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, and manage records for perinatal patients and infants.

RTI is working with partner organizations throughout Bangladesh to identify clients who most need family planning, maternal and child health care, medicines, and other curative services. Through two innovative approaches -- health benefit cards and health equity funds -- RTI is helping 32 NGOs and 320 clinics deliver care to Bangladesh’s most needy citizens while building the NGOs’ capabilities for financial sustainability.

RTI is promoting the devolution process of the health sector in the Philippines by strengthening health systems management, financing, and service delivery in over 550 Local Government Units, located in 23 provinces across the country's three major island groups.

RTI in partnership with AIDS Health Care Foundation is implementing a 5-year program in HIV counseling and Testing and basic carein 8 Ugandan hospitals and clinics.

Since 1998 RTI has worked to help improve the quality of primary education in South Africa. Under the Integrated Education Program, we continue to provide a broad range of education assistance in furtherance of this same goal. The program's primary objective is to achieve improved student performance in numeracy, literacy, mathematics, and science in participating schools.

RTI International has been working for over 12 years to prevent and control vector-borne diseases such as malaria, and is currently implementing three IRS projects— a 5-year (2006–2011) IRS Task Order covering 13 countries;
a 1-year (2008–2009) IRS Task Order specifically focused on Kenya; and a 5-year (2006–2011) National Malaria Control Programme in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

RTI provides technical and management support to malaria vector control programs in a growing list of countries in Africa and Asia. RTI also supports continued technical development of IVM through collaboration with international institutions, operations research, and dissemination of research and program results.

building on previous work to identify a general model of coordinated response in crisis events, RTI studied events surrounding the July 2005 attacks in London. Results demonstrated that London’s approach to coordination—characterized by a high level of preplanning, joint exercises, and regular improvement through constant use—helped to minimize the effects of common coordination barriers during the response.

The USAID/Iraq LGP, implemented by RTI International, provided training, technical assistance, and other resources to establish, develop, and strengthen a participatory, democratic, subnational government that delivers effective and efficient services to Iraqis. This brief describes the program's experience in helping launch a Local Economic and Workforce Development initiative in the governorate of At Ta'mim, as well as lessons learned from that experience.

For more than 20 years and extending over 5 consecutive programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), RTI International has worked to create a foundation for effective and accountable democratic governance in Indonesia. The most recent contract -- Local Governance Support Program (LGSP) -- is aimed at fostering an environment in which local governments are responsive to citizens' needs by delivering services and governing in an effective and transparent manner.

Newly elected officials and civil society leaders have limited experience and knowledge regarding their roles in financial resource management, effective service provision and delivery and transparency in local governance Objective: To further Mali’s reform process by building trust between local authorities and citizens. The training targeted both elected officials and community leaders, providing them the information and methodologies needed to become partners in local development.

This study is designed to characterize the direct impact of combat exposure on mental health outcomes among Marines and Sailors in transition from active duty to civilian life and to examine the interrelationships between combat exposure, a variety of moderators, and subsequent psychological resilience, mental health symptoms, and substance abuse. RTI International, together with the Naval Health Research Center, will examine a number of specific hypotheses regarding the effects of individual risk and protective factors on mental health outcomes.

This brief examines efforts of the Iraq Local Governance Program to strengthen the local governance in Iraq and presents lessons that may be applicable to other interventions in failed states and postconflict societies.

Working with the Urban Institute and the Center for Court Innovation, RTI is conducting a rigorous 5-year national evaluation of the impact of drug courts on behalf of the National Institute of Justice. The objective is to analyze the effects of different drug court models on participant outcomes.

The Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative is a collaborative federal effort to improve prisoner reentry outcomes. On behalf of the National Institute of Justice, RTI is evaluating the overall effectiveness of the initiative across 69 states/local sites.

RTI International has conducted research on crime, violence, justice systems, and behavioral health for over 30 years. Using rigorous multidisciplinary approaches, RTI research advances knowledge and informs policy, practice, and programs nationally and internationally.

In September 2006, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Program, the first global effort to support country programs to integrate and scale up delivery of preventive chemotherapy for five targeted NTDs: lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis.

During Saddam Hussein’s regime, local government had little autonomy in service delivery and financial management. Following the U.S.-led overthrow of the regime, a key objective was to quickly get services in place and functional in order to avert a humanitarian crisis. The Iraq Local Governance Program (LGP) worked with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the military, municipal service-delivery departments, and other U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) projects to restore basic services in Al Basrah.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Project Safe Neighborhoods seeks to reduce gun violence by improving strategic coordination across federal, state, and local agencies in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. RTI serves as a PSN research partner, collecting and analyzing firearm-related data to gain an improved understanding of gun violence in North Carolina communities.

RTI conducted a psychometric evaluation of the Navy-Wide Personnel Survey and assisted with sampling for several surveys of Navy personnel, including the Navy QOL Survey, Navy Quick Polls, and a follow-up survey to evaluate the Sexual Assault Victim Intervention program. These studies were conducted on behalf of Navy Personnel Research, Studies, and Technology---the Navy’s manpower and personnel research laboratory.

