DAI Projects

Afghanistan - Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW)

Afghan farmers cultivate opium poppy because they need to feed their families. For many poor rural Afghans, poppy is the only reliable source of cash, credit, and access to cropland to supplement subsistence farming. Sometimes, coercion is also a factor. IDEA-NEW is designed to dissuade Afghans from growing poppy by increasing access to licit, commercially viable, alternative sources of income.

In alliance with Mercy Corps and ACDI/VOCA, DAI adopts a technical approach that DAI used with tangible success in USAID/Afghanistan’s Alternative Development Program–Eastern Region. This approach defines program interventions with reference to customers, uses value chain techniques to reveal customer needs, and then provides tailored, customer-specific incentives to help meet those needs.

The IDEA-NEW project covers the northern half of the country. Its primary customers are the communities where poppy is (or is likely to be) cultivated. Infrastructure is our point of entry to a community because the immediate needs of farmers and villagers typically consist of building or repairing basic infrastructure—including roads from farm to market, irrigation, electricity, and cold storage. We offer technical expertise and cash-for-labor.

DAI’s value chain analysis reveals opportunities and high-priority needs, prioritizes subsectors, targets markets, reveals comparative advantages and weak links, and indicates how best to improve value chain functioning and increase community participation in viable value chains. Our diverse program interventions—including efforts to expand private sector activity—then address identified needs by exploiting the opportunities in collaboration with community leaders, government ministries and agencies, and the private sector.

Programmatic and geographic flexibility is integral to our approach: we work where, when, and with whatever means we can to have the greatest impact on poppy cultivation. This means working in provinces not only where poppy is currently grown, but also where poppy growing has declined or ceased, to prevent backsliding. Gender-responsive programming, communications, and monitoring are part of all program activities. Our approach also relies on the decision making and leadership of our Afghan personnel, and on community buy-in and ownership, and pays special attention to food security needs.

www.ideanew.af

Morocco Economic Competitiveness Project (MEC)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
December 2009September 2013

Reducing poverty, creating jobs, and upgrading the workforce while incorporating social concerns

MEC’s strategic vision is that broad-based economic growth is the strongest lever to reduce poverty and ensure that youth have the opportunity to become productive and engaged members of society. Because unemployment is the main determinant of poverty, job creation is a top priority for the Government of Morocco. We approach the project using a 21^st century definition of competitiveness, incorporating economic, environmental, and social concerns. Given the economic and environmental dimensions, DAI is striving to make MEC’s implementation to be entirely carbon neutral.

Capitalizing on broad national commitment to market openness, business-friendly regulation, and private sector involvement, MEC will tackle three cross-cutting themes:

Accelerating policy reform;

Improving the implementation capacity of Government of Morocco entities; and

Increasing private sector engagement.

The four-year program with a fifth option year has three technical components:

Improving Trade and Investment. Despite recent reforms and legislation, businesses in Morocco still face delays, high transaction costs, and difficulty attracting foreign investment. MEC will build on the successes of recent USAID and Government of Morocco efforts to consolidate reforms, standardize practices across regions, and automate approval processes and interagency information exchange. In high-priority value chains, MEC will leverage venture capital services that bring together investors and high-potential firms to develop opportunities, promote successful export models, and spread business ideas among entrepreneurs.

Using Water Sustainably for Agricultural Growth. Moroccan water resources, already scarce, are declining owing to inefficiencies, waste, and changes in environmental conditions. MEC will enable Moroccan policy makers and farmers to benefit from regional knowledge and experiences. An ambitious plan to modernize Moroccan agriculture is under way – the Plan Maroc Vert. MEC will work with public and private stakeholders to demonstrate the benefits of an integrated approach to agricultural value chain development that includes water optimization, export promotion, and workforce development.

Strengthening Workforce Development. Morocco is struggling with jobless growth and persistent youth unemployment. Foreign investors find the labor code to be rigid. MEC will help move the Dialogue Social toward consensus, promoting measures that balance employee and employer needs. Simple improvements to the administrative system can make hiring easier, providing incentives to formalize domestic workers and others currently counted as unemployed. The Ministry of Employment has committed to expand training services of both public and private providers. MEC will support ANAPEC, and private training institutes to upgrade and expand its training offerings. Working with selected agricultural and export-oriented value chains, MEC will connect master trainers to worldwide experts and trainers, building a sustainable system that will provide access to new training and adult education resources.

Cutting across the three main components are gender and youth considerations aimed at mainstreaming Moroccan citizens now somewhat marginalized, despite Morocco’s economic growth.

Rwanda - Strengthening Sustainable Ecotourism In and Around Nyungwe National Park (SSENNP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
March 2010-March 2015

Helping local stakeholders realize tangible livelihood benefits while protecting their rainforest

Rwanda is an emerging tourist destination. SSENNP is helping the country reach its tourism potential by targeting the spectacular Nyungwe National Park (NNP), focusing on inclusive ecotourism development for the benefit of communities surrounding the park, and leveraging private sector investment in the management, construction, and maintenance of new and existing park infrastructure.

Dubbed Nyungwe Nziza, or “beautiful Nyungwe,” the project is helping to transform NNP into a viable ecotourism destination capable of generating employment and sustainable and equitable income for local communities and other stakeholders, thus providing economic incentives to conserve the park’s rich biodiversity. The goal is a thriving economy in NNP with engaged communities and a private sector that benefit economically by protecting and leveraging their unique environment.

In addition to establishing Nyungwe as the number one birding destination in the Rift Valley, Nyungwe Nziza works to decrease threats to biodiversity, such as fire, poaching, and mining. The project aims to increase park visits and revenue, promote NNP as a brand that goes beyond tourism, and develop a core group of trained professionals to support healthcare in a region vulnerable to HIV and other public health threats.

DAI’s team is designing and implementing market-driven product development and marketing strategies to deliver more private sector investment in infrastructure and services. The project will cultivate partnerships and joint ventures between local communities and the private sector to increase the availability of visitor accommodations and develop new attractions. At the same time, it will train local communities to integrate into existing and new value chains around niche products such as bird-watching, chimpanzee tracking, and cultural activities.

In the end, the investment to increase NNP’s attractiveness as a tourist destination will:

Diversify the local economy, create jobs, and increase family income, resulting in reduced poverty and reduced threats;

Forge scalable and creative public-private partnerships to increase investment in and around the park, resulting in a sustainable, market-driven ecotourism business plan for NNP;

Bolster the ecotourism enabling environment, resulting in sustainable ecotourism development at Nyungwe and beyond; and

Improve the health and lives of people living in and around NNP.

Haiti Recovery InitiativeAnn Leve Kanpe (HRI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
January 2010-July 2011

Strengthening local and national capacity to promote stability in the aftermath of a natural disaster

The January 12, 2010, earthquake shattered Haiti’s teeming capital of Port-au-Prince, killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of people, rendering homeless thousands more, and leaving the city in ruins with miles of buildings and homes collapsed and infrastructure broken.

With help from abroad, the Haitian government was able to recover and bury bodies, clear main roads, and restore water and electricity. But immense devastation and homelessness remained, overwhelming people’s ability to simply stand back up (Ann Leve Kanpe means “let’s stand up” in Haitian Creole). Much of Port-au-Prince’s secondary roads, alleys, sidewalks, and drainage canals remained blocked by rubble. With the March-through-November rainy season approaching, this raised the specter of flooding and a potential public health crisis.

Under the direction of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Transition Initiatives, DAI staff flew to Port-au-Prince within a week of the earthquake and began helping with the recovery. The immediate goal: support the Government of Haiti and the mayors and civic leaders of Port-au-Prince’s eight urban communes in organizing and implementing cleanup, which included helping national leaders establish communications and assemble cash-for-work cleanup teams. These efforts would be led by local leaders who recruited personnel and planned and prioritized local efforts.

By providing emergency infrastructure and technical assistance, HRI is increasing the capacity, effectiveness, and visibility of the Government of Haiti as it carries out mandates under the State of Emergency. In doing so, HRI facilitates short-term economic and sociopolitical recovery through large-scale temporary job creation, building the confidence of Port-au-Prince’s residents and civil society.

Importantly, by improving local government service delivery, these grant-funded initiatives increase the credibility of the Government of Haiti in conflict-vulnerable communities, thus promoting stability. HRI’s participatory, demand-driven approach requires that DAI work closely with municipal officials and local leaders in each step of this process.

HRI is also acquiring or rehabilitating temporary facilities to restore core Government of Haiti ministry functions, and building government capacity to communicate key information to the public.

The partnerships borne of HRI are built on USAID/Haiti’s existing programs and relations with GoH partners, maximizing collaboration with international actors such as the World Bank and United Nations, and U.S. government partners.

Jordan - Fiscal Reform II Project (FRP II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
November 2009 October 2014

Fostering innovative, results-oriented government in Jordan

The Kingdom of Jordan has embarked on an ambitious National Agenda to accelerate growth, promote greater social inclusion, and stimulate the country’s social, political, and economic development.

Under FRP II, DAI is helping the Government of Jordan realize these goals by strengthening fiscal infrastructure, improving efficiency and effectiveness, and reshaping the public sector’s role in delivering services. The team is working with the government’s key economic institutions to bolster tax collections; budget for results, and execute with discipline; ease the flow of goods across borders; and, cultivate a demand for policy analysis that improves the impact of public investments and optimizes service delivery—all while recasting the government’s image and how it interacts with the public.

Specifically, FRP II is:

Helping the General Budget Department roll out results-oriented budgeting across government;

Overseeing completion of a government-wide financial management information system;

Working with the Income and Sales Tax Department to improve revenue mobilization, while reducing compliance costs for taxpayers;

Piloting a modern property tax in Amman to provide more resources for decentralized service delivery;

Helping Customs modernize, meet its international commitments, and streamline its interaction with traders to facilitate cross-border trade;

Deepening economic analysis and planning in the Ministries of Finance and Planning and other key agencies to improve tax policy, expenditure policy, and the design and selection of public sector projects and programs; and

Supporting a government-wide effort to change public sector incentives, spur innovation, modernize the state, and foster results-oriented government.

Collectively, these improvements will enhance government effectiveness, improve the business environment and, ultimately, create the conditions necessary to attract new investments, create jobs, spur economic growth, and improve Jordanians’ standard of living.

Pakistan Federally Administered Tribal Areas Capacity Building Program (FATA CBP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
January 2008December 2010

Improving government service delivery and social and economic development in the tribal areas

In Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), socioeconomic development has been inhibited by a lack of development funds. In addition, worsening insecurity in the region is contributing to the gap in development between FATA and the rest of Pakistan. A large infusion of funds expected over the next several years will be critical to create economic opportunities, raise living standards, and bring the seven FATA Agencies and the six Frontier Regions into mainstream Pakistani society.

The goal of FATA CBP is to help the Government of Pakistan’s FATA governing institutions — the FATA Secretariat and the FATA Development Authority— leverage these funds to improve service delivery and increase the legitimacy of the government in the strategically important tribal areas.

To improve the quality of service delivery, FATA CBP is addressing existing constraints to providing responsible, effective, transparent, and flexible development activities. This effort includes building the capacity of the FATA institutions and addressing the concerns of a wide range of stakeholders in FATA. CBP is identifying and developing the capacity of local civil society partners, and increasing the stake of FATA citizens in their government. CBP is also helping the Government of Pakistan to better communicate with the people of FATA and change perceptions through positive and relevant radio programming and insightful documentaries. The program will also develop long-term strategies for public administration reform in FATA. Achieving these goals in a restrictive security environment is a constant challenge and demands flexibility. To meet these goals, FATA CBP:

Supports the FATA institutions and improves service delivery through staffing support and intensive training in management, financial planning, and project design and reporting;

Improves efficiency of key government functions with information technology infrastructure, systems, and training;

Improves the ability of the FATA institutions and other donors to plan, implement, and monitor development funds, and provides technical support and on-the-job training to improve effectiveness and productivity in managing resources;

Identifies and supports the development of civil society organizations through grants, internships, and training;

Builds the capacity of the FATA institutions to communicate with the public by supporting a media and strategic communications department within the FATA Secretariat to provide consistent and reliable information and effective media strategies for FATA institutions; and

Improves civilian-military cooperation to focus on stability and reconstruction activities.

Georgia - JSC BasisBank Institution Building Programme

Client: JSC BasisBank/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
March 2009-March 2011

The project is part-funded by the ETC Multi Donor fund.

DAI is supporting Basis Bank in the implementation of a comprehensive institution building programme. The objective of the programme is to strengthen the bank to allow it to compete effectively in Georgia and the region and thereby contribute to increased competition and a more balanced distribution of financial power. The programme spans a large area of the bank's activities, from corporate governance and strategic review to risk management and internal systems, with extensive work being done on the streamlining of corporate and retail lending.

Worldwide - RESPOND

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2009 October 2014

Improving global capacity to respond to emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases

The list of recently emerging zoonotic diseases—diseases that pass from animals to humans, including SARS, West Nile Virus, Ebola, avian influenza, and novel H1N1—reveals the urgency of work at the intersection of human and animal health. RESPOND, a five-year, worldwide program, will improve both government and private sector capacity to respond to these outbreaks.
While RESPOND is based in Washington, D.C., project teams will conduct field work from regional hub offices in “hot spot” areas, including the Congo Basin, Southeast Asia, the Amazon Basin, and the Gangetic Plain.
Integrating animal and human epidemiology and disease surveillance, RESPOND will align public health officials and other government workers with physicians, veterinarians, and other private sector actors. The program will provide long-term field epidemiology training, short-term in-service training, and academic preparation for health professionals. It also seeks to identify and counter disease outbreaks while they are still within animal populations, and strengthen local capacity to respond to outbreaks within human communities.
By project’s end, RESPOND will have created a more sustainable public health infrastructure in 25 high-risk countries by embedding project activities in existing public health systems and academic institutions. The people and institutions that make up these systems will be prepared to respond to epidemic and pandemic events, such as an outbreak of Ebola or H1N1, and respond more effectively to common debilitating and deadly diseases.
DAI’s RESPOND team includes the University of Minnesota, Tufts University, Training Resources Group, Inc., and Ecology and Environment, Inc. Its key objectives:

Forming cadres of public health professionals, including increasing numbers of women, who represent a range of disciplines (such as veterinary medicine, human health, and emergency/epidemic response) and share common training and degrees, public health approaches, vocabulary, and techniques;

Getting wildlife professionals and human health and animal health specialists to embrace the common goal of protecting people from zoonotic diseases, and developing within each RESPOND country a mutual respect across professional disciplines and enhanced joint planning and implementation;

Securing funding from national governments for local, district, and national agencies and ministries involved in the fight against these diseases, thus demonstrating their recognition of zoonotic disease threats and commitment to protecting their people;

Increasing connections, collaboration, and coordinated outbreak response planning among public and private stakeholders at the local, national, regional, and global levels; and

Improving public health as zoonotic diseases are identified more quickly, response actions are mounted faster, outbreaks are limited in extent and severity, and the incidence of human infections is reduced.

East Africa - Roads to a Healthy Future Program (ROADS II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2008September 2013

Building defenses against HIV/AIDS through food security,

This program, a successor to the Regional Outreach for Addressing AIDS through Development Strategies (ROADS) project, is implemented under a Leader with Associates (LWA) cooperative agreement, where Family Health International (FHI) is the holder of the Leader Award and DAI is a subcontractor to FHI.

ROADS II, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, operates in nine East African countries: five PEPFAR focus countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) and four non-focus countries (Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, and Sudan). It has two objectives: to increase access to multisectoral HIV/AIDS, health, and related services for mobile populations and vulnerable communities along major transport corridors; and to increase African regional institutions capacity to assist in scaling up best practices and applying lessons learned in HIV and health.

DAI is contributing in two areas: food security, and the economic strengthening of AIDS-vulnerable communities. We focus on increasing household food production, building savings and access to credit and other financial services, and linking affected households into business activities in mainstream value chains that will enhance the food security of participating communities.

The economic activities of most ROADS II beneficiaries lie in low-yield subsistence agriculture and low-margin petty trade. Most of these households are further disadvantaged by the recent deaths of working members, poor agricultural skills, inadequate access to inputs, the inability to raise the capital required to grow microenterprises, and the dissolution of safety nets that would allow them to recover from accidents or illnesses. They are stuck in a poverty trap, eking out a living by, for example, selling poor-quality sunflower oil or peddling water bottles at truck stops. Adverse living conditions force many of these low-income women and youths to engage in transactional sex, furthering exposing them and their partners to HIV infection.

With FHI, DAI is rolling out a program to empower members of these communities to improve their lives through savings groups, business skills training, and participation in higher-value local and regional industries, with the goal of building their resilience and reducing the risks they face in securing their livelihoods.

DAIs technical and regional experience in this area is informed by our work on the Urban Agriculture Program for HIV-Affected Women in Ethiopia and its successor, the Urban Gardens for HIV-Affected Women and Children project.

Ukraine - EU/EBRD SME Support to Ukrainian Banks, 2nd Tranche - UkrSibbank

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
July 2009 December 2010

Supporting the expansion of lending services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ukraine

UkrSibbank received a 50 million euro credit line from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2008, but has had difficulty disbursing the funds in the wake of the global financial crisis and its impact on the Ukrainian economy. The free-falling Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, and dwindling trust in a government paralyzed by infighting led to a frenzied rush in autumn 2008 to withdraw deposits. In December, the central bank banned withdrawals of term deposits, the most popular way of saving in the country.

Amid the resulting liquidity crisis, banks have stopped performing their contractual obligations; there are reports of angry customers waiting in front of banks that are unable to pay out deposits or forced to restrict withdrawals. Since the beginning of 2009, nine banks have been placed in receivership, and many of those with foreign ownership have received aid from their parent institutions. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that banks have restricted lending criteria so sharply that lending operations are effectively frozen.

UkrSibbank, majority-owned by BNP Paribas and boasting a dense branch network covering all regions of the country, sought out technical assistance after hearing of DAI's recent successful work at Raiffeisen Aval, also in Ukraine. DAI is implementing an SME lending scheme at UkrSibbank, with the focus on building the bank's capacity through training in credit analysis and portfolio management. Other areas in which DAI may provide assistance are:

Portfolio monitoring and risk management;

Streamlining SME lending processes;

Credit scoring and application processing;

Compliance and reporting; and

Marketing and product development.

Worldwide - Engaging Private Investment Partners for PEPFAR

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
April 2009 - April 2010

Leveraging PEPFAR programming through analysis, social venture network creation, and partnerships

Implemented by DAI and San Francisco, California-based Origo, this groundbreaking public-private partnership will ally venture capital with public funds to mitigate the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Working under the U.S. Agency for International Developments Global Development Alliance Strategic Services Program (GDA SSP), the DAI/Origo team is:

Analyzing the budget and program funds of the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as well as those of potential partners;

Developing a strategy for engaging venture capitalists, foundations, and nontraditional investors;

Developing a Private Sector Advisory Network to consult with PEPFAR; and

Planning public-private partnerships.

Initially, the project is identifying opportunities to engage venture capital in Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.

Preventing HIV depends on a complex of factors rooted in the personal security of individuals and communities, and central to security is economic stability. To promote economic stability, the project will work to engage external capital players and investors in joint ventures with PEPFAR, USAID, and other public sector partners.

Scores of private investorsincluding banks, investment funds, venture capital and private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, foundations, and private philanthropists (at local, regional, and international levels) are dedicated to helping people and countries plagued by HIV/AIDS. PEPFARs programs, partners, and funds can serve as useful enablers to these investors. DAI and business design firm Origo are finding and filling the gaps between PEPFARs focus areas and those of investors.

This work is closely aligned with the GDA, which is developing complementary "pipelines" that match philanthropic, venture, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation capital to USAID-supported enterprises.

GDA SSP PEPFAR also complements DAI's work with the Hewlett Foundation to develop investment and partnership opportunities via an Africa Development Corridors Platform, which uses geospatial analysis to visualize and identify investment opportunities along infrastructure corridors that include the PEPFAR target countries. Visual mapping will inform decisions regarding corridor investments that leverage diverse resources.

Democratic Republic of Congo - Security Sector Accountability and Police Reform Programme (SSAPR): Design Phase

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
April 2009July 2009

Designing an agenda to improve the governance of the security and justice sector, and enhance safety for citizens

Reducing the impact of violence, conflict, and criminality is essential to reducing poverty and establishing legitimate democratic systems that respond to the needs of all citizens. Under the design phase of SSAPR, DAI and the African Security Sector Network (ASSN) are designing a plan of action for the United Kingdoms Department for International Development (DFID) that will help to build a capable and accountable state in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The accountability of the security and justice sectors to the population, government, and elected representatives is an indispensable part of providing security, safety, and justice for all citizens.

The design phase of SSAPR will produce plans to:

Strengthen parliamentary oversight of the security and justice sector, at both national and provincial levels;

Strengthen the participation of civil society in Security Sector Reform (SSR) , to monitor progress of SSR and enter into partnerships with the state to implement reforms;

Cultivate Congolese research and knowledge on SSR issues, and share this knowledge with other African researchers;

Disseminate information about reforms in the security and justice sectors to ordinary citizens of the DRC, using innovative and appropriate communications strategies.

The overall aim of SSAPRscheduled to be implemented as a five-year DFID project once the design phase is completedis to foster accountability in the security and justice sectors, promoting processes through which information on security sector issues is widely shared, parliaments capacity to carry out its oversight functions is strengthened, governments capacity to interact with parliament and citizens is enhanced, and Congolese capacity to give voice to citizens concerns is deepened.

West Bank and Gaza - Gaza Private Sector Revitalization Initiative (GPSR)

Client: Palestinian National Authority
February 2009 August 2009

Assessing and Validating Damage to Private Businesses in Gaza from Israeli Bombardment

Under contract to the Palestinian National Authority, DAI will assess the damage caused to private businesses in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli incursion of December 2008.

Creating and staffing a Project Management Unit that uses transparent and efficient processes in line with international best practice, DAI will evaluate the damage to production machinery, office furniture and equipment, and factories and other business premises in Gaza.

Since 1987, DAI has undertaken more than 20 short- and long-term projects in Palestine, including the current Palestinian Facility for New Market Development.

Democratic Republic of Congo - Assessment of Biodiversity and Tropical Forestry Conservation Needs

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
April 2009 - April 2010

Identifying assets to spur livelihood development, reduce environmental degradation, and conserve critical habitat and other biodiversity resources

Natural resources, development, security, and good governance are inextricably linked in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). For many years, and particularly since the early 1990s, the DRC has undergone massive political strife, armed conflict, and population displacements, with severe humanitarian consequences. While hostilities have revolved around political and ethnic struggles, natural resources have inspired, fueled, and sustained the power clashes, particularly in the east of the country.

The DRCs new government faces the challenge of ending continued violence in the east, rebuilding the country after years of neglect and violence, and meeting the basic needs of citizens.

Although the DRCs forests and biodiversity have the potential to contribute to national, local, and global welfare, this potential is hampered by threats including the incursion of subsistence agriculture into forest lands and protected areas; unsustainable and illegal logging practices; the expansion of mining into biodiversity reserves; commercial trade in bushmeat and protected species; erosion of traditional forest rights, which hurts forest communities and indigenous people; and the continued presence of armed troops in many protected areas.

Against this backdrop, DAI has been asked to conduct an assessment that will:

Facilitate USAID Mission planning by framing new program options to address tropical forest and biodiversity issues, and identifying opportunities to integrate these issues into Mission activities;

Inform Mission staff, the DRC government, and others regarding present trends, threats, opportunities, and data on the DRCs tropical forests, biodiversity, and environmental issues;

Facilitate donor collaboration by helping USAID understand its programming vis-à-vis other donors and partners; and

Serve as a vehicle for cooperating with and building the capacity of DRC institutions pertinent to biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation.

DAIs assessment will identify actionable, practical activities to strengthen environmental management and conservation activities across the DRC, while at the same time identifying opportunities to integrate tropical forest work and biodiversity into the Missions rural development programming.

Africa - Trans-Sahara Security Symposium (TSS)

Client: U.S. Department of Defense [subcontract to Lockheed Martin Corporation]
January 2009June 2010

Building the capacity of African military officers and civilian stakeholders to improve civil-military coordination, implementation, pre - and post-conflict stabilization operations, and counter the emergence of extremism

In collaboration with Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans-Sahara, DAI is conducting an innovative Trans-Sahara Security Symposium (TSS) in support of the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership. The year-long training series supports the interagency (Department of Defense, Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development)effort to build civil-military capacity for greater security and cooperation in the region. TSS goals include:

Identifying regional and/or country-specific issues that affect human development in Sahelian Africa and may contribute to the spread of extremism and instability;

Building civil-military capacity in diplomatic, defense, and development strategies that counter instability and extremist ideology while minimizing the recruitment of disaffected individuals; and

Enabling participants, both military and civilian, to employ new strategies in security and stability through enhanced coordination and collaboration with relevant groups.

