The fall issue of DAI’s newsletter, Developments, is now available.

The issue features three articles on workforce development—the process of upgrading labor capacity and productivity. Samira Salem approaches the subject through DAI’s work enhancing labor standards, focusing on the Continuous Improvement in the Central American Workplace project. Sipho Dayel of ECIAfrica reports on the lessons learned in KwaZulu-Natal’s African Renaissance Roads Upgrade Programme, an initiative that simultaneously develops the capacities of poor rural communities and fledgling contractor firms while building the infrastructure necessary to economic prosperity. And J. W. Wright Jr. and Ambassador Lange Schermerhorn argue for workforce development as a critical part of sustainable development in Djibouti.

The issue’s cover article, by Andres Potes, addresses biofuels from the development practitioner’s perspective and reviews how DAI projects and proposals are exploring ways to realize the socio-environmental potential of biofuels without casting them as an unalloyed good. Authored by Jose Ibarra A. Angeles, a second environmental piece relates how the Philippines Environmental Governance II project is engaging the local Muslim population by showing how the principles of environmental stewardship are endorsed in the texts and teachings of Islam.

In other articles, Steven Seigel and Jonathan Hill of DAI’s Crisis Mitigation & Democratic Governance Group discuss the promise and possible pitfalls of the new U.S. Foreign Assistance Framework and its associated reporting requirements, grounding their analysis in a consideration of the Liberia Community Infrastructure Project. Jerry Martin, DAI’s Avian Influenza Practice Manager, ponders the increasingly blurry distinctions between animal and human health disciplines in his article, “Emerging Threats to Human Health.” And in a dual interview, two DAI Chiefs of Party—Heidi Silvey and Ellie Valentine—reflect on the experience of leading high-profile projects in the most challenging environments: the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Program in Ellie’s case, the Afghanistan Local Governance and Community Development project in Heidi’s.

Finally, in his regular column, CEO Tony Barclay sees reasons to be optimistic that global issues in general and international development in particular will play a greater-than-usual role in the upcoming presidential campaign.

To view Developments online, click here. For a print copy or to be added to our mailing list, contact Sherry Harms.