In 2004 DoD awarded RTI a roughly $1.5 million, 4-year contract to compare two motivational interviewing (MI) interventions with the Substance Abuse Seminar, or treatment as usual (TAU) intervention. This document describes RTI's research under this contract.

RTI and Eastman Chemical Company have developed a novel, high-temperature technology package for removing various contaminants contained in syngas derived from coal and petroleum coke. Developed with support from the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, this technology has been extensively field tested at Eastman’s Kingsport, Tennessee, gasification facility.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, RTI is conducting a study of Army families to determine if there is a connection between spouse abuse, child abuse, and substance abuse. The study is also assessing the level of coordination among service providers who address these complementary problems in military settings.

RTI International researchers at the Women’s Global Health Imperative (WGHI) are helping develop and test an intervention designed to prevent to prevent intimate partner violence in urban slum communities in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka, India.

The USAID-supported PERFORM Project, which began in early 2001, was ideally placed to take a lead role among donors in providing assistance to Indonesia. With a network of employees stretching across seven provinces, PERFORM is using participatory planning to assist 80 local governments in the creation of multiyear investment programs. At the central level, PERFORM has advisors placed in strategic positions within two key ministries: the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible for "administrative decentralization"; and in the Ministry of Finance, responsible for "fiscal decentralization." PERFORM continues to mediate the relationship between the central, provincial and local governments, and local stakeholders via this approach.

RTI has been collaborating with a team of Jordanian scientists on a research project that has the potential to make a positive impact on Jordan through the discovery of new medicines. Important aspects of this pursuit focus on assessing the country’s under-studied biodiversity and transferring cutting-edge technology to a cadre of Jordanian scientists, which will enhance Jordan’s research capacity and infrastructure.

RTI International researchers at the Women’s Global Health Imperative (WGHI) are helping to create safe, enabling, institutional environments for women to discuss safety concerns and gender-based violence in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka, India.

Since the early 1990s, RTI has helped South Africa’s municipalities become more effective and democratic. Through the USAID's Local Governance Support Program (LGSP), RTI is continuing this work by helping 23 municipalities improve municipal performance and enhance revenue streams.

Through the introduction and scale-up of key malaria prevention and control measures by RTI International and local partners, significant progress is being made in the fight against malaria in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. RTI has been implementing IRS in Zanzibar since 2006. IRS controls malaria by spraying the interior of household structures with a residual insecticide. With funding from the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, RTI has conducted three spray rounds in Zanzibar—with each application covering over 200,000 houses—achieving more than 90% coverage and protecting an overall population of more than 1 million.

Graphical representation of events in the development of taxol, beginning with its discovery by Drs. Monroe Wall and Mansukh Wani of RTI International.

The USAID | Health Policy Initiative for the Greater Mekong Region and China (HPI/GMR-C), implemented by RTI International, with support from the Burnet
Institute, is funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The project aims to improve the enabling environment for HIV prevention, care, and treatment in the Greater Mekong region and China.

RTI is collaborating with researchers from the University of Kentucky to conduct a comprehensive, longitudinal study of tobacco use among approximately 6,000 soldiers. The goal is to provide an in-depth understanding of the causes and predictors of tobacco use in order to improve and shape effective prevention, intervention, and cessation efforts.

RTI International, as a subcontractor to the State University of New York Center for International Development, works to connect good-governance champions at every level of Ugandan society to promote public participation in the political process, strengthen institutional transparency and accountability, and improve public service delivery.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, RTI is conducting a study of risk and protective factors affecting the misuse of alcohol and tobacco among active duty personnel. The study examines factors at the individual, unit, and installation levels.

DoD Survey of Health Related Behaviors has indicated an increase in heavy alcohol use, especially among junior enlisted personnel, since 1998 (Bray et al., 2006). The same survey indicated that heavy drinking among military personnel is related to decreased workplace productivity and increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs) requested the development and evaluation of a Web-based alcohol education program designed to reduce problem alcohol use in the military. This pilot program, called PATROL (Program for Alcohol Training, Research, and Online Learning), determined the utility of Web-based alcohol education programs for the military and evaluated the effectiveness of two specific Web-based programs originally developed for the civilian population. The TRICARE Management Activity (TMA) sponsored this pilot program.

RTI is working with Cooper Institute to conduct HEALTH (Healthy Eating and Active Living in TRICARE Households), a scientifically based behavioral intervention weight loss program for eligible TRICARE Prime non-active duty beneficiaries. More than 2,400 TRICARE Prime beneficiaries are participating in two studies, including a randomized controlled trial, to evaluate the efficacy of behavioral lifestyle interventions to help people manage their body weight.

Successful postconflict resolution and development must take into account the role of previously disenfranchised or otherwise neglected groups in society. In many societies, focusing on the role of women and seeking to promote women’s participation and empowerment are among the most important issues to address. Coalition policy makers in postwar Iraq actively sought to promote women’s issues and expand women’s involvement in social, political, economic, and bureaucratic arenas. The Local Governance Program (LGP) sought to increase women’s involvement in local governance and worked to expand women’s representation in local councils and their ability to organize and advocate for their needs through civil society organizations (CSOs).