DAI engages African specialists to lead the training. The instructor pool draws from leading civilian authorities, field-experienced academics, and former military officials. DAI facilitates this training in French and/or English, where appropriate. Country-level workshops and regional trainings are held over a five-day period at various locations in the region. Representatives of local and international organizations, the United Nations, and other donors play a key role.

Training consists of three regional and five country-specific training events, targeting audiences from—and ideally hosted in—Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. Courses will highlight creative ways to enhance civil-military coordination between mid-level West African military officers, selected civilian authorities (such as emergency responders), and other partners in civil society (such as nongovernmental organizations).

The training explores the impact of current human development issues on stability and introduces early warning tools to identify emerging conflict triggers, as well as civil-military strategies and appropriate interventions to build governments’ capacity to prevent and mitigate crisis situations.

Upon completion of the course, military officers and civilian officials can inform and advise their governments on the scope of civil-military operations and the full range of stakeholders involved. Regional trainings bring together military officers from neighboring countries to discuss regional issues and identify new avenues of cooperation across borders. These new relationships readily translate into regional partnerships that will help prevent extremist elements from being able to exploit crises as they occur.

Afghanistan - Incentives Driving Economic Alternatives for the North, East, and West (IDEA-NEW)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
March 2009March 2014

Helping Afghanistans rural communities create resilient, dynamic local economies while eliminating the production of opium poppy

Afghan farmers cultivate opium poppy because they need to feed their families. For many poor rural Afghans, poppy is the only reliable source of cash, credit, and access to cropland to supplement subsistence farming. Sometimes, coercion is also a factor. IDEA-NEW is designed to dissuade Afghans from growing poppy by increasing access to licit, commercially viable, alternative sources of income.

In alliance with Mercy Corps and ACDI/VOCA, DAI adopts a technical approach that DAI used with tangible success in USAID/Afghanistans Alternative Development ProgramEastern Region. This approach defines program interventions with reference to customers, uses value chain techniques to reveal customer needs, and then provides tailored, customer-specific incentives to help meet those needs.

The IDEA-NEW project covers the northern half of the country. Its primary customers are the communities where poppy is (or is likely to be) cultivated. Infrastructure is our point of entry to a community because the immediate needs of farmers and villagers typically consist of building or repairing basic infrastructureincluding roads from farm to market, irrigation, electricity, and cold storage. We offer technical expertise and cash-for-labor.

DAIs value chain analysis reveals opportunities and high-priority needs, prioritizes subsectors, targets markets, reveals comparative advantages and weak links, and indicates how best to improve value chain functioning and increase community participation in viable value chains. Our diverse program interventionsincluding efforts to expand private sector activitythen address identified needs by exploiting the opportunities in collaboration with community leaders, government ministries and agencies, and the private sector.

Programmatic and geographic flexibility is integral to our approach: we work where, when, and with whatever means we can to have the greatest impact on poppy cultivation. This means working in provinces not only where poppy is currently grown, but also where poppy growing has declined or ceased, to prevent back-sliding. Gender-responsive programming, communications, and monitoring are part of all program activities. Our approach also relies on the decision making and leadership of our Afghan personnel, and on community buy-in and ownership, and pays special attention to food security needs.

Worldwide Support for Trade Capacity Building (TCBoost)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [SEGIR-GBTI II IQC]
January 2008-January 2011

Harnessing the power of trade to transform the growth trajectory of developing countries

The DAI/Nathan Group (DNG) is providing expert assistance in assessing and prioritizing trade capacity needs for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington and USAID regional and country missions.

Under TCBoost, lead firm Nathan Associates Inc.with support from DAI and the DNG consortiumdesigns and implements a wide variety of trade-related projects, such as customs reform, export diversification and competitiveness, trade policy reform, trade facilitation, and trade-related labor market adjustment.

TCBoost can customize deliverables for each mission, including:

Analysis and research;

Needs assessments on specific topics, such as customs reform;

Short courses for USAID staff and host country partners on a variety of subjects; and

Best practice guides

DAI is providing TCBoost with training and technical assistance services on specific trade capacity-building topics, including economics, labor environment and gender, trade policy and capacity building, business environment reform, and value chain development.

The DNG consortium for TCBoost includes Associates in International Resources and Development, Development & Training Services (dTS), Sandler Travis Trade Advisory Services, and the QED Group, LLC.

Philippines - Local Implementation of National Competitiveness for Economic Growth (LINC-EG)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2008-September 2012

Helping communities design and implement business reforms tailored to reflect their local and regional needs and strengths

LINC-EG is a four-year project under the Global Business, Trade and Investment II (GBTI II) indefinite quantity contract. Implemented by the DAI/Nathan Group, LINC-EG will promote local and national economic competitiveness to improve prospects for economic growth and fiscal sustainability in the Philippines.

Working with local advocacy groups, the project develops policy reforms that improve Filipino private sector competitiveness, particularly in Mindanao. Although these reforms can target any level of government, the project focuses on local governments, combining our understanding of the agents and institutions involved in reforming the Philippines political economy with a technical approach that builds ownership among local reform advocates. For example, the project includes subnational provincial competitiveness indexing.

LINC-EGs approach will be to select reform-minded localities that can serve as growth models, regional growth poles, and inspirations to other local governments.The project is driven by seven technical assistance packages that strengthen public-private partnerships and facilitate private sector development:

Measuring Factors of Competitiveness: To collect data about regulatory conditions and the production-cost burdens created by transportation constraints in Mindanao, and to recommend reforms.

Supporting the Competitiveness Policy Agenda: To foster streamlined and transparent processes for transferring ownership of leases and land, ease asset ownership rights, and permit securitized borrowing on par with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Streamlining Business Permitting and Licensing: To enhance service delivery and enable a full-service center with one-stop shop capabilities for business start-ups in Davao Citys National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center.

Improving Property Rights and Land Use: To stabilize the property rights of poor farmers, attract or increase investment in rural areas, create on- and off-farm jobs, bring underused land into production, and improve local competitiveness.

Improving Income Tax Collection Efficiency and Reducing Tax Leakages: To enhance tax revenues, especially in the Northern Mindanao region, based in Cagayan de Oro City, the second-largest source of revenues in Mindanao.

Improving Trade Facilitation and Customs Administration: To bring the Philippines in line with best international practices for customs administration thereby facilitating competitiveness by reducing import and export transaction costs.

Expanding Infrastructure:To improve logistics chain performance through diagnostics, stakeholder dialogue, implementation planning, and technical advice.

Cambodia Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise 2 / Business Enabling Environment (MSME 2/BEE)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (SEGIR GBTI II IQC)
October 2008September 2012

Enabling entrepreneurs and provinces to be productive and influential, as well as effective partners with the Royal Government

Cambodia MSME2/BEE is a follow-on to the highly successful Cambodia MSME project, which was implemented by DAI from 2005 to 2008. The predecessor project worked to improve the competitiveness of swine, clay tile, and aquaculture value chains in Cambodias rural areas.

MSME2/BEE will expand the geographic and value-chain reach of original project and additionally focus on improving Cambodias business enabling environment. The projects overall objective is to improve business productivity in selected value chains; increase the voice of business in policy making; and improve the Royal Government of Cambodias ability to respond to the private sector in reforming the business environment.

The project will cover 12 provinces: Battambang, Siem Reap, Prey Veng, Kandal, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kratie, Kampot, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Speu, Takeo, and Svay Rieng. Select value chains may include swine, clay tile, aquaculture, non-timber forest products, water and sanitation services, fruit, vegetables, animal feed, and poultry.

Through the initial Cambodia MSME project, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the DAI team, and people of Cambodia, together achieved several notable successes:

Improved Small Business Production, such as when medical and vaccine suppliers were persuaded to market their products to small farmers -- heretofore ignored as too poor a market which resulted in more sales for the suppliers and healthier herds for the farmers. Overall, the project facilitated 59 training sessions for 1,963 MSMEs.

Promoted Competition, as when rural brick and tile makers were linked with construction firms in Phnom Penh, boosting sales for the rural businesses while teaching them to improve the quality of their product and delivery.

Established Public-Private Dialogue, which in one case prompted the Cambodian government to safeguard small farmers by imposing a moratorium on pig imports until fairer trade regulations could be established.

Built Communication and Trust among business owners and between the public and private sectors.

Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative -- Phase Two (VNCI II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2008-February 2013

Creating an efficient administrative system by simplifying the procedures for businesses and citizens

In the years leading up to Vietnam's 2007 accession to the World Trade Organization, the country's government revised and updated more than 150 laws, regulations, and administrative procedures regulating businesses, international trade, and investmen -- reforms designed to align Vietnam with best business practices in both its local-regional and its national-international business sectors.

This comprehensive process, supported by two USAID-funded projects implemented by DAI --VNCI I and Support for Trade Acceleration (STAR) -- helped Vietnam to develop a more streamlined and equitable business environment, support rapid economic growth, and generate more business, both domestically and abroad. But the country, until recently one of the poorest in the world, now faces new challenges created by its remarkable economic surge.

VNCI II is working with the Vietnamese government to address four issues that hinder the country's business environment: an inefficient administrative system; inadequate infrastructure; the slow, uneven process of decentralization; and a shortfall in effective public consultation.

These are key obstacles to the realization of Vietnam's "Project 30," a three-year initiative to transform the role of government vis-à-vis citizens and business. Project 30 is tasked with simplifying 20,000 to 30,000 administrative procedures to ensure consistency, simplicity, and transparency; to facilitate access to such procedures for individuals, organizations, and businesses; to increase government and business efficiency and socioeconomic development; and to fight corruption.

Consisting of five related components, VNCI II will:

Support legal, regulatory, and administrative reform and policy coordination;

Develop new policy/legal frameworks and financing models for infrastructure development;

Provide education and outreach to key stakeholders regarding alternative mechanisms for infrastructure financing;

Support decentralization to improve economic governance and performance; and

Expand the democratic governance dimensions of VNCI I.

Underpinning the planning and implementation of VNCI II's programs is the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). Applied countrywide, the PCI measures indicators such as property rights certification, waiting periods for business registration, access to business documentation, use of provincial economic courts to resolve business disputes, bias toward state-owned enterprises, time required to comply with regulations, and the frequency and effects of bribery.

The PCI sheds light on the factors underlying the stronger private sector dynamism seen in some provinces relative to their neighbors. In so doing, it identifies economic governance practices that can be addressed at the provincial level and highlights the importance of good economic governance for attracting investment and generating growth.

Kosovo -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs Support

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2008March 2011

Bolstering Kosovos international legitimacy by strengthening the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Until recently, the fledgling nation of Kosovos most pressing concern was not governing as an independent state but finalizing its territorial status. With that issue resolved, Kosovos Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) must nowwithin an extremely brief timeframeestablish itself as an institution, create a presence in foreign countries (that is, establish embassies), and negotiate various international agreements and treaties related to its status as a sovereign country. KMFAS supports that process.

Initially, DAI is helping to conduct a situational analysis that identifies the issues KMFAS must address immediately. Included in this phase of the project is the development of a joint planning mechanism representing the MFA, the U.S. Embassy, and other donors and stakeholders to coordinate project activities with donor-funded assistance to the MFA.

After the design document is complete, DAI will work in collaboration with MFA personnel to address legal and policy issues, along with the procedural and operational aspects of building a new institution. Additionally, legal experts will address treaties and international laws requiring ministry action as well as national policies and laws framing the work of the MFA and diplomatic missions.

Working closely with the MFA and USAID, DAI will seek to:

Establish fully functional embassies and diplomatic privileges and immunity;
Support the operations of the Office of

Bilateral Relations, International Organization, and Security Issues, and the Office of Legal Issues, Treaties, and Human Rights;

Build long-term capacity in the MFA offices; and

Provide legal expertise and support in the event of unforeseeable developments that may affect KMFAS objectives.

This project is implemented under USAIDs Building Recovery and Reform through Democratic Governance (BRDG) indefinite quantity contract (IQC). The BRDG IQCs objectives are to provide technical expertise to promote democratic governance in countries in all stages of political development, and to build governance in fragile states by reinforcing the legitimacy of state structures, policies, and functions; by strengthening public management; and by promoting strategic planning, policy, and institutional reform.

Honduras - Banco Ficohsa Phase I

Client: International Finance Corporation
August 2008-August 2010

Strengthening the capacity of a Honduran bank to expand financing to MSMEs and home buyers

Building on its recent entry and growth in mortgage and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) lending, Banco Ficohsa Honduras largest locally owned commercial bankis assessing its experience and the Honduran market to identify opportunities for profitable growth.

Working with the bank, DAI is studying the segmentation of the enterprise and residential mortgage markets, and assessing Banco Ficohsas capacity to better serve these segments. Our advisors are also designing a plan to improve Banco Ficohsas strategic focus in the highest-potential segments and its product offerings; marketing and sales strategies; policy guides, manuals, and procedures; staffing, organizational structure, and skills; cost management; and support systems.

Once the improvement plan is complete, DAI will prepare and help Banco Ficohsa implement an action plan that encompasses:

Educating the organization on upcoming improvements to policies, plans, and procedures;

Developing more responsive yet standardized products, with training for staff and marketing strategies to reach out to key audiences;

Preparing manuals and processes that incorporate the improved policies and product lines;

Training credit officers, risk analysts, and supervisors in sound MSME and home financing practices;

Providing human resources support to recruit staff who specialize in MSME and home financing;

Creating new lending products for home financing that cover construction, mortgage, and home improvement loans, as well as developing further strategies for penetrating the housing market; and

Implementing best practices in mortgage and home improvement loan origination and administration, supported by IFCs mortgage tool kit.

This project is part of the IFC Latin America and Caribbean MSME Finance Technical Assistance Facility. The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, promotes sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international financial markets and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to business and governments.

To address the financing needs of MSMEs in Latin America and Caribbean, IFC launched in July 2007 a joint investment-advisory services program aimed at enhancing the capacity of financial institutions to provide financial services to such enterprises.

Armenia - Multi Bank Financing Framework Facility -- Credit Advisory Services and Institution Building

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
April 2008-March 2010

Developing Armenias financial sector so it can provide better service and more loans to small and medium-sized enterprise

Despite a well-capitalized financial sector, banks in Armenia are still relatively conservative, their loans typically short-term and for small amounts. Bank involvement in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains shallow and the cost of funds is high, which limits the availability of financing on a large and sustainable scale. Additionally, while financing can be found for projects and for larger corporate entities, it tends not to be available for day-to-day lending needs or mid-sized entities.

Despite this financial context and less-than-promising export opportunities (the landlocked nation suffers from stressed relations with its neighbors), Armenias SMEs have potential for growth in the domestic construction and service sectorsespecially if they can forge ongoing working relationships with financial institutions.

DAI has been contracted to help European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) partner banks in Armenia build loan portfolios with smaller customers, then work with these banks to develop and manage those portfolios. Among the projects goals is to lend to businesses outside the capital, Yerevan. DAI is helping banks by:

Streamlining and standardizing lending methodologies;

Strengthening credit appraisal, risk and portfolio management policies, and internal controls to ensure high portfolio quality (less than 5 percent of portfolio in arrears);

Refining existing SME products and/or introducing competitive and profitable products, as well as corresponding marketing activities;

Training loan officers and other staff on advanced cash flow-based lending and modeling (cash flow forecasting), advanced sales and marketing skills, and compliance issues related to anti-money laundering and EBRD requirements and guidelines; and

Ensuring high standards of integrity in the credit appraisal process.

As part of its effort to expand SME loan portfolios, DAI will deliver documented credit policies and procedures, including an integrated due diligence component, enhanced credit appraisal and risk management policies and procedures, a training program and materials in English and Russian/Armenian, marketing efforts geared toward SME lending, and SME loan products.

Ethiopia -- Urban Gardens for HIV-Affected Women and Children

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2008September 2011

Improving food security and livelihoods for HIV/AIDS families

An underappreciated aspect of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa is the need for affected families to secure the basics of life: food and livelihoods. HIV/AIDS-stricken households are frequently sucked into a vicious cycle in which poverty leads to reduced food security, in turn causing malnutrition and a propensity to engage in risky behavior for survival, which further spreads the disease and deepens poverty.

For example, such households often suffer diminished access to food becausewith family members sick or caring for the sickthere is less household labor to grow crops or earn wages, just as the family faces escalating medical or burial costs.

The Ethiopia Urban Gardens for HIV Affected Women and Children Program, like its predecessor the Urban Agriculture Program for HIV/AIDS-Affected Women (UAPHAW), improves household nutrition and income by distributing gardening inputs and irrigation drip kits, and by providing HIV/AIDS care and nutritional and health education to affected households.

Since 2004, DAI has set up 15,000 household, school, and community nutrition gardens in Addis Ababa. HIV/AIDS-affected people who had never held a trowel are producing kale, spinach, carrots, and other vegetables to eat and sell. Plots previously strewn with garbage and litter have been transformed into urban gardens.

The Ethiopian Minister of Health, Dr. Kebede Worku, called the program, one of the excellent examples of partnership against HIV/AIDS.

The urban gardening project in Addis Ababa is the kind of effort USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore would like to see expanded, wrote USAID in its FrontLines publication in January 2008. This current program represents just that expansion. Four times larger than UAPHAW, it will serve 24,000 new households with drip irrigation kits and technical assistance, reaching 84,000 women and orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the first three years alone. The program will also expand educational modules in nutrition, food preparation, AIDS treatment, OVC care, and garden-to-market linkageswhile adding livestock, poultry, and fruit tree training.

Other aspects of the expanded program:

Children under age 18 will be measured to see if their improved diets lead to healthier bodies and growth;

Communities with especially bountiful gardens will form communal savings and lending programs from the proceeds of their work;

Drip irrigation kits a tank, valve, regulator, and hose will be manufactured locally, reducing the cost and improving the availability of replacement parts; and

Community conversations will enhance linkages with nutrition, education, and other support services.

Democratic Republic of Congo - Building Recovery and Reform through Democratic Governance in the DRC (BRDG-DRC)

Client: Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
April 2008September 2009

Improving citizen understanding, trust, participation, and ownership in government

Following a seven-year civil war, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on a path toward recovery. A constitutional referendum was successfully implemented; free, fair and transparent elections have been held; and those elections have produced a President, a National Assembly, and provincial assemblies. Senators and provincial governments are in place and a decentralization process mandated by the constitution is under way.

Working at national and provincial levels, BRDG-DRC provides long- and short-term consulting and technical assistance, training services, applied research, workshops, conference organization and hosting, logistical support, and commodities to advance the DRCs political transition. BRDG-DRC also awards and administers grants to nongovernmental organization (NGOs) supporting the peace and transition process and promoting democratic governance through institutional development and civic engagement.

BRDG-DRCs seven core areas of intervention political space for reforms, access to information, democracy resource centers, legal reform, decentralization, legislative strengthening, and judicial reform include the following activities:

Helping to draft legislation and amendments and develop an independent magistrature.

Training national parliamentary staff, provincial assembly members, and NGOs in public hearings.

Providing technical, logistical, and material support to the Political, Administrative and Justice Committee of the National Assembly, the Permanent Commission for the Reform of Congolese Law, and the Economic and Financial Committee of the National Assemby.

Funding media efforts to responsibly analyze and publicize the new governments reform agenda.

Facilitating public budget hearings to improve transparency and accountability in national and local governments.

Assisting NGOs and NGO networks with strategic planning.

Supporting democracy resource centers to foster engagement in political discourse, access to information, and debate of new laws and reforms.

Providing technical assistance to Bandundu, Katanga, and North Kivu provinces in community development, local government capacity building, and the engagement of civil society organizations and facilitating decentralization in these provinces.

Supporting the Amani Peace Process in the Eastern DRC through technical assistance to the National Coordinating Unit as well as material and logistical support to the Provincial Development Committees and Kimoka Peace Camp.

Dominican Republic - Proyecto de Justicia de USAID

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [BRDG IQC]
June 2008July 2011

Facilitating reform at all levels of the judicial system

The adoption of a new criminal procedures code (CPC) in the Dominican Republic is bringing about institutional and organizational transformation needed to modernize the countrys judicial sector. Through Proyecto de Justicia de USAID, DAI is helping the Dominican Republics justice institutions implement the new CPC by providing assistance in policy making, administration, and operations management

DAI works with key justice sector institutions (judiciary, prosecutor, public defender, and police) to improve service delivery and upgrade human resource capacity. DAI is supporting the creation of a locally owned strategic plan for the justice sector and will support reform champions at all levels. We are also providing appropriate training and mentoring on the duties and responsibilities of justice sector operators under the CPC, and helping to improve key elements of the justice process.

Simultaneously, DAI is working to ensure that the public has greater access to information about the justice sector. DAI is helping to increase the capacity of civil society organizations to comment on justice sector issues and provide system oversight. Through a grant program, DAI is ensuring that the community-level Casa de Justicia program which seeks to improve access to justice is fully evaluated, and supporting efforts to sustainably institutionalize and expand the program.

Implementation strategies include collaborating with participatory working committees to develop and then advocate for technical and training approaches; using data-based management to ensure that process improvements are measured quantitatively; coordinating with other programs efforts to strengthen civil society participation; and communicating the activities of the USAID project throughout the justice system.

Kenya Transition Initiative Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
May 2008May 2011

Stabilizing Kenyan society by promoting national unity

Adopted in the wake of flawed national elections and resulting interethnic violence in 2007, Kenyas February 2008 peace accord and power-sharing agreement afford Kenyans the political framework around which they can begin to rebuild their country. Seeking an enduring settlement to ethnopolitical frictions, the two principal political parties are challenged with working out the details of how to implment the agreement. The rebuilding process will also include addressing the ethnically-related population displacement that occurred as a result of the conflict.

USAIDs Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) is working to help Kenya restore its position as an anchor of stability in the Greater Horn of Africa region. Through assistance in reducing tensions and by enabling economic, political, and social recovery, the Kenya Transition Initiative Program is helping to renew the nations confidence and capacity in addressing instability, political marginalization, and violence.

The program advances recovery efforts and fosters stability through strategically targeted assistance to Kenyan state and nonstate actors in the promotion of national unity. The program is working toward inclusion of historically marginalized groups while seeking to counter the ethnically based nationalism that looms large in Kenyas political economy and flared up to disastrous effect in the post-election violence.

Working nationwide, the program supports community leaderslocal and nationalwho mitigate conflict, stabilize communities, or build peace. Additionally, the program is facilitating greater transparency in the political process by supporting the Kenyan Parliaments efforts to record and broadcast parliamentary proceedings.

Working in close coordination with the Government of Kenya, the U.S. Embassy, the USAID Mission in Nairobi, other donors, independent media outlets, and civil society, OTIs in-kind small-grants mechanism allows the program to work at the grassroots level. It provides maximum flexibility in seizing opportunities to build the capacity of state and nonstate actors to enable broad-based recovery from election-related violence and address the underlying causes of instability.

The project operates in Nairobi and Eldoret, and will open offices in Kisumu and a fourth location to be determined

Liberia - Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment (ETOA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
May 2008 - September 2009

Leveraging the natural resource base without jeopardizing ecological health

Liberia has the opportunity to transition from the chaos of civil war and economic devastation to sustainable economic development. Empirically sound guidance on how Liberia can leverage its natural resource base without jeopardizing its future ecological health will be critical to the countrys ability to recover and develop. The Environmental Threats and Opportunities Assessment (ETOA) is one tool that enables the U.S. Agency for International Development to guide Liberia down the road to recovery.

DAI is conducting the ETOA within a multilayered, holistic framework that weaves together three crosscutting themes: development of a shared vision, encouragement of collaborative planning, and facilitation of catalyzing actions.

DAI is engaging stakeholders in identifying what natural resource, human capital, and other assets already exist and how these can be used to spur livelihood development, reduce environmental degradation, and conserve critical habitats and other biodiversity resources.
This assets-based approach seeks to break down the barriers and resource constraints that limit stakeholder creativity or imagination when it comes to tackling environmental issues in a holistic manner.

The ETOA is also using an integrated spatial planning methodology to engage policy makers, donors, local authorities, and communities in building consensus on the use of land and natural resources. This methodology harnesses local knowledge for both economic and environmental benefits.

DAI will deliver two national-level stakeholder
workshops and additional training sessions on GIS, data collection, management, and analysis to strengthen the capacity of Liberian institutions and USAID implementing partners to continue critical data collection, mapping, and environmental assessment activities after the ETOA is complete. [PLACE IQC]

India Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Financing and Development Program

Client: German Technical Co-operation (GTZ)
Project Completed (2009)

Improving the competitiveness of SMEs

Indias small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) stand behind the countrys economic growth and employment generation and make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation. The sector however, suffers from limited access to adequate finance and business development services, with the state-run system of business services covering only around 1 percent of all SMEs.

