To date, training workshops have been conducted for madrasa leaders from each of the five religious sects that sponsor these religious schools (Deobandi; Ahle-Hadith, often known as Wahhabi in the West; Shiia; Barelvi; and Jamat-i-Islami). In addition, workshops are being conducted on separate tracks for administrators and senior faculty from Deobandi madrasas in Balochistan (the “hot zone” near the Afghan and Iranian borders) and Ahle-Hadith madrasas throughout the country, at the various request of madrasa leaders.

In 2007, ICRD hosted the Pakistani government’s Secretary for Religious Affairs and the members of Pakistan’s top Madrasa Oversight Board (consisting of top religious leaders from each of the five sects who control most of the madrasas within their sects) on a visit to Washington to learn about Islamic education in America and to interact with the Congress, the State Department, various think tanks, American Muslim organizations, and selected educational and religious leaders.  This trip contributed to the Oversight Board’s subsequent decision to register their madrasas with the Government of Pakistan.  In so doing, they have agreed to (1) teach contemporary subjects (in addition to their religious curriculums), (2) refrain from teaching anything to do with extremism, and (3) accept government standards in the redesign of their curriculums.  In return, the government is supposed to supply the resources needed for modernizing the madrasas and for incorporating contemporary subjects.  Thus far, the government has not met this commitment.  

As a result of its progress with the male madrasas in Pakistan, ICRD has received numerous requests from both male and female madrasas to conduct training for the female teachers of girls' madrasas, something to which the men had previously been strongly opposed.  Because the women in the rural areas where ICRD has conducted most of its madrasa workshops are often more scrupulous than the men in their adherence to Islamic precepts, and because they enjoy a near monopoly on the formative years of their children (before they reach the madrasas), they represent a powerful grassroots influence in Pakistani society. 

In 2008, ICRD conducted a joint workshop for Deobandi and Ahle-Hadith (Wahhabi) "master trainers" (i.e. those ICRD workshop graduates who have been trained to train other madrasa leaders).  Because these are two of the more conservative sects that sponsor madrasas, this represented a significant milestone in promoting sectarian cooperation and synergy of effort.
  

The Center has now begun conducting “Training of Trainer” workshops to produce madrasa leaders who can train other madrasa leaders on their own. It is planned that these trainers will conduct at least one training workshop a quarter, involving personnel from at least 5-10 new madrasas in each workshop.

About 1300 madrasas have been involved in ICRD’s educational efforts to date. The Center’s proposed model will prospectively expose 1000-3000 new teachers to these ideas over the course of a single year.