The International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD) was founded and incorporated in 1983 as an international non-profit organization to help people achieve their true potential through economic, social, and cultural self-development.

The IPHD was created in order to respond to the unmet needs of the poor and the efforts of those who aspire to remove the causes of poverty through grassroots or popular efforts in development. The approach is based upon the concept of integral human development that goes beyond the donor-recipient relationship and instead, emphasizes partnership and solidarity. IPHD highly values this concept and believes that poverty and hunger, as well as all forms of underdevelopment and social-economic injustice, can be eliminated by partnership efforts and solidarity. The end result will not only be people working together to build a better world, but also contribute to a greater understanding between peoples, which is seen as a step towards full human development and world peace. The IPHD views poverty in a global context, with each person and each community becoming the architect of their own development in cooperation with people throughout the world.