40 years of DAI

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highly successful. Said Abu Hijleh, who had been mentored by Winkler and the others, took over Chief of Party responsibility in 2001, and proved adept both at client relationships and as a mentor himself to the young, energetic Palestinian staff. Continuity, commitment, and superior performance were the hallmarks of DAI’s presence in Palestine, so the formal registration of a company in Ramallah—where no other U.S. companies had set up shop—was an organic result of 10 years of experience. When Winkler, Abu Hijleh, and Barclay formally opened the office in May 2004, they announced that this was “intended to signal DAI’s commitment to the market.” As the decade went on, Barclay saw that this global push would involve more than establishing offices and subsidiaries, and investing corporate funds to grow the business. He knew it was equally important to widen the company’s Washington-centric perspective and make it more attuned to changes on the development landscape worldwide. This reorientation was the guiding principle behind DAI’s first regional staff conference, held in Belgrade, Serbia, in May 2003. Attended by 135 staff members, more than half of them based in Europe and Asia, the conference began without a traditional agenda formulated in the home office. Instead, in an “open space” forum, participants volunteered to lead sessions. Eventually, 54 discussion groups convened to talk over issues defined in the field rather than by the home office—a big step, Barclay ventured, in his efforts to “shift the center of gravity away from Bethesda.” A similar conference in Johannesburg later that year applied the same process and brought staff together from across Africa as well as from the home office. In an effort to “shift the center of gravity away from Bethesda,” Tony Barclay convened DAI’s first regional conference, in Belgrade, Serbia, in May 2003. 75
Tony Barclay was active in giving a voice to development firms, working with the Center for U.S. Global Engagement and other groups. 76 A Voice for the Industry For its first 20 years, DAI had always coped, more or less on its own, with the ups and downs of American foreign aid funding and policy shifts as administrations came and went. It did not see itself as part of the political process, and thus it invested mainly in relationships with the technical staff in USAID who were its clients, and managers in overseas missions. Other contractors took the same approach. By contrast, the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) had established their own umbrella group, InterAction, which was very active on Capitol Hill, lobbying for NGO interests and influencing decisions about where foreign aid funds were appropriated. In the political context of the 1990s, with USAID subjected to growing criticism and large funding cuts in the offing, it became apparent that remaining a spectator was no longer a viable option. The absence of any organizational base among development firms was a serious disadvantage, because it was difficult for a single company to make its voice heard or reach decision makers on Capitol Hill or in the executive branch. Barclay decided that this constraint had to be removed. Initially, leaders of half a dozen contracting firms gathered for lunch at the Bombay Club, a restaurant near the White House, to compare notes and explore ways to collaborate on issues of common concern. Informal meetings continued after that, participation increased, and while the location of meetings shifted, the restaurant’s name stuck as a label for the group. One member argued that it was time to create a specialized trade association dedicated solely to representing development firms. Barclay worried that this approach could prove costly and time-consuming for DAI and its competitors and might never achieve critical mass. He had an alternative in mind. Among the associations already on the Washington scene was the Professional Services Council (PSC), whose 100 members were mostly Northern Virginia-based technology and defense contractors. Across all government agencies, service contracting was a growth industry, and although the largest firms in the PSC were not active in the development sector, they had consider-
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2 DAI, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA www.
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FOreWOrd There are three reasons we
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chapter One Something to believe In
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Chapter One Something to Believe In
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Development By 1979, the notion tha
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It was Charles Franklin “Charlie
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law in Delaware, where many small c
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ects in Africa. Hatch held a newly
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Most staff members who joined DAI i
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tise, energy, and especially money.
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Barclay encountered Charlie Sweet,
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after Barclay. In early 1978, he be
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norm after this. The offering docum
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gathered in the well-appointed surr
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Chapter Two Learning by Doing, 1981
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Page 36 and 37: several senior managers, including
Page 38 and 39: Back on the Growth Path Don Mickelw
Page 40 and 41: second was that the firm was ready
Page 42 and 43: spurs and become assets in the firm
Page 44 and 45: A Different Direction By 1981, soon
Page 46 and 47: in rural enterprise development and
Page 48 and 49: cided to begin providing annual cas
Page 50 and 51: DAI began to grow again, he grew re
Page 52 and 53: front, it seemed likely that ICF wo
Page 54 and 55: Chapter Three The Fresh Faces of De
Page 56 and 57: household word. USAID had commissio
Page 58 and 59: epublics. For the work in Poland, D
Page 60 and 61: tion. Calculating the growing impor
Page 62 and 63: to development policy, but no chang
Page 64 and 65: to realizing Mickelwait’s vision
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Page 68 and 69: find alternatives as long as the Go
Page 70 and 71: Transition These successes and fail
Page 72 and 73: Mickelwait knew that Barclay had in
Page 74 and 75: Chapter Four Farther and Faster, 20
Page 76 and 77: Barclay could not have known then t
Page 78 and 79: Tactical deployment of grants was t
Page 80 and 81: DAI on track to cross the $100 mill
Page 82 and 83: ECIAfrica as a reliable service pro
Page 86 and 87: able expertise in federal procureme
Page 88 and 89: When new projects first appeared in
Page 90 and 91: Transformation and Transition The e
Page 92 and 93: to improve as soon as this change o
Page 94 and 95: Chapter Five Pulling Together, 2005
Page 96 and 97: in the ESOP were distributed throug
Page 98 and 99: Ownership, however, could be figura
Page 100 and 101: advantage, USAID would favor a comp
Page 102 and 103: As Jim Boomgard noted, “Developme
Page 104 and 105: governments on all levels to better
Page 106 and 107: In his role as COO, empowered by Ba
Page 108 and 109: the mid- and late 2000s, the compan
Page 110 and 111: the mid-1990s, DAI had begun to ext
Page 112 and 113: immense—and DAI’s projects are
Page 114 and 115: ard Winkler. Few will dispute that
Page 117: DAI Advancing Human Prosperity
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