International Capacity Building

The International Technical and Regulatory Capacity Building (ITRCB) Center plays a significant role in support of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s mission to protect and promote U.S. agricultural health, regulate genetically engineered organisms, administer the Animal Welfare Act, and carry out wildlife damage management activities. In an increasingly globalized economy, the ITRCB Center specializes in program coordination including technical and regulatory capacity building efforts with U.S. and foreign government counterparts. Programs supporting sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues related to safeguarding of U.S. agriculture from foreign plant pests and animal diseases comprise a significant proportion of ITRCB efforts. Capacity building activities supported by the ITRCB Center occur both in the United States and abroad and are a useful tool in fostering safe agricultural trade and maintaining technical and regulatory relationships with other countries and international organizations.

Since its inception in 2007, the International Technical and Regulatory Capacity Building (ITRCB) Center has accomplished several key goals. The Center is now the central receiving point to manage incoming requests from foreign officials and partner U.S. Government agencies for APHIS subject-matter expertise and technical assistance. The ITRCB team coordinates the fulfillment of these requests while maintaining a primary focus on addressing domestic needs to serve and protect American agriculture. Requests for APHIS expertise or technical assistance may include topics such as veterinary epidemiology, regulatory processes and policy, wildlife control and surveillance, pest risk assessment, biotechnology, laboratory diagnostics, transboundary animal diseases, and other aspects of animal and plant health.

The ITRCB team also institutionalized six core animal and plant health training courses, which are held annually in the U.S. for international technical and regulatory counterparts. Course topics include Risk Analysis in Animal and Plant Health, Veterinary Epidemiology, Laboratory Diagnostic Networks, and Transboundary Animal Diseases. Condensed versions of the international animal and plant health courses are also held internationally, when funding and human resources permit, at the request of partner governments and U.S. Government agencies.

• History of APHIS Capacity Building

External Links:

ITRCB press releases and blog posts, related websites, FAO, OIE, OCBD
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/2012/07/enhance_safeguarding.shtmlhttp://www.fao.org/index_en.htm
http://www.oie.int/
https://www.fas.usda.gov/OCBD.asp

In June 2012 plant health officials from Haiti, South Africa, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Mexico participated in a Plant Health Systems Analysis course - one of the seven courses offered by APHIS International Services in 2012. (watch the video)

• ITRCB Organization Chart