In line with the Indian Governments strategy to strengthen economic growth and employment by developing the SME sector, DAI is facilitating linkages between the SMEs and business development and finance services providers.

Business Development Services. GTZs objective is to develop pilot initiatives that showcase market-oriented, cost-effective business development services for SMEs in the pharmaceutical, automotive component, and garment sectors in the metropolitan areas of New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Indore, and in the small mountainous state of Uttarakhand.

DAI introduced the concept of SME vendor development programs at Tier I automotive sector firms. Such programs are widespread in original equipment manufacturers, but had not been introduced further down the value chain to SMEs.

DAI provides export market facilitation services for SMEs in the Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicinal system) and natural pharmaceutical sectors. DAI is also coaching its local service-delivery technical partner on how to profitably serve the SME market.

Finance Services. GTZs objective is to encourage partner banks to serve this under-banked sector of the Indian economy and assist them to do so more cost-effectively and profitably.

DAI is introducing the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) to Indias largest bank and SME lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), through development of a foundation course in CRM. SBI will offer this CRM course to its own staff and market the course to other banks, including the Small Industries Development Bank of India.

DAI is working with SBI and ICICI Bank (the largest private sector bank in India) to improve their methods of SME credit risk assessment, and thereby streamline their processes for evaluating SME loan applications. This will save the banks money, and will save their SME clients valuable time.

The GTZ SME Program is part of the multidonor SME Financing and Development Program supported by the U.K. Department for International Dvevlopment, KfW, and the World Bank in addition to GTZ.

Haiti - Economic Development for a Sustainable Environment (DEED)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
February 2008 - January 2011

Providing rural communities with the economic incentives and knowledge to improve the management of critical watersheds and natural resources

The Economic Development for a Sustainable Environment (Developpement Economique pour un Environnement Durable, DEED) project uses a market-based approach to integrate improved management of lands and other natural resource assets with expanded enterprise and job opportunities in the production of suitable high-value crops, creating livelihood options for hillside farmers currently trapped in poverty. Linking the management of natural resources to sound conservation while simultaneously offering livelihood options provides the essential stimulus for promoting sustainable watershed management. DAI's DEED team creates this link by weaving livelihood improvements into all aspects of watershed and natural resource management. DEED works in two watersheds in Haiti--one in the north, near Cap Haitien; the other near St. Marc, about two hours north of the capital, Port-au-Prince--to unlock the potential for growth by delivering the technical services, training, and business support needed to build the local skills and capacity to sustain growth. DAI's work provides rural communities with the economic incentives and knowledge to improve the management of critical watersheds and natural resources, emphasizing the introduction of high-value tree crops, the creation of new jobs, and the institutional strengthening of newly decentralized government agencies. DEED is working to:

Raise the household income in the target areas as a result of improvements in agriculture, marketing, and off-farm employment;

Increase the amount of fragile land under environmentally sound management--reducing annual cropping on unsuitable hillsides;

Implement improved and sustainable management for priority conservation areas that improves the biophysical conditions of the ecosystems;

Increase the number of households deriving improved livelihoods from sound management of natural resources; and

Africa - Civil-Military Operations in Support of Counter-Terrorism Project

Client: Special Operations Command Europe (U.S. Department of Defense) [subcontractor to Lockheed Martin]
Projected concluded in December 2008

Training African military officers to improve civil-military coordination, implement effective stabilization operations, and counter the emergence of extremism in national and regional contexts

DAI is conducting civil-military operations training for Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) as part of an effort to advance the development-security nexus in line with the shift in United States national security doctrine. The project is a component of an inter-agency initiative called the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP). The TSCTP mandate is to prevent, deter, or mitigate terrorist influence in at-risk African nations. As a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin Corporation, DAI will conduct courses aimed at improving civil-military coordination between mid-level African military officers and civilian authorities. These trainings introduce human development issues that affect security in West Africa—including extremist ideologies—and develop diplomatic, defense, and development strategies to minimize the recruitment of disaffected individuals and counter these threats. The courses enable participating military officers to inform and advise their organizations on the scope of civil-military operations and the full-range of players involved. The trainings cover issues and programmatic approaches involved in civil-military affairs, various means of improving coordination between military and civilian authorities, the role of the military in providing security and stability in a democracy, and regional security issues. Overseen by DAI’s Crisis Mitigation and Democratic Governance group, the project will consist of eight to twelve trainings in the Trans-Sahel including Senegal, Nigeria, Chad, Mauritania, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The first regional training was held in November 2007 at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana.

West Bank and Gaza - Management of the Palestinian Facility for New Market Development (FNMD)

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
April 2008April 2011

Increasing Palestinians economic stake in the peace process through shared risk

In the West Bank and Gaza, periods of relative political stability have witnessed significant economic growth and employment generation, while times of heightened tensions and violence have resulted in recession and hardship for an increasing number of households. The Palestinian private sector is now poised to assume its role as a driver for economic development, employment, and growth.

The FNMD will provide matching grants to Palestinian businesses to improve their capacity to reach export markets and develop new products. Building on our 15-year presence in the West Bank and Gaza, DAI will manage the Facility. The three-year project will provide Palestinian businesses with the capital required to invest in needed knowledge and skills, channelling funding to businesses in both the West Bank and Gaza. The funding will provide flexible and responsive support despite difficult political conditions.

DAI will create a pipeline of bankable projects by stimulating demand for the fund through stakeholder buy-in, knowledge sharing, and FNMD promotion. As the Facility manager, DAI will serve as an investor and select project plans based on anticipated return on investment, including exports and increases in sales, and analyze the risk attached to the projects to ensure they achieve tangible results.

To ensure the Facilitys long-term success in terms of economic growth and export creation, DAI will provide after-care services to FNMD clients, strengthen their linkages to financial institutions, and capture results. DAI will also ensure that FNMD results support future political dialogue and serve as a resource for policy creation for Her Majestys Government and the international community.

Iraq - Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Revitalizing Iraqs agricultural sector

For 8,000 years, the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has yielded agricultural goods. But after years of war and neglect, Iraqs farming system is in a dire state. To provide work and income to Iraqs rural population, the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Agriculture Reconstruction and Development Program for Iraq (ARDI) worked to revitalize the areas agricultural sector.

With four componentsagricultural production, agribusiness, rural financial services, and soil and water resourcesthis program assisted the rural population in solving the most pressing problems facing the agricultural sector. The programs goal was to restore and improve conditions for productive and profitable agriculture. DAI built on existing physical infrastructure and human and institutional resources to address the underlying causes of weakness in Iraqs agricultural production.

The program conducted assessments of Iraqi agriculture, identifying where and how resources should be used and then awarded competitive grants to private firms and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to implement projects that increased production quickly, reduced or eliminated the need for food aid, and improved rural incomes. Cereals, horticulture, livestock, dairy, and poultry production received the most attention.

One of the main products of ARDIs initial period was A Transition Plan for the Agriculture Sector in Iraq (Volume I and II). The U.S. Ambassador requested that ARDI and the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) together develop recommendations and guiding principles to inform those working in the agricultural sector of specific development and reconstruction needs. A large ARDI team worked with MOA staff, Coalition Provisional Authority officials, and private sector business people to produce the three-year plan, which then provided the overall strategy for ARDI interventions. It was also used extensively by other donor agencies and the military to focus investments in agriculture. Among the programs achievements:

ARDI put an estimated $80 million back into the local economy through contracts for equipment, construction, and other services.

ARDI generated jobs for 34,000 people in any given week.

ARDI built the skills of 19 NGOs active in agriculture development, 293 agricultural cooperative members (through 15 newly formed cooperative associations), 4,300 beekeepers and honey producers, 233 independent pesticide dealers (launching a national association), and 526 extension specialists.

ARDIs training effort improved the ability of mechanics and welders in four governorates to provide repair and maintenance services for agricultural machinery. The 216 rural mechanics and welders trained under ARDI will work in approximately 210 workshops, each of which represents a new small business opportunity in a rural village. Each workshop should be able to offer improved services to a minimum of 100 clients, for a total beneficiary population of 21,600 tractor owners.

ARDI rehabilitated 68 veterinary clinics in 17 governorates, serving 135,068 livestock breeders owning 5.7 million animals. Thanks to these efforts, 967 veterinarians were able to return to work in fully functioning clinics. The rehabilitation projects also provided temporary employment for 4,905 workers.

Afghanistan - Microfinance Investment and Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA)

Client: World Bank
Project Completed (2005)

Building the capacity of domestic financial services to boost economic development

A significant impediment to economic opportunity for many Afghan citizens is the absence of any source of credit or access to financial services. To overcome this development obstacle, DAIs team of specialists worked with Afghanistans Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development to design, establish, and operate the Microfinance Investment and Support Facility.

This apex facility serves as a national, multidonor mechanism that provides qualified local microfinance institutions with grants and loans for lending capital and building institutional capacity. The long-term vision is to create a sustainable financial intermediary capable of mobilizing diverse resources to fund retail microfinance institutions with traditional and innovative financing instruments.

Specifically, DAI hired and trained management and administrative staff; implemented an on-the-job mentoring program; developed an operations manual; established procedures and criteria for monitoring and evaluating participating microfinance institutions; set up accounting, financial management, disbursement, administrative, and procurement systems; and developed a management information system for grants administration, financial management, and project evaluation of microfinance institutions.

Prior to the establishment of MISFA, the nascent microfinance sector had only 17,000 borrowers and total available loan capital of approximately $1.5 million. By the end of the projects 18-month pilot phase, a committed and talented group of national staff, working alongside expatriate counterparts, had helped to build a strong microfinance industry that was rapidly expanding breadth and depth of outreach.

From an initial World Bank capitalization of $5 million, MISFA built a multidonor capital fund of $33 million, with $23 million disbursed in grants and loans to 12 microfinance institutions. These microfinance institutions held an outstanding loan portfolio of $9.5 million, serving 110,000 clients with a portfolio at risk very close to 1 percent.

Afghanistan Immediate Needs Project - Nangarhar (AINP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2005)

Generating jobs and income for Afghans as an alternative to poppy production

In 2004, USAID launched a national plan to create meaningful alternative livelihoods and assist the Afghan people in developing a licit economy; this immediate needs project (AINP) was its first step.

DAI worked with USAID in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province on income-generating, labor-intensive development projects, engaging local officials and nongovernmental leaders and groups in all project development activities. The goal was to generate 2.375 million days of paid labor and material support and to create meaningful employment and income for 5,000 families in the province. AINP laid the groundwork for a longer-term alternative livelihoods project funded by USAID, also implemented by DAI, called the Alternative Development Program/Eastern Region.

AINP's principal objective was to provide licit employment in Nangarhar province to benefit the population as the opium economy contracted. AINP was a quick-impact, one-year program to set up and implement labor-intensive activities in the short term while paving the way for positive impact over the longer term.

AINP's second objective was to help establish an economic safety net for those households having no adult males to participate in alternative employment activities, lacking the resources to secure a basic livelihood, or considered otherwise vulnerable.

Collaborating closely with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and RRD-Nangarhar, line ministries of the Afghan government on the provincial level, the Governor of Nangarhar, and village councils and authorities, and supporting the larger government of Afghanistan counter-narcotics initiative, AINP implemented community-driven quick-impact activities in all the districts of Nangarhar province to provide employment and household income support.

AINP results included:

2.9 million days of paid labor worth $10 million

More than $2.3 million invested in local communities using locally procured materials

260 subprojects in nearly 600 villages

15 percent of project labor days worked by women

1/3 to 1/2 of labor days worked by returnees

134,000 people employed from 70,000 families

Administrative costs below target

Additionally, AINP left an impressive legacy of small and medium-scale, productivity enhancing infrastructure projects across Nangarhar, including:

1,000 structures built: dikes, flood protection walls, road culverts, wash culverts, irrigation control structures, canal intakes

147.5 km of roads rehabilitated

2,300 km of small and medium-sized canals desilted

314,925 olive trees pruned

Worldwide - Evaluation of the Impact and Effectiveness of Development Alliances

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Evaluating USAIDs public-private partnerships to increase and enhance their use

USAIDs Global Development Alliance (GDA) business model breaks the traditional development assistance mold, and sets forth a new way of doing business. GDAs are cultivated with the philosophy that social and economic conditions in poor and transitional countries are improved in more effective and sustainable ways when public and private sectors work in collaboration. Since its creation in 2001, the GDA has time and again obtained anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of its alliances, however, evaluation methods which were created to measure conventional approaches to development, may not adequately measure the development outcomes of public-private partnerships.

The GDA has contracted with DAI to initiate a formal evaluation of its alliances. The purpose of the evaluation was to help GDA refine its strategy and workplans, develop new tools and training for alliance implementations, and design new mechanisms to help missions build more alliances with improved scale and impact. Findings were shared with USAID practitioners at both the mission and headquarters level as well as to GDA partners, thought leaders, experts, and potential new alliance partners.

The evaluation team pushed GDA beyond the anecdotal to examine the critical factors of alliance effectiveness in advancing development. The team developed an analytic framework to derive typologies for categorizing alliances, developed metrics for determining impact, and identified best practices for facilitating future alliance building. Once the methodology and framework were in place, the team then evaluated a sample selected across the more than 500 GDAs undertaken to date. The objectives include analyzing the impact and effectiveness of projects, decision-making criteria, management procedures, monitoring, feedback mechanisms, and communications and support between the missions and headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Other objectives of the evaluation were to indicate if GDAs met the expected alliance goals or if there were unexpected outcomes, to analyze the sustainability of the outcomes and the value alliance partners attributed to the collaboration, and to outline the motivations of the private sector partners. To most accurately gauge the success of an alliance, the team took into account the perspective of multiple players including the private sector, foundations, international and local nongovernmental organizations, and various civil society actors.

South Africa - South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) HIV/AIDS Strategy

Client: Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)
20072010

Becoming a world leader in promoting more accessible and effective HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and support services for football players, their families, and the world.

As the host for the upcoming 2010 World Cup, all eyes are on South African football locally, regionally, and around the world. The South African Football Players Union (SAFPU) recognizes the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its impact on the football fraternity and the community at large and supports national efforts to reduce the spread of the disease and minimize its impact.

ECIAfrica, a DAI subsidiary, is assisting SAFPU in developing an HIV/AIDS policy for football players. This process was preceded by a situational analysis which confirmed the lack of HIV/AIDS programs aimed at benefiting football players. It also highlighted high-risk sexual behavior among football players, low perceptions of risk, low HIV testing rates, and fears of discrimination. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in South African society in general suggests that a significant percentage of football players are living with HIV/AIDS, or at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

This policy is meant to serve as a management tool for SAFPU, enabling it to address concerns, gaps in knowledge, patterns of behavior, and attitudes that predispose football players to HIV/AIDS. The Union intends to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in the sector, and address issues of stigma and discrimination, voluntary counseling and testing, and access to care and support services. The policy incorporates international best practice and has been formulated in the context of South African law and the International Labor Organization (ILO) code of practice on the management of HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

The SAFPU HIV/AIDS policy will lay the foundation for a larger campaign for change. ECIAfrica is working with SAFPU on developing an HIV/AIDS related theme for the 2010 World Cup and is recruiting and training professional football players to serve as Ambassadors for Change role models in the fight against HIV/AIDS for the global community.

Lesotho - Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight Aids (ALAFA) Project

Client: British Department for International Development (DFID)
Project Completed (2007)

Bringing together government, service providers, industrialists, labor, brands and retailers, funders, donors and multinational organizations in the fight against AIDS in Lesotho

The Lesotho apparel industry is the countrys largest private sector employer with around 46,000 people employed at present. It is estimated that one third, or 15,000, of these workers are HIV positive. Most apparel industry employees are young women, and it is this gender and age group whose risk of HIV infection is greatest. The Association of Lesotho Employers has identified HIV/AIDS as one of the major issues threatening the sector.

The ComMark Trust, funded by the British Department for International Development
(DFID) and managed by ECIAfrica, a DAI subsidiary, was established to make commodity and service markets work for the poor in Southern Africa. One of the markets targeted by ComMark was the textile and apparel industry in the region. In 2005, ComMark received funding from DFID to design a strategy to address HIV and AIDS in the industry, and the Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA) project was born in the course of that process. The research team found not only that an intervention was feasible, but also that it was vital to the sustainability of the apparel industry, to save an estimated 1,850 lives per year in the industry and increase productivity. They also found that the industry was combating two of the key long-term drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, namely poverty and gender inequity. Both the business and human case for a long term intervention were strong.

ALAFA, launched in Maseru in May 2006, is a comprehensive private sector response to the pandemic. The alliance brings together government, service providers, industrialists, labor, brands and retailers, funders, donors and multinational organizations. The initiative aims to provide education and prevention, voluntary testing and counseling, and ultimately management of AIDS through the roll-out of antiretroviral drugs. Some results to date include:

Workers reached with prevention: 24,000

Workers tested: 2,170

Workers on treatment: 283

Workers who have access to treatment: 11,000

Workers registered for treatment: 587

Workers on antiretrovirals: 104

Workers who have access to treatment: 11,000

Workers registered for treatment: 587

Workers reached with prevention: 24,000

Workers tested: 2,170

Workers on treatment: 283

The enthusiasm of the international business and donor community to join the fight against HIV and AIDS in the Lesotho apparel sector has been exceptional. Assuming sufficient funding is raised to roll out the program throughout the sector, it will be one of the biggest private sector interventions in the world. ALAFA has now received further funding from DFID, Gap Inc., and Irish AID. Additionally, Edun, a socially conscious clothing company created by rock icon Bono and his wife, is donating US$10 from the sale of each t-shirt sold from the ONE t-shirt campaign. More than US$250,000 has already been handed over to ALAFA. The ONE t-shirts are being sold in the US through the retail chain Nordstrom who has already made a $100,000 donation to ALAFA.

Ghana Central Management Consultant for the Agriculture Project (CMC)

Client: Ghanaian Millennium Development Authority [MCC Compact]
January 2008April 2010

Enhancing the profitability of commercial agriculture for Ghanas small farmers

Ghana is proud of the progress it has made in creating a stable, democratic society with a market-driven economy. Already a worldwide agricultural force in the cocoa industry, Ghana has seized upon the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact as an excellent opportunity to trigger a private sector led-transformation of Ghanaian agriculture and rural life, building the human, institutional, and physical infrastructure that will attract investment to rapidly increase farmer incomes, generate employment, and markedly reduce rural poverty. The Central Management Consultant for the Agriculture Project (CMC) is part of Ghanas MCC Compact, which has tasked the Ghanaian Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) with overseeing $547 million aimed at reducing poverty through private sector-led agricultural and agribusiness development.

DAI will assist MiDA in assuming overall management of the agriculture project, which consists of three main activities: training farmers and enterprises in commercial agriculture, developing irrigation, and improving post-harvest handling and value chain services. These interventions will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the Ghanaian agricultural sector, capitalizing on the synergies that will come from increasing the skill levels of producers and businesses, promoting investments in appropriate infrastructureincluding cold storage and packing house facilities, as well as improved roadsand facilitating greater access to finance based in part on more secure land tenure rights.

Kenya Access to Rural Finance (KARF) Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2007September 2010

Increasing access to financial services for micro and small enterprises with a special emphasis on rural and agricultural businesses

KARF will leverage the successful work of DAIs Kenya Microfinance Capacity Building Project (KEMCAP) to expand access to financial services in rural areas and for agricultural micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. KEMCAP provided technical assistance and facilitation for the passage of the Microfinance Act 2006, which allows for the licensing and regulation of deposit taking microfinance institutions. This new law creates an opportunity to expand savings services throughout the country, which is of vital importance to poor rural households and can create a large pool of new capital for lending. KEMCAPs support to the Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) has created a dynamic, sustainable organization able to provide member institutions with capacity building, technical assistance, improved industry-wide performance reporting, and other services. AMFI is now poised to take a leadership position in expanding the frontier of access to financial services in Kenya.

DAI will accomplish KARFs objectives by building partnerships with existing market facilitators in important value chains such as horticulture, maize, dairy, and other high-value agricultural products. To support upgrading and competitiveness strategies, KARF will facilitate increased lending within these value chains and through financial institutions. DAIs team also will work through AMFI to build synergies with organizations supporting non-agricultural rural development, particularly community-based financial organizations that can sustainably increase outreach to rural areas. With the Central Bank of Kenya, DAI will address legal and regulatory obstacles to the expansion of rural and agricultural finance. KARF also will work with local service providers, including consulting firms and AMFI, to build industry capacity to serve rural and agricultural clients and advocate for an appropriate enabling environment that will permanently expand access to finance for Kenyas underserved rural and agricultural communities.

Moldova - Business and Tax Administration Reform Project (BIZTAR)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2007September 2010

Improving the business environment by limiting the opportunities for corruption, reducing the red tape involved in starting and operating a business, and improving tax administration

The BIZTAR project will build on DAIs 14-year history in Moldova. It will contribute directly to the Government of Moldovas efforts to encourage productive investment by improving the business environment and lowering the overall cost of state regulation of private enterprise. The project addresses these objectives by focusing on initiatives to streamline business-state interaction through regulatory reform and efficient administrative procedures. The goal for this support is to ensure that reporting requirements for tax and other business purposes are kept to the minimum needed for effective government operations. The BRTA project will also support policies and administrative reforms to ensure that each piece of information that is justifiably needed should be supplied by businesses only once. On the regulatory reform side, the project will seek to improve business licensing procedures, simplify reporting requirements, improve access to government information, and engage the public to monitor reform efforts. The tax administration work will simplify tax reporting requirements, improve taxpayer services, improve the audit program, strengthen the tax appeals process, and help to prevent tax fraud.

BIZTAR is the first project awarded to the DAI/Nathan Group, a joint venture of DAI and Nathan Associates Inc. formed to pursue task orders under the Global Business, Trade and Investment II indefinite quantity contract. DAI will lead the project. [SEGIR GBTI II IQC]

Bangladesh - Promoting Governance, Accountability, Transparency, and Integrity (PROGATI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [BRDG IQC]
September 2007August 2011

Improving government oversight and expanding opportunities for civil society to voice its concerns in the decision-making process

Bangladesh has made recent advances in its economic, social, and political sectors by adopting sound macroeconomic policies and devoting a relatively high proportion of its budget for social services. Also, since the advent of the caretaker government (CG) system in 1990, elected governments are generally seen as legitimate and representative. However, political partisanship, weak governance, persisting gender disparities, and systemic corruption still jeopardize Bangladeshs development. Its politicized institutional systems and unresponsive checks and balances reduce Bangladeshs credibility and legitimacy and open the door for political instability, violence, and extremism.

Through PROGATI, DAI will work to improve these shortcomings by focusing on four key areas: media (creating a center for investigative journalism), civil society (supporting coalitions and watchdog organizations), public institutions (strengthening the comptroller and auditor general functions), and parliament (creating a parliamentary budget analysis unit).

DAI will implement PROGATI in two phases. In Phase 1 leading up to elections, PROGATI will provide training, technical assistance, and grants to strengthen the capabilities of civil society, the media, political party reform platforms, and government officials. We will expand these programs in Phase 2 by adding a focus on newly elected officials. DAI will take full advantage of the political space provided by the CG for the PROGATI networks to promote public demand for a Governance Pact whereby the parties agree to the specific steps they will take to share power and improve governance in the next government. Monitoring implementation of that Pact will be an integral part of Phase 2.

Worldwide - Capitalizing Knowledge, Connecting Communities (CK2C) Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [PLACE IQC]
October 2007September 2012

Expanding the reach and capacities of the natural resources management community worldwide

Through this two-year project, DAI facilitates the exchange of knowledge across natural resource management (NRM) communities worldwide. CK2C supports the three fundamentals of knowledge managementinformation, sharing, and knowledgethrough stocktaking exercises, management of the FRAME website (www.frameweb.org), and training USAID mission and home office staff on the fundamentals of sound NRM.

Stock taking is a method of field assessment that identifies sites in which investments in NRM have had a strong, positive impact. This exercise describes the NRM practices and governance systems in place, identifying the enabling conditions (such as changes in markets, better communication of knowledge, and new infrastructure) that contributed to the local successes in NRM. Stocktaking assessments are typically followed by a workshop to discuss the study findings among key stakeholders at the local and national levels. One of CK2Cs first stocktaking activities will be in climate change adaptation.

The FRAME website (www.frameweb.org) facilitates knowledge sharing through its partner pages, Communities of Practice, NRM library, and FRAMEgram newsletter. FRAME hosts more than 20 partner pages, providing a platform and information technology support for nongovernmental organizations or local and international projects to have a home on the World Wide Web. Some of these partners include the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group, USAID Biodiversity/Forestry Extended Team, and Asociación de Promoción Iniciativas Ecológicas (APIE). FRAME also facilitates dialogue and forums through Communities of Practice, which provide a reliable and collective environment for NRM practitioners at all levels to discuss and exchange ideas and documents. These communities include Transfer of Management for Protected Areas, Environmental Trends Analysis, and Natural Products.

