Calling it a “Model of Success,” The Philadelphia Inquirer syndicated columnist Trudy Rubin on May 2, 2010, profiled the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded project in Afghanistan, Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East and West (IDEA-NEW).

Rubin has written extensively from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other conflict areas, and she lauded IDEA-NEW, which is led by DAI, as “a new model for aid operations,” specifically citing the project’s high level of local Afghan participation in its programming.

“I was looking for U.S. civilian-aid programs in Afghanistan that actually work, and offer Afghans the help they need to improve their lives,” Rubin wrote from Jalalabad, Afghanistan. “On this trip, I found such a program.”