In collaboration with USAID, CK2C will develop NRM core competencies and training for USAID staff. In this component, DAI will work with a wider group of USAID staff to conduct a training needs assessment, develop competencies based on interviews and focus groups, and plan and model USAIDs NRM training strategy, including developing calendars, desiging and implementing the curriculum, and facilitating four training sessions in the next two years.

Serbia - Serbian Agribusiness Project

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [RAISE Plus IQC]
October 2007September 2012

Contributing to rapid, sustained, and broad-based economic growth in Serbia

USAIDs strategy for the next five years is to help Serbia become a prosperous, democratic country moving further toward Euro-Atlantic integration. Given the critical role of agriculture in the Serbian economy, the Serbian Agribusiness Project (SAP) builds on current and past USAID programs to help the Serbian agricultural sector transform into an increasingly efficient and competitive sector that is broad-based and that integrates producers from all regions of the country into the agricultural economy.

A major emphasis in SAP is to build the capacity of service providers supporting Serbias agribusiness sector, incorporating them seamlessly in project activities, providing them with the latest technical skills, and building a market for their services.

To achieve SAPs objective of increased value of Serbian agricultural product sales and increased agricultural employment, the DAI team works at the producer and firm levels to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of Serbian agribusinesses, as well as at the policy level to improve the enabling environment for Serbian agribusinesses.

DAI works to strengthen producer organizations at the technical, management and financial, and marketing levels. In addition, to improve agribusiness development services delivery, the project team works closely with potential service providers to develop and deliver the services, while ensuring that they respond to market demand. DAI is also improving access to and utilization of financial services.

SAP takes a dual approach to increasing access to domestic and international markets. We work directly with businesses, developing their marketing skills and knowledge of export and domestic markets and helping local producers to interact with supermarkets, identify their needs, and conclude contracts to replace imported product. On the international front, we work with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management, the Serbia Investment and Export Promotion Agency, and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce to educate producers on international market offerings.

DAI also works to maximize the effectiveness, size, and reach of public sector support for agricultural marketing programs. Our team is implementing efforts to improve crop and livestock production estimates and market price information systems and to facilitate legal, policy, and regulatory reform.

Burundi Agribusiness Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [RAISE Plus IQC]
October 2007September 2010

Diversifying rural economic opportunities by improving agricultural and natural resource governance, strengthening domestic markets, and expanding regional and international trade

Burundis extreme poverty is largely due to the fact that more than 90 percent of the population on subsistence agricultureand the agriculture sector has one of the lowest productivity rates in the world.

DAI is supporting Burundis efforts to respond to changes in the world agricultural market that occured in the 1990s, when Burundi was mired in crisis, and to revitalize the countrys agricultural sector. The Burundi Agribusiness Program (BAP) will develop agro-enterprises that will raise rural incomes; diversify economic opportunity; strengthen competitive, commodity-based value chains that link producers to domestic, regional, and international markets; and stabilize the country so it does not relapse into chaos and bloodshed.

The DAI team is working to:

Facilitate the states disengagement from the main agribusiness value chains and create a new value chain architecture that draws on the strengths of small farmers and the private sector.

Reacquaint Burundians with an international market that has evolved considerably in the past 13 years.

Defuse the potential for conflict rooted in four decades of cyclical turbulence.

Overcome serious structural and environmental challenges.

Rebuild from the decapitalization that occurred during the civil war, in terms of both rural household assets and value chain infrastructure.

To achieve these goals, DAI is focusing first on the countrys coffee value chain. Given Burundis existing production base and considerable agro-ecological potential, there is considerable potential to provide high-quality product and access fair trade opportunities. We will identify additional value chains that have growth potential and support them in later years. We will train producers and enterprises in collaboration, quality standards, and post-harvest handling procedures. In addition, we will examine financing options, strengthen agricultural associations, and support initiatives that resolve land disputes.

Uzbekistan - AgLinks Uzbekistan

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
August 2007 - July 2011

Enhancing agricultural linkages and productivity

DAI is implementing the AgLinks Project, a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded effort to increase agricultural productivity in Uzbekistan through a mix of technical assistance and training.

Since the early 1990s, USAID has demonstrated the U.S. Government’s commitment to economic development and stability in Central Asia through its portfolio of agriculture-related projects. With AgLinks, USAID aims to consolidate the gains made over this time, build upon the accomplishments and lessons learned, and deepen and accelerate results through adaptation and replication, all with the ultimate goal of increasing productivity, raising incomes, and generating employment.

The project—whose clients include private farmers, agroprocessors, and public sector entities linked to agriculture—will boost market-driven productivity at the farm level and improve market linkages to upgrade agribusiness value chains. AgLinks is developing the capacity of local service providers to help farmers respond to market demand and ameliorate choke points in the market linkages between producers and buyers in the value chain.

The project works in stone fruits, pome fruits, and grapes in the regions of Ferghana, Namangan, and Samarkand. Private farmers are reached through water-users associations and agrifirms, the latter being former Soviet-style cooperatives currently transforming themselves into commercial agribusiness entities. The project provides farmers with technical assistance and training, focusing on increasing agricultural productivity and incomes.

AgLinks also assists agroprocessing companies to identify new domestic, regional, and international markets through cost-share attendance at food and beverage trade shows. Additional assistance is provided to meet the increasingly stringent market requirements and standards (such as ISO and HACCP) of these new markets.

The project will build two cold stores in 2010 to hold fresh fruits and vegetables, with both to be managed by agrifirms. Finally, AgLinks supports quasi-governmental organizations such as the national testing laboratory on food safety issues and the national tree nursery research and extension system on farmer training.

South Africa - Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP)

Client: Business Trust and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism South Africa
July 2000-March 2010

Facilitating the growth and expansion of small, medium-sized, and microenterprises within the tourism economy to create jobs and income-generating opportunities

Under Apartheid, the majority of South Africans were restricted from traveling freely or owning land and making investments in the areas of their choice. This resulted in an undeveloped culture of tourism in the population at large and a lack of appreciation of the economic opportunities presented by it. To this day, the industry remains predominantly white-owned and -controlled, catering largely to white and foreign tourists. At the same time unemployment in South Africa has been rising since the 1970s. By 1998, 3 million people (24 percent of the economically active population) were unemployed, according to the official definition.

Business and government leaders understood that concerted action would be required to face the challenges these two issues posed. A strategy was devised through intensive consultation and the Business Trust settled on tourism as the sector most likely to yield sizeable numbers of job opportunities in the shortest time. TEP was initially launched as a four-year national job creation initiative in July 2000. Following good performance in Phase I, TEP was granted an extension through June 2006 and was recently extended once again to March 2010. This extension will help TEP broaden the range of stakeholders to serve as a trigger and catalyst for small, medium-sized, and microenterprise (SMME) participation in industry growth and job creation in order to help achieve the goals of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa of providing 400,000 new jobs in tourism by 2014. TEP works with the SMMEs by assessing their constraints to growth, recognizing that jobs can only be created by businesses that are growing sustainably. TEP and the SMMEs then jointly identify appropriate ways of addressing these constraints and often make use of specialist service providers in doing so. During the first six years, TEP assisted more than 3,100 SMMEs to grow their revenues by more than R2.1 billion collectively, creating more than 30,500 jobs in the process. The targets set for TEPs Phase III are to facilitate R1.8 billion in transaction and to assist more than 2,000 tourism SMMEs, resulting in a further 28,500 jobs created.

Montenegro - Renewable Energies and Energy Efficiency Facility

Client: Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW)
July 2005-September 2009

Establishing an efficient and ecological energy supply in Montenegro

A high degree of inefficiency and pollution are major challenges facing the Montenegrin energy sector, besides the necessity of general rehabilitation measures. The economic potential for investments in renewable energies and energy efficiency measures in Montenegro is high and - due to a lack of information, awareness and financial means - far from being used to full capacity. Accordingly, a facility will be established to promote renewable energies and energy efficiency related investments (the so-called RE-EE Facility Montenegro). DAI Europe, in partnership with Encon Services, has been contracted by KFW to assist in the implementation of the RE-EE Facility in Montenegro, and facilitate and promote the development of a market for renewable energies and energy efficiency investments. Furthermore, DAI consultants will provide training measures for the personnel of the partner bank(s) regarding the extension of loans for renewable energies and energy efficiency investments. Overall, the programme objective is to assure in a sustainable manner that an efficient and ecological energy supply in Montenegro is provided. This shall contribute to economic and social development as well as to environment protection and sound use of resources in Montenegro.

South Africa - Infrastructure Delivery Improvement Program (IDIP)

Client: National Treasury
July 2006-October 2009

Promoting effective policy, planning, budgeting and management within the public sector

Education and health promotion are two of the most important services a government provides. While the quality of services is a key ingredient, the physical infrastructure, location, and condition of schools, hospitals, and clinics are an often neglected-yet critically important determinant of a countrys ability to equitably care for its people.

South Africa falls short in this area of infrastructure, particularly for those who have been historically marginalised. In some provinces, more than half of the total populations health needs are considered unmet. In the most recent School Register of Needs, 45 percent of schools nationwide lacked electricity and 29 percent lacked potable water. While many schools have no toilet facilities at all, nearly half of the schools that do use insufficient or unsafe sanitation. Migration to better locations can cause classroom and health clinic overcrowding, while poor infrastructure planning can result in building where the population is declining or where there is little demand.

Accordingly, the South African government launched Infrastructure Development Improvement Programmes (IDIP), managed by the National Treasury - in collaboration with the Development Bank of South Africa, National Department of Public Works, and Construction Industry Development Boardto address the problem of underspending on infrastructure and to alleviate the chronic backlog in health service, classrooms, and maintenance.

ECIAfrica and its joint venture partner, the Project Shop, are implementing IDIP over three years. In Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State, ECIAfrica provides three long-term experts, supported by shorter-term specialists in procurement, information technology, demographics analysis, and other fields as needed. Our staff advise and support the provincial Departments of Education, Health, and Public Works to build their capacity, business processes, and systems.

Specifically, under IDIP ECIAfrica is:

Establishing formalised structures to manage and monitor infrastructure delivery;

Establishing an integrated provincial infrastructure planning function for education and health infrastructure;

Instituting adequate monitoring and control processes and systems;

Promoting a cooperative change culture within the relevant provincial government departments to support education and health infrastructure delivery; and

Improving departmental capacity for effective delivery of infrastructure.

Worldwide - Global Development Alliance (GDA) Strategic Support Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
April 2006October 2011

Enhancing the use of public-private partnerships to further USAIDs global development objectives

Since its inception, USAIDs Global Development Alliance (GDA) has been a leader in building innovative and sustainable partnerships to improve the quantity and quality of international development work and offer a dynamic response to complex global challenges, natural disasters, and humanitarian crisis. DAI and its team of experts are helping GDA build on this foundation to expand the use of partnerships and improve their impact on people and communities in developing countries.

The GDA Strategic Support Program IQC seeks to assist the GDA to become the global leader in public-private partnerships for development assistance. The program also supports other USAID/Washington bureaus and offices and USAID missions overseas in understanding and implementing these global alliances. The program will enhance USAIDs engagement with the private sector, foundations, nongovernmental organizations, governments, and other donors on alliances and will help mainstream partnerships at USAID, communicate the benefits of alliances globally, and design model alliances for development and humanitarian purposes.

This task order provides the backbone of core services support to the GDA. DAI has set up and staffed an efficient and seamlessly integrated support office for GDA based partly in the Ronald Reagan Building and partly in the DAI Washington office. Among other activities, the DAI team is working to:

Create demand within USAID and missions through effective marketing of GDA successes, dynamic communication materials, targeted training, organized dialogues with potential partners, and practical tools for effective alliance management;

Help missions integrate partnerships into appropriate programs, providing advice, training, and recruitment of dedicated staff;

Develop effective communication and outreach materials for key internal and external audiences;

Advocate globally for alliances by positioning the GDA as the global thought leader on public-private partnerships; and

Broaden outreach to key potential partners among the private sector, foundations, universities, other governments and donor organizations, and nongovernmental organizations at the international and local levels.

For more information about the GDA's work, go to http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_partnerships/gda/

Additional Resources

Private Capital Fuels International Development.

Central America and the Dominican Republic-CULTIVAR

Client: U.S. Department of Labor [subcontractor to Social Accountability International]
May2007May 2011

Improving compliance with labor standards and enhancing agricultural competitiveness in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic

Consumers increasingly look for a commitment to social and labor standards from both producers and retailers. Thus, exporters from Central America and the Dominican Republic can improve their competitive position by embracing and demonstrating a commitment to such standards.

Supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, CULTIVAR aims to raise labor standard compliance and increase the competitiveness of targeted agricultural sectors in Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. The four-year, multistakeholder project will bring together the main stakeholders in key agricultural sectors to improve working conditions on farmswith an emphasis on health and safetyand increase workers awareness about their rights and increase their capacity to use the appropriate mechanisms to exercise them. As part of the process, the project will also seek to strengthen the social dialogue on the importance of compliance with national and international labor standards for the regions competitiveness.

Project activities will include training for rural employers and workers in three topics: national labor law; how to identify and document labor conditions; and mechanisms for raising issues and presenting claims at the farm level and with appropriate authorities. CULTIVAR will be shaped by local communities seeking advice from national actors on project priorities, but working primarily through community-based, multistakeholder committees to develop and implement trainingpiloting the initiative in one or two agriculture communities in each country.

The project will engage a range of socially responsible brands and retailers as well as international trade unions and nongovernmental organizations in order to build support for the project goals and seek their advice and encouragement of their local counterparts participation. This group will encourage their suppliers compliance with national and international labor standards and benefit from the replicable best practice solutions to improving sourcing practices identified by the project.

Albania - Albanian Agriculture Competitiveness (AAC) Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
July 2007 - July 2012

Promoting the sustained growth of Albania's agricultural sector and increasing rural household incomes

The AAC program will promote the sustained growth of Albania's agricultural sector and increase rural household incomes by building producer capacity for commercial farming, strengthening the sector's capability for market development, and increasing access to, and utilization of, timely and reliable market information. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, AAC will work with producers and other actors along promising value chains to assess constraints to competitiveness, then use long- and short-term technical assistance, training, targeted performance grants, and financing to assist local actors in removing these constraints.

Given the importance of agriculture to the Albanian economy (it provides income for nearly two-thirds of the rural population and accounts for close to a quarter of the country's gross domestic product), AAC has the potential to make a lasting contribution to sustained economic development and improved livelihoods across the country.

Middle East and Africa - Advancing the Blue Revolution Initiative (ABRI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
May 2007April 2010

Transforming the culture and governance of water in the Middle East and Africa

By working closely with missions and governments in the Middle East and Africa, actively pursuing co-investments from the private sector, reaching out to like-minded foundations, and partnering with regional institutions, the Advancing the Blue Revolution Initiative (ABRI) will address some of the most challenging water issues we face: transboundary river basin management, inefficient and nonproductive water use, and lack of access by the poor to improved water and sanitation services.

The Middle East and Africa have some of the worlds greatest river systems while much of its population suffers from limited access to clean water that is far below international standards. Despite having many huge cities like Cairo and Lagos, it is largely rural, often with the majority of the population working in agriculture and related industries. It is an area of great political instability and social turmoil. We ignore them and disregard their very serious challenges at our peril.

ABRI has three primary objectives:

Promote transboundary water cooperation to improve water security. ABRI will support activities that build confidence and foster cooperation among riparian states. It will initially target working with regional organizations and governments to improve cooperation on the management of the Tigris-Euphrates and Nile rivers and will jumpstart jointly designed technical activities.

Improve water resources management. ABRI will support activities to strengthen regional institutions and initiatives to improve water resources management and sector governance. Initial areas identified for possible work include water valuation and groundwater management. ABRI will identify and reach agreement on priority areas through consultations with USAID missions, national governments, regional organizations, and other stakeholders in the Middle East and Africa.

Improve access to clean water and sanitation. ABRI will seek greatest reach and impact by working with regional water utility associations (such as the newly formed Arab Countries Water Utilities Association and similar entities in Africa), selected water utilities, municipal and national governments, and private sector partners to test and share successful approaches for expanding access to clean water and improved sanitation services, improve utility cost recovery and operations, and create successful solutions to expanding services to poor neighborhoods and villages.

China - Technical Assistance to a Chinese City Commercial Bank - Small Business Banking Program

Client: International Finance Corporation PEP-China and Client Bank
July 2007December 2010

Assisting a Chinese commercial bank in developing a small business banking line of business

The Chinese banking market has expanded substantially in the past few years and is now very competitive, including large state-owned banks with nationwide branching, joint stock banks, and city commercial banks. Several banks at all levels have some foreign ownership stake, including the client bank. Additionally, foreign banks are now being licensed to conduct business in China, and several of these have indicated that they expect to compete in local markets through a strategy of opening branches. Because of the strong local economy, some new market entrants are establishing offices that will be in direct competition with the client bank.

The client bank has already taken several steps to establish small business lending as a significant line of business, including developing an expert credit scoring model and a survey of small business clients to determine needs and constraints. The banks commitment to small business banking is borne out in the tremendous growth of its small business lending portfolio, increasing by 150 percent from the end of 2005 to the end of 2006.

To assist the bank, DAI will deliver a technical assistance program tailored to the banks specific needs. The overall objective will be to provide the bank with the products, systems, tools, and training it needs to achieve its goals for this line of business. Key program components will include:

New/refined/improved small business credit policies, processes, systems, and organizational units;

An improved credit scoring model and efficient utilization of the tool by lending officers;

Introduction of two to three new lending products;

Delivery of four to six formal training workshops and related training materials; and

A significant increase in the banks small business lending volume while maintaining a reasonable level of credit quality.

Mexico - Agricultural and Rural Bank Officer Training Program

Client: United States Trade and Development Agency (Donor) & Financiera Rural
Project Completed (2008)

Developing a professional rural bank and credit officer training program for Financiera Rural

Through a USTDA grant, DAI is creating and implementing a rural bank and credit officer training program to give Financiera Rural staff a solid foundation in basic and advanced rural and agricultural loan and credit operations, and to give the institution the in-house expertise it needs to meet its future demands for new officer training. The program has clear training and impact objectivesas well as built-in tools for assessing the impact of the training on both skill development and institutional performanceand makes extensive use of participant exercises to reinforce the skills learned in the training sessions.

The interactive multimedia training and testing program is designed to be used as part of a trainer-led program or for independent study to reinforce knowledge and skills learned during the initial training. In addition to reproductions of the training sessions, these materials will contain extensive interactive self-testing and practice exercises. The DAI team will ensure that Financiera Rural has the capacity to deliver the courses in the future by building the skills of the institutions in-house trainers.

The basic and advanced training modules that DAI is preparing for the program include the following:

Basic Credit Analysis

Financiera Rural Credit Policies and Procedures

BankExec International Bank Simulation

Advanced Credit Analysis

Microcredit

Rural Financial Markets, Institutions, and Clients

Elements of Rural Business Development

Agricultural Concepts

Managing Problem Loans

Systemic Risk Analysis and Management

Evaluating and Financing Rural Financial Institutions

Afghanistan Capacity Development Program (CDP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [Subcontract to BearingPoint]
March 2007January 2012

Assisting Afghan businesses to develop the ability to build management technical and vocational competencies, enabling growth through goods and services offered.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has initiated a comprehensive program for building performance capacity of Afghan organizations in the government public sector, the for-profit private sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the higher education sector. With BearingPoint, Inc. as the primary implementing partner, CDP contributes to the USAID/ Afghanistans strategic objectives of promoting democratic government, creating a thriving private sector economy, facilitating a better educated, healthier population, and enhancing overall development through:

Building near-term capacity directly within target institutions;

Strengthening Afghan capacity building institutions in the public, private, NGO, and educational sectors which will allow Afghans to provide sustained capacity building; and

Developing a critical mass of Afghans trained in management and other skills.

CDP will develop institutional and individual capacity with assistance organized in five components:

Public Sector: Working with target ministries at the national and subnational (provincial and district) levels to build capacity across common functions for improving the quality of service to citizens and the efficiency of operations.

Private, For-Profit Sector: Assisting Afghan businesses, directly and through professional associations, with emphasis on construction and professional service firms, to develop their management, technical, and vocational competencies, enabling growth through goods and services offered.

NGO Sector: Developing the basic management skills of Afghan NGOs through training and the creation of a certification program.

Higher Education Sector: Supporting existing alliance programs in building international standard administrative leadership and management skills, developing core competencies, and employing state-of-the-art technology for efficient delivery of university programs in Kabul and regional centers.

Participant Training and Technical Assistance: Supporting capacity building by providing technical assistance and funding for relevant training participation, program development, and organizational capacity development.

Jordan - Instituting Water Demand Management in Jordan (IDARA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
March 2007March 2011

Managing water demand in Jordan to keep pace with the countrys economic growth

Jordan is considered to be one of the 10 most water-deprived countries in the world. It is making every effort to cooperate with neighboring countries that control or share much of the available water resources. But, as Jordan aspires to raise the quality and standard of living of Jordanians, it must expand the commercial, industrial, and tourism sectors, thereby putting additional stress on the country’s already stretched water resources.

There are limited options for what can be done to augment the water supply needed for Jordan's rapidly growing population and ambitious economic development goals. The most viable short-term options are to manage its water demand to more effectively use the current water supply, and embrace water-use efficiency throughout the country. Past attempts in water demand management by the government, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and other donors have had an undeniable impact and yielded many lessons, but have not been sustained by the government or the private sector. Limited resources and commitment were among the reasons, but the lack of integration of water demand management into an institutional context was their undoing.

IDARA directly tackles that weakness. It focuses on three areas of intervention—building institutional capacity, creating an enabling environment, and conducting activities that demonstrate effective water-demand management. These activities are changing standard operating procedures, creating a critical mass of expertise, revising public thinking about what can be achieved through the effective management of water, and promoting public-private initiatives for the implementation of best water-saving practices.

Jordan IDARA Fact Sheets

IDARA Fact Sheets

Worldwide - Turnaround of a Large Retail Bank

Client: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Project Completed (2008)

Restructuring failed banks as permanent, powerful providers of financial services for the poor

For too long, the microfinance industry has focused on the emergence of a separate and unequal set of financial service providers that do not participate in national clearing systems, preventing them from offering meaningful transfer, remittance, and payment support products; are unlicensed and unable to provide reliable or convenient options for savings; and lack the strength to grow with their clients. In contrast, state-owned banks have the infrastructure and regulated status required to rapidly and profitably extend a full range of microfinance services, but are hobbled by political interference, insolvency, and weak management.

DAI is currently conducting in-depth research to identify a state-owned bank that has the potential for transformation; DAI will then lead the turnaround effort. Project staff are examining cases in which the candidate bank is a government-owned entity that has the potential to become a dynamic, profitable, private bank focused on the low-income market segment. The ultimate goal is to transform the relevant countrys financial sector and create the ability for millions of poor citizens to manage risk and seize economic opportunities.

DAI will use Foundation funds to cover the human resources and associated costs required to take over management control of the bank and will secure funding from other sources for all other expenses, including recapitalization of the bank. After the restructuring, the bank will be sold, and DAIs team with work with the government to ensure that the new owners continue to offer banking services to the poor.

South Africa - Completing the Responsible Tourism Planning Program for Municipalities in South Africa

Client: Development Bank of Southern Africa
Project Completed (2007)

Assisting the Development Bank of Southern Africa to facilitate the completion the Responsible Tourism Planning for seven municipalities

For most municipalities in South Africa, and southern Africa as a whole, tourism represents one of the three key economic opportunities available for their citizens; the others are agriculture and forestry and mining and quarrying. In South Africa, municipalities are seen as the drivers of economic development, protectors of the environment, and deliverers of social goods and services. However, capacity to meet those expectations is limited because wall to wall municipal government that is inclusive of all people and land has only been a feature of South Africa since the emergence of democracy. This fact, combined with the apartheid education system that restricted the majority of South Africans from a decent education, has left a real void in local government management. The parastatal Development Bank of Southern Africa has as its focus the provision of infrastructural support (finance and other forms of assistance) to municipalities, including support for the development of tourism infrastructure. The bank developed Responsible Tourism Planning (RTP) Guidelines in 2003 that defined its planning and enabling environmental technical assistance program that has been completed in 26 municipalities of the 282 total. This program is to facilitate another seven with perhaps another five in the pipeline. The key components of the program include training of officials and stakeholders to manage the RTP process and to roll it out to a given set of quality standards.

Bangladesh - Developing Business Service Markets (DBSM) Programme, Impact Assessment Research

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
June 2005December 2009

Examining the impacts of the DBSM Programme on economic growth and poverty reduction

For this impact assessment, DAI examined the impact of the DBSM programmepart of the wider KATALYST project in Bangladeshand created policy lessons on the impacts of a service market development approach for donors and practitioners. The objectives were to:

Assess the contribution to pro-poor growth, employer income, and conditions at a market level;

Assess the increase in competitiveness within selected markets and subsectors; and

Examine the contribution of business service market development to the above.

Vietnam - Mekong Housing Bank Technical Assistance and Capacity Building Support

Client: State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
September 2006March 2009

Providing strategic advice and building capacity within the banking sector in Vietnam

DAI Europe and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Vietnam are working together to address the need to upgrade the core banking functions of the Mekong Housing Bank (MHB). In the context MHBs rapid growth and many internal and external pressures, this project focuses on six activity components: corporate strategy and planning, organization and human resource development, credit risk management, asset and liability management, management information systems, and internal audit and controls. The core focus of the technical assistance program is to build capacity within the bank across all the functions, through a series of targeted short-term interventions and extensive training and coaching.

Ukraine - Aval Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine

Client: European Union/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2009)

Strengthening lending to the small and medium-sized (SME) enteprise sector in Ukraine

Since its inception in 1992, Raiffeisenbank Aval (AVAL) has continued to strengthen its position in the Ukrainian market through an extensive branch network and a strong customer deposit base. AVALs core focus is on the consumer and SME segments. Currently AVAL is strong in micro and small business lending, and lending to larger business borrowers. However, the bank has assessed a need to address the segment that lies between these two. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development contracted DAI to establish an SME lending program and ensure through an institution-building program that the commitment of AVAL to SME lending is sustainable.

Romania - Volksbank Leasing

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed 2008

Expanding the leasing capacity at Volksbank Leasing to the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) sector

Established in 2000, Volksbank Leasing (VBL) is now among the top five players in the Romanian leasing sector. By 2005, VBL had concluded 112 million in leasing contracts, approximately 80 percent of which were in the vehicle leasing sector and the remaining 20 percent in equipment leasing. The company is particularly keen to expand its equipment leasing business, and given its existing orientation toward the SME sector, sees the European Union/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Finance Facility as an ideal opportunity to do so.

DAI has been contracted by the EBRD to implement a Technical Assistance programme to enable VBL expand its leasing operations for the SME segment. After assessing its current leasing policies and procedures, DAI will assist VBL with the development of a commercial strategy for equipment leasing by industry sector/equipment type. Building on strong experience in providing advisory services on risk management for leasing companies in emerging economies, DAI will review VBLs current risk management practices and scoring system and provide recommendations to senior management. In addition, DAI will provide tailored formal and on-the-job training on risk management and sales skills for SMEs.

Liberia Community Infrastructure Project II (LCIP II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (MAC IQC)
April 2007April 2010

Consolidating peace through integrated economic, social, and infrastructure development activities

Since March 2004, DAI has been active in Liberia supporting social reconciliation, community infrastructure reconstruction, economic development, andmost recentlydemocratic governance and civil society strengthening. Building on this presence, DAI is now implementing the Liberia Community Infrastructure Project II, which targets vulnerable youths by combining literacy and numeracy training, enterprise development, agribusiness, and key infrastructure projects to consolidate peace and foster economic growth for the nation. The project works closely with government officials, particularly with the Ministry of Public Works. DAI also funds local nongovernmental organizations to partner with project staff to implement skills training and enterprise development activities. LCIP II is the follow-on contract to the Liberia Community Infrastructure Project.

LCIP II in the News
USAID Launches Private Sector Internship Program (PIP)

Liberian Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI)

Client: World Bank
March 2007March 2008

Developing a new small and medium-sized enterprise lending methodology along with risk assessment and monitoring procedures

DAI assisted LBDI to expand its business, particularly to the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) segment. The banking sector in Liberia is extremely small, comprising only five operational banks. Ecobank and LBDI dominate the sector, both managing around 30,000 accounts.

LBDI has a great growth potential, especially in expanding its outreach to previously under-banked segments. Within the Liberian context, LBDI has the highest capacity to respond to many of the financial markets, including corporate, real estate, domestic savings mobilization, and remittances (such as Western Union money transfers).

LBDI was in need of stronger credit risk management procedures to ensure that its expansion plan was sustainable in the long-run, particularly as it expanded its lending portfolio to include the riskier MSME segment. DAIs team addressed all aspects of lending, including product development, policies and procedures, staff development, marketing and sales, and institutionalization of the lending function within the bank.

Kenya - Equity Bank Phase II

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
January 2007March 2008

Designing microfinance products for Equity Bank in Kenya

Building on its prior working relationship with the bank, DAI assisted Equity Bank in developing its capacity to lend to the small and medium-sized enterprise sector. Over the previous five years, Equity Bank has targeted small-scale businesses and individuals that have had limited access to finance. In doing so, they have become a significant player in the financial sector in Kenya. The banks success has been led by an accomplished management team and a highly motivated staff. As part of the growth, Equity has evolved into a full-service bank although it continues to focus its activities primarily on the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise segment.

DAI worked with Equity to develop:

Strong credit policies and procedures, effectively communicated throughout the bank;

Robust risk management procedures;

Competitive products implemented for all lending areas based on Equitys strategy;

A strong organizational structure clearly outlining roles, responsibilities, and reporting lines;

Tailored training curricula and internal training capacity; and

Credit scoring and rating models where appropriate to ensure better credit decision making.

Central Europe - Deutsche Leasing EBRD Framework

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
October 2006October 2008

Implementing a technical assistance program to expand Deutsche Leasings operations for the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) market in Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary

DAI is implementing a technical assistance program to assist the three Deutsche Leasing (DL) companies in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary to expand their respective leasing operations for the SME segment. Developing the human resource capacity of the three leasing companies has been identified as the most important factor in delivering outstanding customer service to the SME segment. Training is therefore the cornerstone of this assignment. DAI will assist the DL companies to identify their specific training needs, develop targeted training programs, and deliver formal classroom-based and on-the-job training to front and back office staff members, as well as senior management. The aim is to encourage and strengthen a customer-oriented culture throughout the entire organization. DAI will also provide advisory services to strengthen DLs risk decision processes and procedures. Furthermore, DAI will work with the three DL companies to support the correct implementation of the EBRD credit line and provide assistance with the required reporting/monitoring tools in line with EBRD requirements.

Central Europe - BA-CA Leasing Group

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
January 2007January 2008

Introducing a gap analysis scoring model for the BA-CA Group

DAI is adapting the gap analysis scoring model for use in each leasing company of the BA-CA group in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. DAI provided the scoring model in a temporary Excel-based software platform appropriate for pilot testing. This software is intended to create a unique scoring database for each user. The team developed the scoring and gap analysis algorithms in a data model that any programmer can use for coding the scoring model to the appropriate programming language. To ensure the long-term benefit, DAI implemented a training course in model use, reviewed pilot test results, and produced a report on recommendations.

Bulgaria - Société Générale Expressbank (SGE)

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
October 2006December 2009

Improving capacity for small and medium-sized enterprise lending in Bulgaria

SGE, one of Bulgaria's leading banks in the consumer finance market, is increasingly interested in expanding its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loan portfolio and has introduced tailored SME products, created a dedicated SME department, and concentrated efforts on increasing the commercial structures aimed at SME customers. Within the framework of the European Union/European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) technical assistance programme, SGE anticipates to continue to increase its SME banking market share in a highly competitive market. DAI Europe Ltd. is assisting SGE in this process by reviewing and suggesting improvements to SGE's SME lending methodology, risk management practice (including credit scoring), and SME loan product offering. DAI also trains newly hired and existing loan officers in credit and sales skills. Once the human resource base of the Bank is strengthened, DAI will advise on a suitable marketing campaign to support the active growth strategy in the SME segment and the utilization of the credit line in accordance with EBRD requirements

Bangladesh - Remittance and Payments Partnership

Client: U.K. Department for International Development [subcontractor to Emerging Markets Group]
Project Completed 2008

Improving the access to and reducing the costs of remittances in Bangladesh

This project aims to improve the access to and reduce the costs of migrant remittances flowing into Bangladesh. DAIs work on this project complements the Government of Bangladeshs current efforts to introduce and strengthen formal remittance channels. The Remittance and Payments Partnership has three main components:

Improving the enabling environment for remittances through the development of a National Payments Strategy and Council, to be supported by a range of private and public stakeholders. DAI also is supporting the development of an automated clearing house for Bangladesh.

Improving the range of remittance products through the operation of a challenge fund that will provide grants for innovation and infrastructure investment.

Providing better information to migrants on their rights and better understanding migrants needs.

Azerbaijan - Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (Legislative Strengthening IQC)
April 2007April 2010

Creating the institutional checks and balances that can ensure development is broad-based, transparent, and participatory

The Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan will assist the Parliament of AzerbaijanMilli Mejlis (MM)to improve its government oversight and representation functions, with an emphasis on internal institutional reform and training of new constituency-based staff.

Azerbaijan faces serious challenges to its democratic development. Democratic institutions are new and evolving from a historical legacy of highly centralized authority, and Azerbaijan ranks near the bottom of several international measures of corruption. A strengthened parliament is critical to maintaining a healthy system of checks and balances and, thus, supporting successful social and economic development. It must first, however, solidify its own sense of identify, with clearly understood roles and responsibilities, professional services, and a vastly stronger relationship between the Deputies and the constituents they should serve.

DAIs approach to the Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan will be to establish new norms of behavior to improve institutional professionalism and responsiveness to citizens. We will use European Union standards and legislative compliance mechanisms as we design and implement capacity-building activities.

The initial work will focus primarily on providing assistance on internal parliamentary functions and procedures. This requirement will be accomplished by:

Reviewing internal processes, including human resources and research functions;

Providing training for members of parliament and parliamentary staff;

Assisting in the establishment of constituency offices;

Helping establish transparency mechanisms in the legislature; and

Enhancing the capacity of the Parliament to effectively address civil society concerns.

Parliamentary Program in Azerbaijan Recent Activities
USAID Initiates First Workshop for Azerbaijans Parliamentary Aides

Armenia - Medium-Sized Co-Financing Regional Facility

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2007)

Building capacity in the Armenian banking sector

While the banking sector in Armenia is seen as outpacing other sectors in the countrywith assets and liabilities having grown substantially over the last five to seven yearsthere is still a lack of adequate financial intermediation. Banks have received good international support and have developed good lending systems, especially for lending to the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise sectors. However, there is still a significant gap in lending to larger corporate clients and in managing and monitoring corporate and larger small and medium-sized enterprise client portfolios. DAI developed and implemented an institution building plan for three banks: ACBA, Anelik, and Arneconombank. To do this, DAI reviewed the banks organizational structure and corporate governance procedures. Our consultants also assisted the banks with the implementation of these recommendations.

Bulgaria - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Credit Line Support Rational Energy Utilisation and Financing Plans

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
April 2004-June 2011

Designing and implementing a financeable and rational energy utilization program

In partnership with EnCon Services, DAI is implementing an EBRD-funded project intended to develop Rational Energy Utilization Plans with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Bulgaria. The project is part of a European Union initiative to support Bulgaria's Energy Law and to assist with the closure of the oldest first-generation Soviet-designed blocks of the Kozloduy Nuclear Plant.

Compared with other countries in the region, the Bulgarian economy stands out as one of the most energy-intensive in Europe. A core aim of this project is to develop adequate bank financing services directed at industrial customers for use in energy efficiency projects.

Accordingly, a first step has been to reach an agreement with participating banks on approaches, procedures, and deliverables. The DAI team has been working with participating banks to develop streamlined procedures for customer/project identification and to enhance their due diligence and risk mitigation capabilities. DAI Europe is also actively working with participating banks to market the project in order to increase branch participation in energy financing and attract new clientele. Finally, DAI team members and Encon consultants will be working directly with SMEs to develop bankable energy efficiency project proposals for the participating banks to evaluate with a view to financing.

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Asia and the Near East - Addressing Major Water Resources Issues in Asia and the Near East

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Recommending program improvements based on analyses of USAIDs regional water resource projects

USAIDs Asia and Near East (ANE) Bureau spans from Indonesia to Morocco. Many of its 20 country missions are supporting projects concerning responsible and sustainable water resource supply and usage. Through this program, DAI assists the ANE Bureau and its missions to develop their water resources portfolios, provide support for problems demanding immediate attention, and help launch new initiatives, particularly those with policy implications beyond national boundaries. The program promotes collaborative approaches to strategic planning and joint problem-solving in the water sector; advances key water sector policy reforms through expanded stakeholder participation; fosters innovative public-private partnerships and increases private sector participation; and supports the development and dissemination of innovative approaches to water development to increase water use efficiency and better manage demands for water.

Africa - Millennium Villages Project: Monitoring and Evaluation

Client: Millennium Promise
Project Completed (2006)

Placing African villages into a larger development context through a coherent overall results framework

Millennium Promise is a nonprofit organization working to eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Its flagship program is the US$100 million Millennium Villages Project (MVP)a holistic, community-driven, sustainable development initiative. In coordination with the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the UN Millennium Project, Millennium Promise is currently implementing the project in 78 Millennium Villages across Sub-Saharan countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The MVP process involves local institutions and governments and builds capacity and empowerment at the local level. It links into national development plans to develop support from local, provincial, and national governments. Rather than helping just a few individuals take a few steps out of povertyonly to risk being drawn back as the village-level circumstances once again take holdMVP interventions are designed to break the poverty cycle and to lift all residents in a village out of poverty. They address all aspects of social and economic development within a villagefrom better health to improved nutrition, from more effective education to improved incomes.

In association with ECIAfrica, DAI Washington is helping the MVP Director of Monitoring and Evaluation and her team develop a strong monitoring and evaluation system and process to track the implementation, impact, and outcomes of the project.

Successfully placing the villages into a larger development context requires a coherent overall results framework that identifies how the villages interact with outside forces and actors and how they can sustainably integrate into the larger economy at the district, provincial, and, eventually, national levels.

The DAI team is developing a monitoring and evaluation plan that emanates from and includes the following elements:

An understanding of progress in terms of achieving the Millennium Development Goals;

Training and capacity building at the local level;

Eventual transfer of the Millennium Promise monitoring and evaluation plan to the community; and

Transparency.

Working from a logical framework for the MVP as wholeidentifying the key success factors and steps necessary to ensure long-term sustainability, while also drilling down to village-level prioritieswill ensure the proper blend of big picture development anchored at the village level.

Belarus - Support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development (BIZPRO/Belarus)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Bringing microfinance and business development services to Belarussian entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs and owners of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) face many obstacles in Belaruss business environment, yet their success is one of the keys to meaningful economic growth in Belarus.

The purpose of BIZPRO was to assist Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine to achieve economic growth through micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise development initiatives.

In Belarus, BIZPRO implemented the CAP/CIPA accounting program and engaged a local think tank to provide economic analysis designed to generate and inform public-private dialogue.

China - Small Business Lending

Client: World Bank, International Finance Corporation
Project Completed (2006)

Addressing constraints to small business lending in China

The International Finance Corporation-China Project Development Facility (IFC-CPDF), along with Chinese regulatory authorities and commercial banks, has identified lack of financing as the major constraint limiting small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) growth in China.

With the support of the IFC-CPDF, the Nanjing City Commercial Bank has launched an initiative to develop and expand a new line of small business lending products, aiming to provide relatively small loans to enterprises that employ 100 people or fewer. This program will require efforts to develop the banks specific loan products and grow its small business portfolio.

DAI is providing technical assistance in three areas: 1) organizing a training seminar on best practices in small business lending; 2) helping to develop a survey instrument to assess the current environment for SME lending and gauge the financing needs of small businesses; and 3) preparing a business/marketing plan for the bank.

Tanzania - Comprehensive Review of Public Sector Employment and Wage-Bill Issues, Government of Zanzibar

Client: Government of Tanzania
Project Completed (2006)

Developing a realistic roadmap and action plan for efficient and effective management and control of public expenditures on personnel

Since 1999, the Revolution Government of Zanzibar has faced a decline in revenues that, in turn, has led to serious public sector employment and wage-bill issues. Most of the decline in revenue had to be absorbed by a reduction in non-wage expenditures, which consequently constrained the ability of the public sector to deliver basic services. The wage-bill consumes an unacceptably high percentage of public expenditure, and there are concerns about the way in which it is managed.

The objective of this assignment is to assist the government in reviewing employment and wage-bill issues relating to the civil service and identifying strategic solutions and options. DAIs work includes addressing issues related to ghost workers, advising on wage-bill management, putting in place a strategy for human resources management, and advising on options to reduce the wage-bill to acceptable norms. DAI is assessing strategic and policy options and will propose solutions for government consideration, drawing on good practice from the East Africa region and elsewhere.

Indonesia - Orangutan Conservation Services Program (OCSP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
March 2007 September 2010

Maximizing the protection and long-term survival of viable orangutan populations in the wild

Based in Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra), and Balikpapan (Kalimantan), OCSPs goals are to implement policy reform, law enforcement, public outreach, and site-based conservation measures that will reduce the widespread habitat destruction that threatens the remaining populations of wild orangutans at key sites in Borneo and Sumatra. The main drivers of orangutan habitat loss and populations decline include forest conservation and logging, which are the consequences of poor land use decisions that followed in the push toward decentralization in Indonesia.

If viable wild populations of orangutans in Indonesia are to survive increasing threats to their natural habitats, change must occur at three levels. Nationally, policies must support habitat protection and establish appropriate incentives for conservation. Regionally, decentralized authorities and conservation programs must have the knowledge and wherewithal to implement these policies in a manner that meets economic development and conservation goals. Locally, government, businesses, and communities must reach compromises that avoid the type of conflict that threatens to derail many of the countrys well-conceived conservation initiatives.

DAI brings to OCSP many years of experience working in Indonesia and in conservation and natural resource management. By September 2009, OCSP will have established sustainable orangutan conservation programs in at least four priority locations covering about 2 million hectares (ha) of prime habitat where 80 percent of the critically endangered Sumatran species and at least 9,000 members of the two Bornean subspecies will be protected. Threat levels will be reduced through implementation of site-specific conservation plans supported by improved law enforcement, outreach, and sustainable financing schemes.

The OCSP team expects to broker commitments from public and private donors and government to provide at least $4 million annually for orangutan conservation in the region by 2009. More importantly, OCSP will build Indonesian and international momentum for orangutan conservation and a constituency that will sustain this support well into the future.

Worldwide - Stamping Out Pandemic and Avian Influenza (STOP AI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
March 2007-February 2010

Working to prevent, respond to, and recover from highly pathogenic avian influenza

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is economically devastating for commercial and backyard producers alike, especially in developing countries where poultry is often a mainstay of poor households. If the virus became pandemic in the human population, it would be catastrophic in more than economic termsand across more than just the developing world. To ensure that HPAI does not evolve into a human health crisis, USAIDs STOP AI project will provide technical resources and support services in preparedness planning, surveillance, and prevention; outbreak response; and re-infection prevention and recovery.

STOP AI has three critically important and interrelated objectives:

Improved global availability of technical experts who are appropriately qualified and trained in internationally accepted procedures for addressing HPAI outbreaks in animals;

Increased use of internationally accepted practices for animal and human disease control; and

Reliable and timely logistical support provided to facilitate and enhance international assistance to countries affected by the H5N1 virus.

STOP AI is an emergency preparation, response, and recovery project, supported by DAIs proven corporate capabilities in mobilizing and deploying teams worldwide and facilitated by robust information and communication, knowledge management, and geographic information systems.

Working with U.S. Government agencies, national governments, international and nongovernmental organizations, and a roster of deployable veterinarians and other health experts, the project will detect, respond to, and contain HPAI outbreaks.

While focused on animal health threats and responses, STOP AI will also address the human health aspects of HPAI, such as human exposure during poultry production and human welfare in outbreak situations. In short, STOP AI is a key mechanism for ensuring that the highly pathogenic bird flu virusespecially H5N1does not evolve into a virulent strain transmissible among humans.

In implementing STOP AI, DAIs Avian Influenza practice and its subcontractorsBird Flu Control GmbH; Macfadden & Associates, Inc.; Management Sciences for Health, Inc.; Michigan State University; QED Group, LLC; Training Resources Group, Inc.; UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine; and Winrock Internationalwill draw on their worldwide network of epidemiologists, veterinary virologists, public health experts, communication strategists, laboratory diagnosticians, trainers, emergency responders, poultry specialists, and food safety experts.

Recent Activity

STOP AI Project launches pilot series of courses to build capacity among animal and human health experts to support Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza preparedness and response in poultry populations worldwide.

Worldwide - Avian Influenza Program under the Global RAISE Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures Project

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Reducing and containing highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks worldwide

The RAISE SPS Project builds trade capacity to support applications of sanitary (food safety and animal health) and phytosanitary (plant health) measures to protect consumers and food systems from human, plant, and animal health hazards. RAISE SPS has also conducted pioneering analytical work on the relationship between small farmer supply chains, supermarkets, and international food safety standards.

In mid-2005, the projects mandate was expanded to include support for highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) interventions to reduce and contain animal-to-animal and animal-to-human AI outbreaks. Under this program, DAI has:

Assessed and evaluated national AI preparedness plans;

Conducted tabletop simulations;

Trained more than 400 state and private veterinarians in the prevention, testing, and diagnosis of AI, and in biosecurity, culling, and disposal measures;

Delivered behavior change communication workshops;

Developed electronic, print; and mass media messages; and

Conducted trainer-of-trainers workshops on the use of commodities (personal protective equipment, decontamination of AI infected areas, rapid diagnostic testing, and packaging and international shipping of AI samples).

The AI program has worked in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mali, Moldova, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Armenia - Avian Influenza Program in Armenia

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Building Armenias capacity to combat highly pathogenic avian influenza

Under the Armenia Agribusiness Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Market Development Program (ASME), DAI is building Armenia’s capacity to prepare for and respond to highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) outbreaks. The program works with a broad range of partners—Armenia’s intergovernmental AI team; the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, and Nature Protection; international organizations such as the World Bank, World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; research and educational entities; and private producers—to meet the growing threat of AI. The program is forged around three pillars:

Providing technical support to the Government of Armenia to strengthen the National Veterinary Service’s surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, and monitoring capabilities;

Assisting private poultry producers to improve their flock monitoring and biosecurity practices, and preparing to respond effectively to outbreaks; and

Coordinating AI communications activities among donor organizations and government ministries, developing communication materials to improve the public’s knowledge of AI, improving the biosafety practices of both domestic bird raisers and commercial poultry operations, and enhancing consumer confidence in the safety of poultry products. ASME’s AI program has trained more than 700 village-level veterinarians, health officers, mayors, and government, donor, and nongovernmental organization decision makers in planning and preparedness, outbreak response, and prevention and recovery. Recent Activity ASME supports the development of standard operating procedures for field-level outbreak response management.

Egypt - Technical Assistance for Policy Reform II (TAPR II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2005October 2009

Supporting economic policy and institutional reform efforts in Egypt

TAPR IIs objective is to provide a comprehensive and integrated source of technical assistance to Egyptian reformers to help them define and implement their visions for economic policy and institutional reforms. The project team works to promote investment, improve Egypts financial structure and services, support macroeconomic stabilization, increase trade and investment, and strengthen the private sector. It seeks to reduce governments role, deregulate burdensome regimes, streamline processes, and harmonize policies, laws, and regulations that govern economic institutions. The project also builds the capacity of individuals and institutions necessary to support the implementation of those reforms to ensure that policies, processes, and procedures, once adopted, will be appropriately sustained and institutionalized. TAPR II is building partnerships with Egyptian reformers within government and the private sector to support critical demand-driven reforms while responding to changing circumstances.

DAI is the lead on two of TAPR IIs seven components. DAI staff work to facilitate services to private enterprise, streamline administrative processes, and open opportunities previously reserved for state-owned entities. This component focuses on and responds to activities that encourage investment, enhance business development services, increase productivity, promote international standards, and stimulate enterprise competitiveness by increasing market access and better integration of Egypts enterprises into global value-chains.

DAI also provides program support to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of project monitoring, evaluate Egyptian achievement of goals to obtain funds under the U.S. Government Direct Support Program to Egypt, improve the availability and dissemination of information on economic reform to the public, and provide opportunities to solicit greater involvement of civil society in the reform process.

Angola - Regional Trade Project (ProAgro)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Using regional trade as a stimulus to rebuild the agricultural sector

ProAgro was designed to test ways to use regional trade as a stimulus to rebuilding the agricultural sector in Angola. Working closely with the input supply industry, project staff facilitated access to new markets for goods needed in Angola and enhanced the businesses links into the South African economy. The project targeted three subsectors: potatoes, bananas, and coffee. Its major components included:

Enhancement of commercial markets for improved agricultural equipment and technologies.

Market studies

Enhancement of availability of domestically produced high-quality potato and garlic seeds.

Identification of foreign investment partners to enhance Angolan production and/or improve marketability of product.

Subsector analyses and developing commercial markets.

Linkages among farmers and local distributors and agriculture input suppliers.

Organization of trade missions for businesses and officials.

The project succeeded in facilitating more than $800,000 of trade in inputs and technology. Work on two of the subsectors led them to be included in the Agricultural Development and Finance Project, a five-year follow-on project that was funded by Chevron and USAID that was won by ECIAfrica and CLUSA. [AMAP BDS IQC]

El Salvador - Improved Management and Conservation of Critical Watersheds (IMCCW)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
November 2006 - September 2010

Helping local stakeholders realize tangible economic benefits linked to improvements in watershed management and the conservation of biological resources

To improve the economic situation in rural areas, the Government of El Salvadorï¿½s development strategy focuses on enlisting local support for improved natural resources and generating better economic opportunities through higher-value agriculture and sustainable tourism, linked to improved management of El Salvadorï¿½s water, land, and biological resources. Specific opportunities in this endeavor include:

Growing specialty coffee marketsï¿½especially certified, environmentally friendly coffees;

Expanding tourism based on environmental attractions such as the ï¿½Ruta de Flores,ï¿½ national parks, and beaches; and

Encouraging Salvadoran farmers to produce higher-quality fruits and vegetables using environmentally sound practices for both domestic and international markets.

IMCW seeks to reverse economic trends in rural western El Salvadorï¿½trends that threaten the sustainability of critical ecosystems, degrade water supplies and quality, and bind farmers to environmentally destructive subsistence farming that supports neither well-being nor conservationï¿½by supporting the effective management of areas of high biodiversity importance while promoting responsible economic growth. The project focuses on improving the management of land, water, and biological resources in two hydrogeographic zonesï¿½Grande de Sonsonate-Banderas and Barra de Santiago-El Imposibleï¿½that include 14 watersheds.

The DAI teamï¿½s approach empowers local communities and stakeholders using integrated spatial planning to develop agreements on land use and land zoning for protected areas, ecological corridors, and their buffer zones. Following this approach, the DAI team will help local stakeholders to improve their livelihoods and realize tangible economic benefits linked to sustainable improvements in watershed management and the conservation of biological resources. This approach directly links the sustainable protection of parks and protected areasï¿½and the management of ecological corridorsï¿½to improved income- and employment-generating opportunities in high-value products such as specialty coffee, fruits and vegetables, and ecotourism. DAIï¿½s work will provide the foundation for developing a strong rural economy based on improved environmental management. [Water IQC]

Vietnam - Support to Vietnams Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy under Poverty Reduction Support Credit III Support to State Audit of Vietnam

Client: European Commission (Asian and Latin American Countries)
Project Completed (2007)

Improving conditions for sustained and stable economic growth through improving governance and combating corruption

Vietnams economy is on the path of sustainable and equitable growth and has good prospects to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. However, numerous aspects of public administration require further development to promote conditions for sustainable growth. Corruption scandals, such as Project Management Unit 18, fueled the need for better management of public finances and donor funds. Through this project, DAI and the U.K. National Audit Office provided support to the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) to improve conditions for sustained and stable economic growth by building capacity in public sector auditing and helped to implement the new State Audit Law.

The project had four key components: 1) development of auditing standards and ethical standards for auditors in line with international standards; 2) development of financial and compliance audit procedures and training; 3) development of performance audit techniques to enable SAV to better evaluate the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of national targeted programmes and foreign-funded projects; and 4) support to the SAV Centre for Sciences and Staff Fostering, including development of new training curricula and training material and introduction of modern training methods to SAV trainers.

Uganda - Support to the Legal and Regulatory Environment for Business in Uganda Phase II

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Working with the government to enhance enterprise growth and competitiveness

Significant achievements have been made in the past decade in revitalising the Ugandan economy, but poverty levels remain high: some 35 percent of the population is estimated still to live under the poverty line. The formal private sector has grown but still comprises a low proportion of the total economy, and its capacity to grow further and faster is held back, inter alia, by weaknesses in the regulatory environment. From 2000 to 2003, DAI managed the DFID-funded Deregulation project in Uganda, designed to improve the regulatory environment for business growth. This next phase of the project focuses on creating national capacity for regulatory best practice in Uganda. This work includes components such as introducing regulatory impact assessment into government policy processes, raising awareness and implementing public education campaigns, building capacity of civil society organisations and business organisations to influence the policy agenda, instituting institutional changes, and facilitating reductions in administrative and regulatory barriers faced by businesses while protecting important social and environmental standards.

The project team is working closely with senior civil servants, Members of Parliament, business leaders, and civil society organisations. The project has developed a holistic and inclusive approach to better regulation: blending the teams experience in economic impact appraisal with social cost-benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment, and bringing a wider range of stakeholders into the consultation and public debate process.

Slovenia - SME Finance Facility - Volksbank Ljudska

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2007)

Deepening credit market for small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia

Having identified a need to deepen small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit markets in Slovenia, the EBRD undertook this project with the aim of building financial intermediaries confidence and capacity to assess risks and extend financing to Slovenian SMEs. DAI was contracted to design an appropriate lending methodology to allow Volksbank to substantially increase its SME lending activities to a number of branches. Team members implemented SME lending and institution-building schemes, recruited and trained new staff, and developed an SME marketing campaign appropriate to the redesigned existing SME products. The team also integrated environmental due diligence into the procedures of Volksbank in compliance with Slovenian regulations and implemented appropriate information technology support for all necessary application, screening, monitoring, and reporting procedures.

Slovakia - SME Finance Facility - OTP Banka Slovensko

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2007)

Improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises

DAI was contracted to help OTP develop a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending methodology that will enable the bank to substantially increase its SME lending activities. Under this programme, the bank developed the Progress loan, an SME loan product that allowed conditional approval to be given within 48 hours of the bank receiving all appropriate documentation. Among its major achievements, DAI delivered two training courses: a time management course aimed at OTP senior management and a sales skills training for the lenders. These training initiatives were supported by intensive on-the-job and individual training that included tutorials in how to manage client interviews. Moreover, team members contributed to an OTP-led marketing initiative which involved SME Road Shows, which were held across the country over the upcoming months. In addition, DAI consultants designed and implemented incentive schemes for middle managers and planned further marketing activities aimed at supporting new SME loan products.

Slovakia - CAC Leasing

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2006)

Deepening financing methodologies for small and medium-sized enterprises

DAI was contracted by the EBRD to deepen small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing methodologies at CAC Leasing and to assist with the development of a new credit scoring model. In particular, the team was tasked with the following objectives:

Developing a software scorecard appropriate to the new credit scoring model.

Increasing integration of environmental due diligence processes as part of the information technology system updates.

Conducting staff training courses with a focus on credit assessment and monitoring as well as customer relationship management and credit scoring.

Assisting the companys management team with its re-organisation plan and management and re-designing the risk processes in preparation for the Basel Accord.

Providing advanced training to sales team leaders in innovative sales techniques for the SME market.

Expanding the companys marketing strategy with respect to the SME market.

Representing the EBRD by monitoring compliance and procedures, making recommendations to the CAC management on relevant policies, and making recommendations to the EBRD for the expansion of the programme.

Sierra Leone - Accountability Project - Support to the Auditor Generals Office

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Strengthening governance and reducing corruption in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has ranked at the bottom of the United Nations Development Programmes Human Development Index for more than 10 years. Like other areas of public administration, the Office of the Auditor General was weakened by the civil war, a lack of resources, and a deterioration of government accountability systems. Weak financial management and information systems, shortages of qualified staff, and a weakened Parliament constrained the offices ability to act as an independent assessor of government financial activities. In consortium with PKF LLP, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, and the Swedish Institute for Public Administration, DAI is worked to improve the quality, quantity, and impact of public sector auditing through support to the Auditor Generals Office, the Public Accounts Committee, civil society groups, and the media through institutional and process development, training, and joint audits. Important aspects of the project included supporting improved audit legislation and the audit framework; assisting in development of the Public Accounts Committee; strengthening human resource capacity and management; providing audit training; improving procedures and practice for public sector external audit through development and testing of audit manuals; and strengthening the role of the Audit Office in the national fight against corruption.

Serbia - Technical Assistance for the State Budget Preparation Process

Client: European Commission (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation)
September 2005December 2008

Establishing a budget planning process that improves resource allocation in the Serbian public sector

Serbia continues to face a challenging agenda of economic reform and transition, and public administration reform and governance issues are among the governments stated priorities. Through the State Budget Reform project, DAI is supporting the government in its efforts to strengthen public expenditure management and the move to a medium-term budget framework. The team works to introduce improved budget planning and preparation processes in the Ministry of Finance and selected sector ministries to 1) bring enhanced realism to the budget planning process by requiring that budgets are planned against realistic mid-term resource ceilings; 2) strengthen linkages between sector policies and strategies and budget allocations; and 3) allow and require budget users to utilise resource inputs more efficiently in the implementation of programme activities.

Serbia - Metals Banka - Western Balkans SME Finance Framework

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
September 2006December 2008

Supporting the growth and development of private small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia

The financial sectors of the Western Balkans are characterized by low penetration and limited intermediation. Only a few financial intermediaries seek out small businesses customers, and conservative collateral requirements and cumbersome credit procedures further limit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to finance. The EBRD has established an SME Finance Facility to support Western Balkans countries in the transition to a market economy by strengthening the financial system and by increasing SMEs access to finance via the banking system, thereby enabling the SMEs to increase production and employment. DAI works with Metals Banka to incorporate high-quality lending as an integral part of its ongoing business activities.

Russia - Public Sector Institutional Reform Project

Client: European Commission (Tacis)
Project Completed (2007)

Increasing the efficiency of public sector service delivery for the benefit of Russian society

DAI supported ARCADIS BMB on this project, which aimed to increase the efficiency of the Russian public sectors service delivery. Specifically, the project ensured that state services comply with set standards and are accessible to citizens, including in electronic form. The DAI team created administrative regulations and implementation mechanisms for selected state ministries, agencies, and services and defined and designed standards for selected state services as well as a system of quality assessment and a mid-term benchmarking system. A further goal was to devise a system of flexible indicators to measure state performance for selected departments (internal indicators) and the delivery of state services (external indicators). DAI developed a system of e-government, compatible with the existing Russian programme e-Russia and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines. The project introduced European experience and best practice in these areas, in line with common standards as established for a European Administrative Space, and adapted European Union experience and best practice to specific Russian circumstances where necessary.

Russia - Management of Sub-National Public Finance

Client: European Commission (Tacis)
April 2006December 2008

Improving the use of public finances at the subnational level

The economy of the Russian Federation has undergone a significant transformation since the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The general shift from plan to market economy is well under way and the so-called first-generation reforms, such as the liberalisation of exchange rates and the opening of the trade regime, are essentially completed. The government is now facing the more difficult second-generation reforms of medium-term structural and administrative reform. As a part of this process, DAI is supporting improvement in the use of public funds at the subnational level of government. The specific aim of the project is to support regional governments in introducing modern budgeting techniques and performance-oriented budgeting. This work includes the establishment of a public expenditure management system and operational tools for effective financial programming, accounting, and monitoring and evaluating on the subnational level. Furthermore, DAI is working to disseminate best practices in the budget process to other regions and municipalities through a train-the-trainer process and the replication of the model in selected regions.

Russia - Administrative Reform II Improvement of Public Expenditure Management

Client: European Commission (Tacis)
Project Completed (2007)

Advising on the current process of reforming the Russian state budget

The Russian economy is consistently growing and the government acknowledges that administrative reform, civil service reform, and reform of the budget system will be imperative to maintain the growth momentum. Subsequently, the principles of budget formation have to be revised in order to support the complementary public service reform efforts. After managing the State Budget Reform project from 2003 to 2005, DAI is now assisting the Government of Russia in its reforms to build up a comprehensive public expenditure management system. The team works closely with the government to strengthen the principles of mid-term performance-oriented budgeting in the Ministry of Finance and the line ministries. A wide range of areas are being improved, including reporting requirements, performance assessment, and control systems. Furthermore, DAI will advise on how to modernise control and audit systems, how to design appropriate systems of internal control, and how to improve access to information about the budget process and budget process reforms.

Montenegro - Education Finance Decentralisation

Client: Government of Montenegro
Project Completed (2006)

Promoting democratization and improvements in the adequacy, equity, and efficiency of resource allocation in education

The government of newly independent Montenegro is engaged in a long-term process of education reform to improve the quality of education. Currently, education (pre-school, primary, and secondary) is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Science (MES), but a key element of the governments reform agenda is to partially decentralise education funding by delegating financial responsibilities to municipalities. DAI is assisting MES in this process by developing the procedures of decentralised education finance. The project consists of four main components: 1) developing proposals for the optimisation of the school network on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis of school costs; 2) designing a funding formula to support efficient, equitable, and effective financing of schools; 3) developing mechanisms to decentralise education funding of non-staff costs to municipalities; and 4) strengthening financial management mechanisms in schools and proposing methods of financial management for municipal education spending.

Macedonia - SME Finance Framework Investbanka

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
February 2006December 2008

Developing and implementing a methodology for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises

DAI has been contracted by the EBRD to help Investbanka substantially increase its small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending activities. Team members are designing an appropriate SME lending methodology and programme to roll out at the head office in Skopje and at least five branches outside Skopje. The team is assisting with staff training on SME credit assessment and portfolio monitoring, as well as with the development of appropriate software solutions. These measures will then be backed up by the establishment of a credit risk management team to monitor the credit portfolio (especially exposure by client) and to review the financial analyses performed by loan officers.

Kazakhstan - Development of Standards for the Civil Service Provision

Client: European Commission (Tacis)
Project Completed (2007)

Developing an effective, professional, transparent, and customer-oriented civil service

Kazakhstan is one of the leading former Soviet countries in the field of public administration. Since independence in 1991, the government has implemented a series of economic and political reforms, but further improvements are required to ensure continued progress. DAI worked with the government to develop performance standards and performance indicators for the Kazakhstani civil service in selected pilot ministries and oblasts; the standards and indicators were later be extended across the whole public administration. The project involved a number of core activities, including consulting with citizens, undertaking performance surveys (and publishing their results), and adopting customer service charters that served as a contract to govern the standards of public service delivery in Kazakhstan. The project involved establishing a pilot one-stop shop for the provision of administrative services to Kazakh citizens in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. The overall project objective was to improve public service delivery, making it more responsive to the needs of the people, of better quality, and delivered efficiently and economically.

Hungary - SME Finance Facility - HVB Leasing

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2008)

Improving access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in Hungary

DAI was contracted to assist HVB Leasing Hungary to move from current leasing methodologiestypically based on asset financingto methodologies based on rigorous credit analysis of lessees. DAI team members worked to ensure that leasing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) was a sustainable business going forward, and that SMEs themselves had adequate access to lease financing. In particular, the team assisted with the following objectives:

Introduced a standardised credit scoring model to facilitate quick decision making regarding leases while ensuring a sound and thorough approach; - Reviewed the evaluation, approval and monitoring procedures currently used by the company;

Streamlined the organisational processes within the company;

Implemented the necessary organisational changes to ensure the successful implementation of the facility;

Trained managers and leasing credit officers in cash flow-based leasing analysis, accounting issues, risk evaluation, and funding optimisation;

Reviewed the marketing strategy of the company with respect to the facility; and

Provided senior management with training on management and sales techniques.

Egypt - Capacity Building Programme

Client: European Investment Bank
Completed 2008

Supporting the development of the private sector in Egypt

The overall objective of this programme project was to contribute to private sector development in Egypt and to help stimulate and strengthen the capacity of the Egyptian financial sector to provide services to private small and medium-sized enterprises. Accordingly, the DAI team provided technical assistance to build the capacity of the National Bank of Egypt and the Export Development Bank of Egypt by transferring best industry practices in the areas of lending and equity financing.

Bulgaria - SME Finance Facility - Union Leasing

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2008)

Building capacity in SME leasing to increase small and medium-sized enterprises access to finance

DAI was contracted by the EBRD to help Union Leasing (UL) build its capacity to incorporate small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leasing as a normal part of its ongoing business activities. In particular, the team conducted a comprehensive review of the micro and small leasing programme with UL in order to identify room for improvement. The DAI team focused specifically on ULs credit analysis procedures and practices, including the analysis of lessees financial performance and operating risks at the stage preceding the approval of the lease. The team also evaluated the performance of the information technology (IT) systems and their Basel 2 compliance. The analysis of the IT support was aimed at developing an in-house Integrated Leasing Information System. Finally, the team assisted with the introduction of an enhanced marketing approach based on media selection, new communication strategies, and client targeting.

Bulgaria - SME Leasing Facility - Hebros Leasing

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2007)

Introducing and improving leasing methodologies and systems at Hebros Leasing

DAI Europe was contracted to introduce and improve MSME leasing methodologies and systems at Hebros Leasing (HL) and assist with any organisational and operational changes. The Facility aims to provide short and medium term financing to SMEs, ensure adequate IT capacity for handling SME leasing contracts and to contribute institutional assistance to HL, primarily in the areas of Basel 2 compliance, risk analysis and marketing. In particular, DAI Europe consultants assisted with a market review of SME leasing requirements and with an evaluation of the present policies and methodologies of HL regarding IT support, risk management, reporting and marketing skills.

Bulgaria - SME Finance Facility - DSK SME Lending

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Project Completed (2007)

Increasing lending activities to small and medium-sized enterprises

DAI was contracted to assist DSK in the development of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) lending and to provide the following services:

Review all aspects of SME lending, with the aim of expanding the SME portfolio. This has involved restructuring and reorganisation of the bank in an effort to improve efficiency.

Review DSKs Credit Rating Model and design and develop the existing model into a more sophisticated statistical credit scoring model.

Train DSK lending staff via mentoring and classroom-based training in subjects including financial and business analysis, sales and marketing, and information technology solutions.

Develop incentive schemes for 130 SME loan officers and 100 SME sales officers.

Develop and implement a marketing strategy to help DSK realise its goal of becoming the leading local SME lender by leveraging its branch network and leading retail client base.

Jordan - Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality (SABEQ)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [Subcontract to BearingPoint]
September 2006September 2011

Improving productivity and Jordan's enabling environment

Improving Jordan's productivity will be the key to sustainable economic growth, job creation, increased wages, and improved standards of living. While the private sector is key to stimulating and sustaining growth, it cannot do so alone. The government plays a critical role by creating an environment that fosters private sector excellence. Despite the Government of Jordan's good intentions and various strategic plans for improvement, the Jordanian bureaucracy increases the costs of doing business, which, in turn, discourages private investment. In addition, current regulations and business-government relations are distorting competition and market dynamics, further constraining private sector investment in productive activities.

To address these issues, SABEQ works with both the public and private sectors to achieve two principal goals: 1) increasing the number of jobs available to Jordanians, and 2) enhancing the competitiveness of Jordanian firms (ranging from micro through small, medium-sized, and large). The program has four main components:

- Financial integrity, oversight, and broadened capital markets;
- Expanded trade and investment;
- Removal of government constraints to achieving private sector competitiveness; and
- Enhanced productivity (improved people/improved product).

DAI is the lead on component 4, working to improve skills, increase industry competitiveness, foster cooperation, and create more efficient value chains in Jordan's services and industries.

Worldwide - Fiscal Reform and Economic Governance

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2006September 2010

Addressing fiscal and governance issues in developing and transitional countries

Fiscal Reform II assists USAIDs Office of Economic Growth to support rapid, sustainable, and equitable economic growth in USAID-assisted countries by enabling USAID to better address fiscal and other selected economic governance issues that arise in developing and transition countries. Through Fiscal Reform II, DAI staff is called upon to:

Identify best practices and toolkits by supporting a research agenda that encompasses critical issues in fiscal reform and economic governance;

Develop seminars, workshops, training sessions, and other communications activities such as maintnance of a project website;

Provide field support to analyze situations, diagnose the problems, and help initiate the resolution process; and

Provide quick response field support for bridging or short-term implementation efforts to strengthen local capacity for fiscal management and economic governance.

Collectively, these activities will strengthen USAIDs understanding of the issues and potential solutions and facilitate access by missions and bureaus to the economic governance expertise and training resources needed.

Fiscal Reform II is a follow-on activity to the earlier Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization (Fiscal Reform I) Task Order, which was also implemented by DAI. [SEGIR Macro II IQC]

http://www.fiscalreform.net/

Philippines - Water Revolving Fund (PWRF)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2006September 2011

Reshaping how water and sanitation infrastructure is financed

The Government of the Philippines committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets by 2015. To meet the goals for water and sanitation, the Philippines must provide an additional 1415 million people with access to safe water and sanitation services.

The PWRF supports the Government of the Philippines ambitious plan to reshape how water and sanitation infrastructure is financed. The program uses innovative financing tools to support new infrastructure investment and strengthen water and financial sector institutions to improve access to and delivery of safe water and sanitation services to millions of people.

The program focuses on three specific areas:

Mobilizing more financing for water and sanitation infrastructure. Expanding water and sanitation services to reach an additional 14 to 15 million people means new investments totaling about $2.8 billion over the next 10 years. Existing national government and donor programs can cover a third of this need. The PWRF is leveraging concessional Official Development Assistance with market-based private capital to provide utilities with long-term affordable financing.

Expanding the number of viable water and sanitation infrastructure projects. The dearth of viable water projects is a significant constraint. The PWRF is initially financing projects identified in a demand study financed by the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation. The program is also promoting better long-range planning by utilities and helping the government establish a project development facility to address the financing issue.

Strengthening water and financial sector policies and institutional capabilities. Sustaining investments in water and sanitation services to expand systems and reach the unserved will require a wide range of policy, regulatory, and institutional reforms. The PWRF is using a transaction approach that focuses on pushing real projects to financial closure to highlight other reforms that require immediate attention to improve the enabling environment for private sector investment in water and sanitation infrastructure. [Water II IQC]

Afghanistan Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Activity (ASMED)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2006 - October 2011

Increasing opportunities for trade, employment, and investment

ASMED, which began in late 2006, is a three-year small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development assistance program. DAI is providing technical assistance and financial support to the SME sector and the organizations that support SMEs throughout Afghanistan. ASMEDs activities will have national reachheadquartered in Kabul, there are also two regional offices in Herat and Nangarhar, and two partner offices in Helmand and Badakshan.

With an overarching goal to increase opportunities for trade, employment, and investment in Afghanistan, ASMED focuses on five main economic development activities:

Gathering, analyzing, and disseminating Afghanistan market information;

Developing strong business services providers;

Strengthening and increasing the numbers of business associations;

Creating public-private sector alliances; and

Building the capacity of an Afghan private sector workforce.

Some specific examples of these activities are already taking place. For example, one of the challenges facing business associations is that they lack input in the future of the business regulatory environment. DAIs ASMED team is working to build a strong advocacy capacity among business associations.

SMEs themselves often find it difficult to identify investors to help grow their businesses. ASMED will assist SMEs in identifying foreign companies wanting to invest in the Afghanistan economy and then forming alliances with these firms.

Finally, there is a recognized need in Afghanistan to build the private sector skill capacity of recent university graduates and young professionals. ASMED implemented internship programs with Nangarhar University in Jalalabad and Kabul University in Kabul. Upon completion of a two-month business training course, 120 interns were matched with well-established, successful organizations and business people throughout the country. The program allowed participants to learn requisite skills and then take that knowledge to businesses, organizations, and government agencies throughout the country.

To view a pair of videos on ASMED's innovative programming in private sector development, click here and here.

USAID Afghanistan Web Site

http://www.asmed.af

Afghanistan Local Governance and Community Development (LGCD)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2006April 2011

Increasing stability by building public confidence in the Afghan government

LGCD assesses community needs and implements local stability initiatives, and maintains these initiatives through Afghan-led community development programs. In doing so, LGCD works in partnership with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA), local communities and their leaders, and U.S. Government partners at the provincial and district levels.

Programs are funded through various mechanisms, from community stabilization grants—typically under $10,000—to larger procurements designed to rehabilitate community infrastructure or provide cash for local labor.

Our assessments identify local causes of instability and provide analysis to help design of cost-effective interventions. Examples include agriculture and irrigation assessments, tribal mapping, opinion polls, and institutional capacity assessments.

As the GIRoA reestablishes, or establishes for the first time, its local presence, initiatives are launched to help communities recover from conflict by improving basic life support. Examples include restoring essential goods and services, including providing food and shelter; repairing and equipping schools and health facilities; and undertaking labor-intensive basic infrastructure repair using local workers.

To maintain progress, Afghan leaders and stakeholders focus on community development activities that address local priority grievances, identifying, conceptualizing, implementing, managing, and monitoring the projects. Examples include renovating district government infrastructure, executing basic irrigation projects, refurbishing shops and bazaars, building farm-to-market gravel roads, and providing services that address basic hygiene.

All activities aim to assist the GIRoA in maintaining stability. To this end, in addition to helping design projects, government officials show their support and ownership by participating in public events such as opening ceremonies.

LGCD operates in 23 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Work in each province is managed by a Provincial Stabilization Director, who in turn reports to one of six Regional Directors. Each Regional Director oversees LGCD activities from one of six regional offices.

Programs are implemented in close coordination with USAID Field Program Officers assigned to Afghanistan’s Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Since these PRTs include representatives of the U.S. military and Department of State, LGCD keep each informed of its activities through briefings and dissemination of program materials. We also draw on nongovernmental organizations in our decision making.

Afghanistan LGCD Success Stories

Baghi Seraj Park Opening Mehtarlam Before and After Sheikh Mesri Road Rehabilitation Before and After New School Improves Education Services in Remote Goshta Provincial Governors Face the Nation Road Project Links Community, Builds Peace

USAID Afghanistan Web Site

Angola - Fiscal Reform Project

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2009

Improving fiscal accounts, transparency, and fiscal planning and discipline

In the peace following three decades of civil war, Angola, faced the formidable challenge of building basic infrastructure, establishing social services, and addressing widespread poverty. If properly managed, oil wealthalready accounting for 40 percent of gross domestic product and 80 percent of government revenueshad the potential to drive Angolas social and economic recovery. In 2005, the economy grew 18 percent, fueled by increased oil production and rising prices on the world market. With oil prices at record levels and oil production estimated to double in the next several years, the Government of the Republic of Angola had to consider how to make wise use of the revenues this windfall afforded it.

AFRP was based on DAIs earlier work performed under the Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization project, which designed the Fiscal Programming Unit (FPU) in the Ministry of Finance and initiated its inauguration. DAIs AFRP team assisted the FPU to improve fiscal accounts, transparency, and fiscal planning and discipline.

The team helped the FPU recruit, train, and retain qualified professionals; worked with FPU staff to ensure that fiscal data are recorded in such a way that financial reports can be produced on both cash and accrual bases; and helped to devise a schedule that linked the revenue, expenditure, and financing operations of agencies with the governments chart of accounts. Part of DAIs work with the Ministry of Finance included the development and installation of a Medium Term Fiscal Framework, which was key to development of the countrys economic goals and economic stability.

Indonesia - Agribusiness Market and Support Activity (AMARTA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2006September 2009

Helping Indonesian agribusiness evolve to meet the challenges of the global economy

Indonesian agribusiness is changing for the better, pursuing new supply chain models (such as hypermarkets), products, and business structures. Yet Indonesian agribusiness must become even more dynamic to keep pace with the rapid transformation of agribusiness globally. At issue is not merely the ability of Indonesian products to compete in export markets, but the ability of Indonesian agribusinesses to hold their own against foreign competition in the domestic market.

DAIs approach focuses on improving productivity and quality, the keys to upgrading agribusiness value chains in Indonesia. High productivity and quality are essential in each link of the value chain, beginning with production: without high-quality primary food and fiber products at the start, no amount of downstream effort and expense will create a high-quality end product. To stimulate productivity throughout a value chain, the DAI team seeks out demanding customersforward-looking retailers, suppliers, and other intermediaries willing to pay a premium for qualityand transmits price signals to every firm and farm in the value chain as an incentive to upgrade production and improve quality. AMARTA also intervenes to ensure that enterprises have the inputs, financing, technical know-how, information, and incentives they need to respond to market demand.

The eight value chains with which the DAI team works are models for other agribusinesses of how productivity and quality can be improved and what the benefits to an enterprise will be. DAI therefore is implementing an ambitious public outreach, awareness, and education program that uses university curricula, national and regional conferences, alliances of agribusiness enterprises, training, and media campaigns.

http://www.amarta.net

Namibia Regional Trade Project (NRTP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Building the capacity and competitiveness of historically disadvantaged firms

NRTPs objective was to build the capacity and competitiveness of historically disadvantaged Namibian firms in the small and medium sector to enable them to trade and establish linkages with firms in Namibia, the Southern African Development Community region (for example, Angola, Zambia, and South Africa), and the United States.

The program, implemented in collaboration with the Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was meant to be operational for 24 months but was extended to 30 months with no additional budget.

NRTP had five primary components:

Build the capacity and competitiveness of historically disadvantaged Namibian firms;

Support historically disadvantaged Namibian firms in exploiting franchising opportunities;

Implement a business matchmaking service;

Implement a marketing service; and

Assist historically disadvantaged Namibian firms to access financing.

Bangladesh - Katalyst Impact Assessment

Client: U.K. Department for International Development
June 2005-December 2009

Assessing the impact of a developing service markets program

DAI is carrying out a longitunal impact assessment of the multi-donor-funded Developing Business Service Markets (DBSM) Katalyst Programme. The assessment, which analyzes the programs poverty reduction impacts and its effects on women, began with a baseline survey and qualitative assessment of treatment and control areas.

Project staff are researching two primary topics: Pro-Poor Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh: The Role of Business Service Market Development, and Business Service Market Development and Womens Roles in Business. The papers will be presented at a final workshop in Dhaka.

Serbia - Municipal Economic Growth Activity (MEGA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [subcontractor to The Urban Institute]
September 2005-September 2010

Improving Serbia's business environment

Under subcontract to the Urban Institute, DAI works to improve the environment for local economic development in Serbia. The project operates at both the local and national levels to promote policies and practices that will create jobs, new businesses, investment, and public-private partnerships.

Initially, MEGAs work is focused on 10 large Serbian municipalities; an additional 10 to 14 will be added with a focus on assistance related to attracting foreign direct investment.

MEGA builds upon the work of DAIs Serbia Local Government Reform Program, which trained 24,000 municipal personnel, introduced the concept of public budget hearings for the first time ever in Serbia, and established innovative Business Improvement Districts and one-stop shops for all citizen needs.

Equatorial Guinea - Technical Support Program to the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (TSP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
August 2006October 2009

Building the capacity of the Government of Equatorial Guinea to manage a social services funding mechanism to address the needs of its citizens

The recent surge in gross domestic product in Equatorial Guinea has yet to translate into visible improvements in infrastructure development and the provision of public services. Most Equatoguineans continue to live in poverty, to lack education, and to suffer from poor health. Although the financial resources to resolve these challenges are available, there is currently no adequate mechanism to disburse them and, because of insufficient education and professional training, there are too few skilled professionals to thoughtfully design programs, execute activities, and manage projects.

To overcome these problems, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo decreed the establishment of the Social Needs Fund (SNF) to ensure equitable distribution of resources and improved services for Equatoguineans. Through the USAID Technical Support Project, DAI assists the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to achieve its goal by improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability in social planning and investments.

DAI provides experts to advise on the design and operation of the SNF, a transition mechanism that increases ministerial capacity and that functions as a catalyst to improve public service delivery. The team also implements a carefully designed and integrated capacity-building program for the Ministries of Health, Education, Womens Affairs, and Fishing, Environment, and Sanitationas well as assistance to the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning and Public Investmentto support the SNF and lay the groundwork for sustained improvements in civil service capacity and knowledge, intergovernmental coordination, and service delivery. [BRDG IQC]

Macedonia - Municipal Management of Macedonian Schools Program (MMMS)

Client: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Project Completed (2007)

Building local capacity for education governance

The Republic of Macedonia has made decentralization and the promotion of democratic local governance a principal part of its commitment to restore, revitalize, and expand democratic practices.

The goal of MMMS was to provide technical assistance and training to local governments to improve their ability to undertake their new responsibilities in the area of school management. In implementing MMMS, DAI pursued a two-track strategy with components that mutually reinforced each other. The first component provided local governments and, to a lesser extent, school directors, school boards, and school inspectors with the training they needed to execute their new responsibilities and to work together to improve their schools. The second component provided ZELS (the association of units of local self-government in Macedonia) with a combination of expert advice and analytical support so that local governments effectively worked with the national government to improve the education system and disseminate best practices across a decentralizing education system.

The program was organized in two stages. The first stage focused on providing direct technical assistance to eight municipalities and on developing best practice models of local education management. This stage ended in February 2007. The second stage, begun in March 2007, focused on providing intensive training on the implementation of these best practices to the wider local government community. Throughout the life of the program, MMMS supported ZELS to improve the regulatory regime governing the sector and to improve the associations capacity to provide policy advice to its members.

Haiti - Support to Haiti's Microfinance, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector (Haiti MSME)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development [AMAP MF IQC]
Project Completed (2009)

Strengthening and expanding outreach of sustainable and dynamic microfinance in Haiti

Haiti MSME's activities encourage the improvement of livelihoods and the creation of employment through broader access to financial services. It leverages prior USAID project successes to reach a target population that includes both potential generators of income and livelihoods (such as rural and agricultural micro and SMEs and market-oriented enterprises) and the poor and vulnerable populations (for example, out-of-school youth, HIV/AIDS-affected populations, women, and rural populations).

DAI staff encourage the development of innovative financial services to the target population through its project intermediaries, which include microfinance and other financial institutions, financial service associations, and producer groups and associations, among others. Haiti MSME activities jump-start product development initiatives, eliminate regulatory constraints, and solidify microfinance and other financial institutions' capacity. The goal is to enable the target population to access financial services to help them weather economic shocks, respond to market opportunities, and invest in business growth. Haiti MSME draws on an integrated set of tools:

Performance Innovation Fund (PIF). This $1.2 million grant fund helps Haitian institutions develop innovative products adapted to Haitian needs and improve their capacity to manage increased product and client diversification.

Development Credit Authority (DCA) Guarantees. A type of structured financial solution to encourage financial institutions to meet the financial needs of MSMEs by mitigating some of their risk. Participating institutions also receive tailored technical assistance.

Capacity-Building Training and Technical Assistance. Haiti MSME assists those financial institutions best positioned to expand the delivery of financial services to MSMEs. Haiti MSME pairs local technical experts with international technical experts as a way of transferring knowledge.

Market Information Activities. Haiti's financial institutions lack access to reliable market information, which impedes their ability to exploit business opportunities. Often, they are reluctant to develop new products and expand product offerings to new types of clients. Demanders of financial services also lack critical market information: what services are available, from whom, where, and at what terms. Haiti MSME addresses this market information constraint by conducting an annual microfinance census that presents and analyzes industry trends, sharing institutional performance information for core institutions on a quarterly basis, compiling a directory on microfinance institutions' product and service offerings; and disseminating geographical information system maps to graphically illustrate the availability and distribution of financial services.

Haiti MSME Newsletter

Issue 5 (July - September 2008)
Issue 4 (April - June 2008)
Issue 3 (January - March 2008)
Issue 2 (October - December 2007)
Issue 1 (October 2006 - September 2007)

Haiti MSME Success Stories

USAID/Haiti and Sogesol Invest in Economic and Political Stability
ACME and USAID/Haiti Celebrate 10 Years of Success in Microfinance
First National Federation of Credit Cooperatives
National Association of Microfinance Institutions in Haiti (ANIMH) Launches its Training Center
Reaching Out ï¿½ Rural and Agricultural Finance in Haiti
USAID Builds Local Capacity in Haiti
USAID/Haiti and Fonkoze ï¿½ Serving the Rural Poor with Innovative Financial Solutions
AIC and Fonkoze Invest in the Microinsurance Sector
USAID/Haiti Reinforces Rural Microfinance Institutions

Note from the Field

Reaching the Rural Poor with Microfinance

http://www.microlinks.org/haitimsme

Liberia - Building Recovery and Reform through Democratic Governance (BRDG-Liberia)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Supporting activities that contribute to Liberias democratic transition

Since 1979, chronic instability has plagued Liberia. Peace was restored in late 2003 when warring factions signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement and in January 2006, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated, marking the end of the transition to peace and the restoration of democratic self-rule. The DAI team worked with the new government to increase legitimacy, strengthen public sector management, and promote implementation of policy and institutional reforms. In addition, DAI built concrete and positive communications channels and relationships between the citizens and their state institutions.

With the goals of strengthening the newly formed governments ability to govern effectively and respond to the publics needs, broadening civil societys participation in the political process, and consolidating regional stability, DAI employed quick impact grant and technical assistance mechanisms. During the one-year program, DAI administered approximately 100 grants to Liberian nongovernmental organizations and mobilized Liberian, West African, European, and North American expertise to assist the government and civil society to build sustainable institutionsinside and outside of governmentto continue Liberias undertaking of fostering democratic governance, social reconciliation, and economic opportunities for its citizens.

BRDG Success Story

Debate Camp Builds Students Power to Persuade

Indonesia - Community-Based Avian Influenza Control (CBAIC) Project

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
August 2006 - June 2010

Towards sustainable bird flu risk reduction

Indonesia accounts for the most confirmed human H5N1 avian influenza (AI) cases and deaths in the world. At the epicenter of the AI epizootic since soon after its reported emergence in poultry in early 2004, Indonesia has been aware of its need to expand its surveillance and response capabilities. Since its inception in August 2006, CBAIC has worked with the Government of Indonesia and local partners to do just that. CBAIC has expanded community-level capacity in animal and human surveillance and response to more than 27,000 different villages across the western half of the country.

Highlights

CBAIC trained and certified 80 master trainers, who, in turn, trained 1753 volunteer subdistrict AI coordinators and 25,210 village AI coordinators in more than 124 districts across nine provinces in western Indonesia. This was accomplished through close collaboration with two local partners: Indonesian Red Cross and Muhammadiyah, whose existing community-based networks and resources facilitated training and dissemination of key messages to reduce the risk of AI transmission between animals and humans.

CBAIC designed and implemented an integrated program of behavior change communications initiatives, to support the surveillance and response program. Initiatives included edu-taining community events in high risk areas, production and distribution of a variety of print materials, and a hard-hitting nationwide mass media campaign (see link below to "Intensive Mass Media Campaign Reinforces Community-level Risk Reduction Messages").

The CBAIC commercial poultry private sector partnership (PSP) program has directly reached more than 250 commercial poultry farms in western Java Island with key biosecurity and flock management training to improve disease control and farm production.

CBAIC designed and implemented intensive community mobilization activities in West Java province. These efforts include creating village AI teams, partnering with local markets, and training local public health cadres to increase hygiene and sanitation to reduce disease risk. By the end of 2009, these initiatives, along with supporting communication activities such as community variety shows, directly reached 11,270 people in more than 1000 villages.

Current Work

Sustainable risk reduction continues to be the objective of the project, which ends in June 2010. As mentioned above, the geographic focus is western Java Island, where nearly seventy percent of all confirmed human and animal AI cases in Indonesia have been recorded. To ensure efficiency and to leverage the reach of the diversity of AI control initiatives in Indonesia, CBAIC continues to collaborate with USAID AI partners including FAO, WHO, ILRI, the Ministry of Agriculture AI Campaign Management Unit (CMU), the Ministry of Health, and local government officials.

CBAIC initiatives include a community mobilization program to reduce the risk of AI transmission in West Java province, a commercial poultry PSP to develop and test biosecurity advisory services models, and an integrated behavior change mass media campaign as follow-on to two previous campaigns. Combined, these activities are well aimed to further reduce the risk of AI transmission to animals and humans, and, ultimately, to reduce the risk of pandemic influenza developing from deadly bird flu.

Program and Activity Highlights

Intensive Mass Media Campaign Reinforces Community-level Risk Reduction Messages

CBAIC provides technical direction in the design and execution of the Indonesian government's first national multisectoral workshop on National Pandemic Preparedness Plans.

CBAIC supports Indonesian scouts as change agents to reduce risky behaviors

Success Stories

Community Combats Avian Influenza with Homework, Ingenuity

Community Spurred To Action by Educational Mass Media Campaign

CBAIC in the News

Community-Based Avian Influenza Control Project featured in Jakarta Post

The Avian Influenza Roundup
A quarterly collection of Indonesian avian influenza information.

February 2010 (English)
February 2010 (Bahasa Indonesia)

September 2009 (English)

April 2009 (English)
April 2009 (Bahasa Indonesia)

January 2009 (English)
January 2009 (Bahasa Indonesia)

October 2008 (English)
October 2008 (Bahasa Indonesia)

July 2008 (English)
July 2008 (Bahasa Indonesia)

April 2008 (English)
April 2008 (Bahasa Indonesia)

January 2008 (English)
January 2008 (Bahasa Indonesia)

Further Information

Click here and here to view the English and Indonesian versions of the CBAIC project description booklet or write to CBAIC@dai.com for more information

The CBAIC program summary on the Communication Initiative Network

Click here to view the 2010 CBAIC commercial poultry PSP flyer (English)

Click here to view the 2010 CBAIC commercial poultry PSP flyer (Bahasa Indonesia)

Click here to view the 2009 CBAIC commercial poultry PSP flyer (English)

Click here to view the 2009 CBAIC commercial poultry PSP flyer (Bahasa Indonesia)

Sudan - Transition Initiative

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Strengthening Sudanese capacity to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement

DAI supported and managed small grant activities that aimed to strengthen Sudans transition to democratic and civilian rule and supported the understanding and implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005. In North Sudan the project attempted to broaden popular engagement with the CPA, which included developing an understanding of human rights, building the capacity to monitor and seek redress for abuses, and broadening access to information through support of the independent media.

In Darfur, the project supported a range of civil society partners working to protect civilians displaced by the conflict, especially women and girls subjected to sex and gender-based violence. Since May 2006, project staff supported understanding and implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement via the African Union and local partners. Because of U.S. Government sanctions on Sudan, the project was prohibited from working directly with government partners in North Sudan.

In the 10 states of the Government of South Sudan and two of the three Transitional Areas, DAI aimed to enhance public confidence in the CPA and the new government. The project provided direct support to regional, state-, and county-level administration in the form of office-in-a-box kits and through reconstruction and rehabilitation of essential social infrastructure (hospitals, schools, roads) and the development of water and sanitation services in key urban centers to accommodate the increased post-war demand created by returning internally displaced persons and refugees.

The Sudan Transition Initiative supported the practical implementation of the CPA in alignment with the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives six country objectives for Sudan:
Support emerging civil authorities;
Provide opportunities for peaceful dialogue among communities;
Promote engagement of civil society in support of the peace process;
Increase availability of quality, independent information;
Protect vulnerable populations in Darfur; and
Provide essential services for returning populations.

Serbia -- Preparedness, Planning and Economic Security Program (PPES)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
May 2006May 2011

Strengthening local planning and crisis preparedness and response capabilities and improving the economic security of vulnerable groups

USAIDs Strategic Objective 2.11 addresses conditions that might undermine the potential for a functioning marketing democracy and increase the risk of future civil conflict or political instability. PPES is a major part of this Strategic Objective.

DAI is implementing the program in selected vulnerable areas of Serbia in three phases with two main components: 1) supporting emergency preparedness planning in municipalities most at risk for crisis, and establishing the means for rapid response in the event of crises, including conflict; and 2) reducing the risk of conflict by improving economic security and addressing social conditions that breed discontent. By focusing on a carefully chosen group of highly vulnerable municipalities, PPES will contribute to reducing economic insecurity and political instability and to the ongoing planning initiatives of the Stability Pact and the broader, longer-term Euro-Atlantic integration. [ICRP IQC]

Philippines - Private-Sector Financing for Water and Sanitation in the Philippines

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Enhancing financing of water and wastewater infrastructure

DAI is helping the Government of the Philippines and key stakeholders design a revolving fund for the financing of water and wastewater infrastructure. The project is a collaborative undertaking of USAID and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which have agreed to jointly support the Millennium Development Goal targets for water and sanitation in four countries, including the Philippines. The revolving fund, based in part on the U.S. state revolving fund models, offers the Philippine government the opportunity to leverage loans from bilateral and multilateral donors, starting with JBIC funds, with domestic financing from private financial institutions to lower the cost and extend maturity of loans to water service providers. Key elements of our program involve helping the government assess and assign institutional responsibilities for managing the fund, mitigating risks to private financing institutions, and determining how to blend donor and private-sector capital to meet the financing and repayment requirements of long-term infrastructure investments. This project is directed by a Steering Committee composed of representatives from USAID, JBIC, the Philippine Department of Finance and National Economic Development Authority, and the Bankers Association of the Philippines. In addition, the project works with a diverse array of stakeholders including local governments, water utilities, nongovernmental organizations, private financial institutions, and the government development banks.

Worldwide - Short-Term Technical Assistance In Biotechnology

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2005September 2010

Building governments capacity to make informed decisions in assessing and regulating biotechnology

Despite the potential benefits of biotechnology, few technologies throughout history have caused as much controversy. Its application has raised concerns about safety to human health and the environment, as well as issues of technology access and equity and potential impact on politics and trade.

DAI and its team members provide technical assistance primarily to developing-country governments to help them make informed decisions and to draft national biosafety frameworks in line with their international obligations. The DAI team provides technical assistance to build the capacity of local institutions to make decisions on issues specifically relating to cotton, food aid, trade, and biosafety, and the regulation of biotechnology. The team works with USAID, government counterparts, and other stakeholders to design and deliver cutting-edge conferences, study tours, and policy briefs and to field international experts for short-term technical assignments.[RAISE PLUS IQC]

West Bank and Gaza - Strengthening the Accountability and Transparency of the Legislative Process (BAYAN)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Working to create a stable system of self-governance

The strength of democracy in Palestine depends heavily on the ability of its citizens and their representative organizations to evaluate the performance of their elected officials, to gain the capacity and will to participate effectively in the legislative process, and to have sufficient timely information to perform these crucial citizen responsibilities of oversight and advocacy.

The BAYAN project-nicknamed for an Arabic word-worked closely with leading Palestinian civil society organizations (CSOs) to build their capacity to conduct legislative oversight, information analysis, and dissemination and advocacy campaigns.

BAYAN also supported the establishment of a nonpartisan legislative development unit that provided needed resources and sustainable support to the broader legislative community, including CSOs, to gain the needed training and expertise to fulfill their role in the legislative process. BAYANs approach emphasized responding to the initiative and needs of the Palestinian civil society community and supporting practical and sustainable projects that address issues facing Palestinians now and in the future.

Worldwide - Global Care Initiatives Planning

Client: Abbott Laboratories
Project Completed (2005)

Working with the private sector to support HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and training

DAI is assisting Abbott Laboratories to develop a five-year strategy for its Global Care Initiatives (GCI) program, which supports HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and training efforts in India, Romania, Malawi, and Tanzania. DAI is working with the GCI team to establish its 20062010 program strategy and goals, plan new activities, and adjust existing programs to fit the new strategy.

Nigeria - Restructured Economic Framework for Openness, Reform and Macroeconomic Stability (REFORMS)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
July 2005 August 2009

Removing obstacles that hinder the ability of Nigerias non-oil economy to grow and compete in an increasingly global marketplace

With its return to democracy, Nigeria has moved to the forefront of the African renaissance; now it must lead by example in the economic and social spheres. Over the past few years, Nigerian authorities have taken major steps to create a strategic framework for the federal budget, guide line ministries in charge of delivering services, and open federal procurement to competition. DAI is building on that success by deepening budget reform, expanding it to selected states, preparing key institutions in government and civil society to play an effective role, and supporting policy reform to make it easier for private enterpriseprimarily small and medium-sized enterprisesto respond to new opportunities and challenges.

The REFORMS program aims to improve the policy environment and address major impediments to economic growth in Nigeria. Program components include: 1) budgetary process and procurement oversight; 2) capacity building for Government of Nigeria institutions and civil society organizations involved in these policy process; and 3) implementation of policy reforms in key sectors.

REFORMS is designed to support the governments National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) goals: wealth creation, employment generation, poverty reduction, and value reorientation. The NEEDS policy reform goals will address the following key obstacles: poverty and inequality, weak public sectors, poor economic management, and an unfavorable environment for broad-based, private sector-led economic growth.

Indonesia - SENADA (Indonesia Competitiveness Program)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (GSA MOBIS IQC)
September 2005August 2009

Assisting Indonesia to generate jobs and income by improving the business and investment climates and promoting key industry value chains competitiveness, productivity, and access to domestic and world markets

SENADA is a four-year project financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Begun in September 2005, the objective of SENADA is to generate growth, jobs, and income by increasing the competitiveness of Indonesias labor-intensive manufacturing industries, including footwear, furniture, garments, auto parts, and information and communications technology (ICT).

DAI is working to achieve SENADAs objective with two interrelated components: industry value chain strengthening (IVCS) and enterprise improvement (EI).

IVCS SENADA has carefully examined and documented the nature and mechanics of the relationships between actors in select industry value chains. With the active participation of a wide variety of value chain actors, SENADAs IVCS component has facilitated the prioritization of critical systemic constraints and opportunities within value chains and is designing and implementing activities to improve the way these industries function.

Having a thorough understanding of the actors and dynamics throughout a value chainfrom input suppliers through final retail customersis critical to bringing about growth and change. SENADAs IVCS approach focuses on enterprises while incorporating the institutions and services integral to selected industries. National, provincial, and local governments; universities; financial, business service, and technology providers; and other supporting institutions are engaged stakeholders working side-by-side with SENADA and Indonesian enterprises to improve productivity.

EI The EI component of SENADA delivers technical assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises in SENADAs selected industry value chains. Recognizing that firm-level improvements can drive larger industry growth, SENADA focuses on the core producers within value chains. As individual firms improve productivity, supporting firms and institutions must rise to the challenge of strengthening the entire value chain.

SENADA identifies firms with high potential and commitment to growth and provides these firms with strategic planning support and specialized technical assistance in the areas of finance, production, quality improvement, and marketing.

West Bank and Gaza - Palestinian Enterprise Development (PED)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Stimulating economic growth, improving employment opportunities, increasing access to markets, and expanding Palestinian exports

PED represented a critical phase of USAIDs investment to support a viable market economy in Palestine. The project came at a sensitive time in the peace process, when USAIDs continuing leadership within the donor and Palestinian communities was required to catalyze positive change in a difficult environment. PED focused on strengthening democratic and market economy institutions, thereby maintaining positive momentum in the private sector and in key economic ministries so that the Palestinian economy can compete in the global market.

After the installation of a Hamas-led government in March 2006, the scope of the project was modified to provide a flexible humanitarian mechanism capable of fulfilling critical consumption needs and sustaining employment in the private sector.

PED had five components:

1. Improving the Business Operating Environment: DAI provided business support services (such as financial management, marketing, production, overhead control, legal); provided limited technical assistance and small grants to business institutions/associations that are able to deliver services to small and medium-sized enterprises; facilitated access to finance
(microfinance/bank finance); and established an apprenticeship program.

2. Supporting the Growth of Competitive Industry Clusters: PED provided targeted firm-level technical assistance for select firms in key productive and service sectors (such as food processing and healthcare) that fulfill critical domestic consumption needs. Tasks included supporting the agribusiness and pharmaceutical clusters and assisting clusters that support other consumption needs.

3. Energy Sector Policy Reform: DAI was contracted to conduct policy analysis and develop reform measures as they relate to legal and institutional reform, industry structure and ownership, and tariff and regulatory structure to help the Palestinian Authority improve management efficiencies in the energy sector.

4. Design and Manage a PED Grant Fund: DAI implemented a $3.5 million grant fund to support PED objectives.

5. Private Sector Monitoring and Assessment: DAI compiled data on industries and firms throughout the West Bank and Gaza to provide USAID with real-time information on the state of the private sector. This component was added to the contract in August 2006.

PED in the News
Aid Programs Show U.S. Commitment to Palestinians

Democratic Republic of Congo - Building Recovery and Democratic Governance to Advance and Consolidate the DRC Transition Program (BRDG-ACT)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Improving citizen understanding, trust, participation, and ownership in their government

Following a seven-year civil war that took a tremendous toll on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)economically, socially, and politicallythe country was on a path toward recovery. BRDG-ACT provided expertise that established effective and legitimate governance. The DAI team assisted in advancing the DRCs transition process until its successful conclusion with the installation of an elected, unified, legitimate government in 2006 and 2007, and then worked to consolidate and build democratic governance during the post-transition period.

To achieve these objectives, DAI provided expert long-term and short-term consulting and technical assistance, training services, applied research, workshops, conference organization and hosting, logistical support, and purchase of commodities. BRDG-ACT also awarded and administered grants to support nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in activities to advance the peace and transition process and democratic governance through institutional development and civic engagement.

BRDG-ACTs activities included the following:

Providing technical assistance to Parliament to help draft legislation and amendments.
Providing public hearing training for national parliamentary staff members, provincial assembly members, and NGOs.
Providing technical assistance to help develop an independent Magistrature.
Providing technical, logistical, and material support to the Independent Electoral Commission; the Political, Administrative and Justice Committee of the National Assembly; the Permanent Commission for the Reform of Congolese Law; and the entity responsible for implementing ex-combatant reintegration.
Funding media efforts to responsibly analyze and publicize the reform agenda of the DRCs newly elected government.
Improving transparency and accountability in government through facilitation of public budget hearings at the national and local levels.
Providing strategic planning assistance to NGOs and NGO networks.
Providing financial and technical support for anti-corruption commissions.

Burundi - Post Conflict Transition Assistance Program (PCTAP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Supporting post-conflict transition through the creation of effective government/civil society partnerships

PCTAP was established to provide assistance to the new Burundi post-transition national government and civil society organizations. International support to Burundi is underpinned by the thus far steady implementation of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement of August 2000 and focuses on consolidating gains since the landmark 2005 elections were concluded.

The PCTAP program sought to increase the ability of the post-transitional government to develop policies and deliver essential services in a transparent, inclusive, and conflict-sensitive manner. In addition, DAI worked with civil society organizations to promote peace and reconciliation activities on a grassroots level.

The program had four primary components:

Increasing the capacity of newly-elected government officials at the province, commune, and colline levels to govern in an effective and transparent manner.
Promoting a constructive relationship between elected government officials and civil society through an improved understanding of their respective roles and responsibilities.
Increasing the capacity of the national government and civil society to plan and implement national-level policies and build capacity in areas critical to successful post-conflict transition.
Increasing civil society to promote peace and reconciliation at the local level.

Cambodia - Strengthening Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Cambodia (Cambodia MSMEs)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (AMAP BDS IQC)
Project Completed 2008

Fostering an enabling environment that permits value chains to function more efficiently and productively

The Cambodia MSMEs project employs a market-driven, grassroots strategy aimed at alleviating poverty and fostering economic growth in eastern Cambodia. The project works in selected value chains in some of the countrys poorest provinces: Kratie, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng. The project works in several value chains, including aquaculture, pig raising, tile manufacturing, and agricultural equipment manufacturing.

The project aims to upgrade MSMEs and the value chains in which they operate by building relationships between value chain actors, improving producers technical skills, helping MSMEs access markets and credit, and assisting MSMEs to find ways to improve the provincial business environment. Exemplary activities include helping MSMEs to form interest groups to identify, discuss, and solve common problems; linking small producers with private sector input suppliers who provide embedded training and technical services; encouraging local education institutions to provide practical business skills training; promoting MSME cross-provincial and regional tours to expose them to potential new markets and business partners; facilitating MSME access to finance by helping entrepreneurs identify and qualify for loans from microfinance institutions; and setting up public-private dialogue to improve MSME advocacy and promote positive changes in the provincial regulatory environment.

http://www.cambodiamsme.org

Worldwide - LICUS Grant Proposal Review

Client: World Bank
Project Completed (2006)

Reviewing grant proposals for potential World Bank support

The Low Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS) Initiative supports World Bank engagement in countries at the bottom of the Banks performance spectrumcountries lack the governmental administrative and social service delivery structures to meet their citizens basic needs. Given the increased volume of proposals to the LICUS trust fund, and to meet the need for a more vigorous proposal review process, DAI has been asked to assess each proposals consistency with World Bank policies and country strategy documents; the overall quality, appropriateness, and feasibility of the proposed grant activities; the soundness of proposed institutional and implementation arrangements; the adequacy of the proposed funding level and detailed budgets; and other factors. DAI provides a report on each proposal, along with recommendations for possible changes or improvements to the proposed activities.

El Salvador - Tax Policy and Administration Reform (TPAR)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
August 2005 - April 2010

Modernizing Salvadoran tax administration to provide an efficient, transparent, and predictable tax system

The Salvadorian tax administration has lost its credibility among taxpayers. Although the Ministry of Finance has made efforts to increase voluntary compliance and tax collection and to reduce tax evasion and avoidance through structural reforms, it has not achieved its goal because of a series of problems related to administration, laws, and information systems. DAI is working with USAID and the Salvadoran government to build the capacity and systems required to achieve the Ministry of Finance's ambitious revenue targets; establish the impartial, transparent, and rigorous procedures necessary to reduce tax evasion; and create the analytical abilities necessary for the Directorate General of Internal Revenue to gauge the fiscal impact of current law and proposed reforms and to serve as an ongoing source of expert advice to senior policy makers. At the conclusion of the project, the Government of El Salvador will be able to rely upon a thoroughly modern and comprehensive tax system, endowed with the permanent institutional capacities to accurately project, vigorously collect, and impartially analyze the size and composition of critically needed government revenues. [SEGIR Macro II IQC]

Morocco - Improving the Business Climate in Morocco

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
July 2005September 2009

Facilitating private-sector growth through sound and transparent governance

Over the past decade, Morocco has made great strides in modernizing its economy and business environment. Regulatory reform has been driven by Moroccos membership in the World Trade Organization, the Association Agreement with the European Union, free trade agreements with other countries in the region, and the recent negotiation of a free trade agreement with the United States. Yet Morocco lags in terms of its underlying competitiveness structures, placing 8th among 12 Arab countries (as rated by the World Economic Forum), or 102nd out of 155 countries ranked by the World Bank in Doing Business in 2006.

The projects mandate is to assist the governments efforts to forge a legal and regulatory framework and build the institutions necessary to promote the growth of competitive businesses and accelerate the pace of job creation. The project takes a systematic approach to the implementation of regulatory reform to enhance the competitiveness of the countrys economy, build the regulatory and judicial systems and capabilities needed, improve the workings of the financial system, and remedy features of the tax system that keep many businesses from competing openly in the formal sector.

In the regulatory policy reform arena, DAI staff focus on establishment of a system of monitoring business climate and business perceptions at the national and regional levels; support for enhanced regulatory transparency; assistance in the development of improved investment promotion policies; support for transparency in establishing and accessing technical regulations and standards; and development of an action plan for more effective investment promotion policies.

The DAI team also supports judicial reform, including bankruptcy law reform; training and assistance for (mandatory) continuing legal education; support for the implementation of trademark opposition; strengthening of administrative systems in commercial courts; and expansion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms

Finally, the project supports development of a private credit bureau for bank checks and trade bills, modernization of registry systems for movable collateral, and improved access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. [SEGIR Macro II IQC]

Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Program (PLSP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2005May 2010

Enhancing the parliamentary processes through improved representation, lawmaking, oversight, and management.

Through the PLSP, DAI works with national and provincial legislatures to strengthen parliamentary institutions and processes. The programs focus is on improving the capacity of the legislatures in their representation, law making, oversight/accountability, and infrastructure/management activities.

Program activities in each of the legislatures are focused around these four general technical areas:

Representation Assisting Pakistani legislatures to provide information to the public and receive input from citizens during the legislative process.

Issues addressed include media coverage of Parliament, public hearings, parliamentary websites, dissemination of legislative records, and parliamentary public relations strategies.

Law Making Assisting Pakistani legislatures, including members and staff, to improve the structures and mechanisms by which legislation is analyzed, debated, and passed.

Issues addressed include committee structures, library and research, legislative drafting, and development of a Parliamentary Institute for Legislative Service (PILS)a cornerstone of PLSPthat will provide training to legislature members and staff and research and informational support to members.

Oversight/Accountability Assisting Pakistani legislatures to oversee government operations, particularly in the area of budget formulation and implementation.

Issues addressed include question period, budget process and scrutiny, public auditing.

Management /Infrastructure Assisting Pakistani legislatures to improve the day-to-day management and operation of the legislative processes.

Issues addressed include strategic service delivery, systems development and management, hardware and software improvements, and archiving and legislative records management.

PLSP Success Stories

Pakistans Parliamentarians Get Ready to Serve Their Country

A Star in the Making in Pakistan's Civil Service

Timor-Leste - Private Sector Development / Dezenvolve Setor Privadu (DSP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
July 2005July 2010

Accelerating economic growth through improved value chains

After enduring 25 years of occupation and conflict, Timor-Leste emerged as the worlds newest country in May 2002 and has made progress in rehabilitating its economy and building the key elements of a democratic political system. Timor-Leste still faces a multitude of challengesthe economy is stagnating, physical infrastructure has yet to be rebuilt, institutions are nascent, and the legal framework for private-sector growth is still in the making.

The DSP project aims to increase employment and incomes through private sector growth. Project staff work with enterprises, farmers, financial and commercial services providers, government, and donors. They utilize value chain analysis to identify interventions within subsectors that show potential. This process also highlights key crosscutting services and enabling environment reforms that must be addressed for overall development and growth of the private sector.

DSPs work is organized into four core program areas: agribusiness, financial services, commercial services, and the business enabling environment. The goal is to support economic growth and promote market efficiencies for agribusinesses, commercial enterprises, financial institutions, and the governmental entities that affect businesses. The project:

Supports expanded marketing of improved agricultural products by working with producer organizations to increase output, production efficiency, and quality, and by linking those organizations to buyers.

Supports private sector growth by increasing access to technical and business services essential for efficient enterprise operation.

Provides technical assistance to financial institutions to help expand access to credit, savings, and other financial services throughout Timor-Leste.

Facilitates business growth by helping to improve the countrys commercial and legal framework, making it more conducive to business formation and efficient operation.

DSP Success Story

Building Up Businesses in Timor-Leste

Zambia - Market Access, Trade, and Enabling Policies Program (MATEP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
April 2005April 2010

Promoting Zambia's promising exports

Moving away from its dependence on copper, Zambia has been focusing on nontraditional exports for some years. Government policies and reforms to open up the agricultural sector for direct foreign investment, eliminate foreign exchange controls, and simplify tax and tariff policies were significant in stimulating export growth, but exports can expand more rapidly and, thus, boost incomes in rural Zambia.

MATEP is designed to increase Zambias exports of agricultural and natural resource products into regional and international markets. The program is initially focusing on tourism and eight value chains: horticulture, paprika, honey, coffee, livestock, cotton, maize, and cassava. Exports of these eight, plus tourism, offer the greatest potential for growth over the project horizon, as well as for impact on Zambias economy and population. MATEP will assist stakeholders in other value chains in responding to opportunities as they arise.

Through MATEP, DAI works with the private sector to improve market access, with the public sector to remove policy and regulatory barriers to exporters, and with the financial sector to increase access to capital. The team is assisting the Zambian government and the Zambia National Tourism Board in the marketing of Zambia as an international tourist destination. In turn, the high quality demanded by international tourists will encourage Zambian agricultural suppliers to improve grades and standards for food and other products.

Collaborators on this project include DAIs African network company, ECIAfrica, and the Zambia Agricultural Technical Assistance Center, Ltd. (ZATAC), the Zambian center of excellence in agribusiness services and financial intermediation. DAI assisted in establishing ZATAC through a previous USAID-funded project.

Azerbaijan - Public Investment Policy Project (PIPP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Working with government and civil society to ensure responsible use of national income derived from oil and gas exports

Azerbaijan is enjoying a windfall from oil exports. Upon conservative assumptions ($18/oil barrel), Azerbaijan was envisaged to earn about $800 million per year during 20032008 and more than $5 billion per year beginning in 2008 (at a current oil price of $64/barrel). Oil production is expected to peak around 2011 and then plateau for a few years, and decline in 2024 to about one-quarter of the peak level. Beginning 2008 Azerbaijan planned to export natural gas as well.

To manage the rapid-but-controlled expansion of public capital spending over the next 10 years, the Government of Azerbaijan needed to strengthen its institutional and technical capacity in the areas of long-term planning, budget formulation, and project development and management. The core objective of PIPP was to help strengthen Azerbaijans institutional and technical capacity in the areas of long- and medium-term national and sector development planning; capital budgeting and public investment programming; project preparation, appraisal, and monitoring and evaluation; and extensive training programs to support these activities. [SEGIR Macro II IQC]

USAID Success Stories

Civil Service Employees Receive Public Investment Training

USAID Boosts Azerbaijans Economic Research Capacity

Afghanistan - Alternative Development Program/Eastern Region (ADP/E)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2009)

Fostering long-term alternatives to poppy cultivation for Afghanistan's farmers and rural entrepreneurs

In 2004, the eastern provinces of Afghanistan cultivated approximately one-third of Afghanistan's poppy. Nangarhar alone had 28,000 hectaresa 44 percent increase in area from 2003, and more than 70 percent of the households were involved, double the national average. In 2005, after a strong enforcement campaign by the governor, the poppy-growing area was reduced by 90 percent.

The farmers in these areas plant poppy because they can make more money growing poppy than they can by growing any of the many alternative crops available to them. As UN surveys have indicated, the threat of eradication is the only serious deterrent to their planting decision. The pressure is on to deliver alternative livelihoods to follow up the interdiction and make the reduction permanent and sustainable.

ADP/E is one part of a multi-pillar strategy, a balanced approach of incentives and disincentives; that includes public information, eradication, interdiction, prosecution, and alternative livelihoods. ADP/E's goal is to accelerate broad-based, sustainable regional economic development in the Eastern Region. The project has two objectives: 1) to help accelerate licit economic growth and business activity, and 2) to help provide an immediate alternative source of income to poor households whose livelihoods depend, directly or indirectly, on the opium economy.

Project activities are under way in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, and Nuristan with the participation and collaboration of local communities and shuras, provincial government, businesses, and ministry officials. These are aimed at increasing the competitiveness and diversity of regional businesses, both agricultural and non-agricultural; improving access to markets, inputs, and business services; rehabilitating productive infrastructure; building public and private sector capacity to function in a competitive and transparent economy; and specifically addressing the particular needs of populations that are heavily reliant on the poppy economy (mainly women and the landless).

ADP/E Success Stories

To watch a 10-minute video on some of the infrastructure work ADP/E has done, click here.

Afghan Farmers Producing Under Contract

Afghan Produce Enters World Markets

Afghan Women at the Center of Value Chain for Fresh Vegetables

Agricultural Trade Fair Brings Opportunity to Afghanistan

Bringing Vulnerable Women into the Workforce

Building a Strong Horticulture Industry

Eastern Region Restores Product Pride

Evidence That Money Grows on Trees

Jumpstarting Trade in Eastern Afghanistan

Preparing Afghan Veterinarians to Deal With Avian Influenza

Rural Women Take the Reins

Winning the Battle of Economic Growth

USAID Afghanistan Web Site

http://www.alper-af.com/

Worldwide - Support for the Social Investment of Abbott Laboratories

Client: Abbott Laboratories
Project Completed (2005)

Supporting Abbotts programs for people in developing countries living with HIV/AIDS

A leading global healthcare corporation, Abbott Laboratories believes strongly in global citizenshipfunding and implementing community health and development projects across the world. DAIs expertise in international development and grants management supports Abbott Labs Step Forward Program for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS, helping Step Forward improve care and innovate treatment for children in Romania, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and India. This support includes developing scopes of work, work planning, monitoring and evaluation, and program development and strategy; helping Abbott realize its potential as a pioneer and leader in this field.

Indonesia - Environmental Services Program (ESP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
December 2004March 2010

Creating a blue thread to link environmental and public health

ESP works with the Indonesian government and civil society to promote better health through improved water resources management and expanded access to clean water and sanitation services. Program staff work in the provinces of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra, East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, West Java, and Jakarta, reaching more than half of Indonesias 220 million people.

ESP takes a ridge to reefs approach to link water resources management with improved health, creating a blue thread with water as an integrating theme to connect environmental health with public health. Driven largely by provincial-level integrated initiatives, the program supports four main technical components:

Watershed Management and Biodiversity Conservation works with upstream stakeholders to stabilize and improve the supply of raw water to downstream urban populations. ESP promotes a landscape approach to improved land stewardship that integrates conservation of natural forests with high biodiversity value, restoration and rehabilitation of degraded forests and critical land, and sustainable utilization of agricultural land. Enabling conditions for improved land stewardship include policy support for land tenure necessary for responsible community-based forest management and payment for environmental services.

Environmental Services Delivery contributes to improving the delivery of clean water, sanitation, and solid waste management services to key urban and peri-urban areas. ESP works closely with municipal water companies and other relevant stakeholders to increase access to improved water sources, emphasizing the urban poor; with local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and community groups on city-wide and community-based sanitation systems; and with community groups and NGOs on solid waste planning and management.

Environmental Services Finance strives to leverage much-needed medium- and long-term public and private sector financing to stimulate investment in clean water production and distribution as well as sewerage system development. An additional focus is on development of financing options to reward upper-watershed communities for activities that help conserve a stable supply of raw water for their downstream neighbors.

Strategic Communications for Behavior Change includes both public advocacy and behavior change communications. ESP works with local media networks to build awareness of and discourse about key water, environment, and health issues through regular multimedia campaigns. Health and hygiene behavior change works with community groups and school systems on hygiene issues, especially hand washing with soap, to reduce the prevalence of diarrhea.

Zambia - Copperbelt Global Development Alliance (GDA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Strengthening partnerships and raising incomes among agricultural producers and buyers

Of Zambias nine provinces, the Copperbelt has fallen from the richest to the poorest. With the collapse of copper production in the 1980s, the regions residents must find alternative forms of employment and income. Many sought employment in agriculture, but farmers frequently struggle to earn an adequate income. By working with both the farmers who produce crops and the agribusinesses that buy them, this project worked to raise incomes and strengthen the relationship between buyers and sellers. Project staff promoted and replicated smallholder outgrower schemes in four program sites around the Copperbelt region. Of the 2,000 farmers that participated in the project, 120 produced coffee, intercropped with paprika and fresh vegetables; 100 partnered with a private agribusiness, Stravendale Farm, to grow vegetables for the domestic Zambian marketplace; and the remaining smallholders grew paprika for the large paprika processor, Cheetah Zambia. All of the business partners and farmers incorporated ethical best practices, which promoted a transparent system of exchange.

Haiti - Hurricane Jeanne Reconstruction Program (HJRP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Recovering livelihoods for those severely affected by Hurricane Jeanne

The floods that ravaged Haiti in the aftermath of Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004 had their origins in the upper watersheds of major river systems that empty at Gonaives and Port de Paix. The effects of intensive rainfall in these watersheds were aggravated by the degraded conditions of their surrounding hillsides. In addition to killing thousands, the flooding water draining off the hillsides damaged thousands of hectares of irrigated lands and put the livelihoods of thousands of households in jeopardy. This project tackled the immediate challenges faced by affected residents by restarting agricultural production, and began to address the roots of the problem by stabilizing the upper watersheds. In the lower parts of the watershed, the project helped water users associations replace equipment and strengthen their organizational capacity in order to restart and fortify irrigation enterprises. In the upper watershed, the project team assisted farmers in stabilizing hillsides and increased productivity. In both cases HJRP built on existing organizational structures so that assistance will have long-term benefits. Project activities included, but were not limited to, the Trois Rivières and its tributaries in the Port de Paix region, and the Quinte River and its tributaries.

Egypt - Lifting Incomes from the Environment Program for Water Resources Management (LIFE WRM)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Developing local capacities to manage water resources efficiently and sustainably

To improve efficiency and increase economic returns for farmers, the Government of Egypt is transferring water management responsibilities from Cairo to the local level. LIFE WRM provides assistance, training, small grants, and commodities to support the decentralization of water management decision making and increase participation in decision making among rural inhabitants. Activities focus on four irrigation directorates in two priority geographical areas: Zifta and West Sharkiya in the Middle Delta, and Qena and Aswan in Upper Egypt. USAID expects that decentralization and greater stakeholder participation will lead to more civic responsibility for the maintenance of water conveyance infrastructure and better management of liquid and solid wastes. The project will achieve these objectives by improving the technical and management capabilities of water users and by developing sustainable Branch Canal Water User Associations and Integrated Water Management Districts. [EPIQ II IQC]

Iraq - Marshlands Restoration Project

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2005)

Working with communities to restore the marsh environment and protect the inhabitants way of life

In southern Iraq, the Madan, or Marsh Arabs, had used the areas 15,000 to 20,000 square kilometers of marshlands to sustain their families and way of life for 5,000 years. Today, as a result of extensive marsh drainage and the construction of 32 dams under the Saddam Hussein regime, only 10 percent of the marshes remain. DAI is studying the area and implementing pilot projects to restore the region and make it environmentally sustainable and economically profitable for marsh dwellers. Project staff are working to improve the management of existing and newly reflooded marshlands. They are also exploring options for expanding restoration activities; developing, and reaching a broad international consensus on, a long-term comprehensive rehabilitation strategy; and assisting marsh dwellers by developing viable economic opportunities and fair social institutions.

IMRP Success Story

Date Palm Nurseries Bring Hope to Iraqs Marshdwellers

http://www.iraqmarshes.org

Ethiopia - Urban Agriculture Program for HIV-Affected Women (UAPHAW)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Complete 2008

Boosting incomes and improving vitality among women confronting the AIDS pandemic

Statistics released by the Ethiopian government at the beginning of 2005 showed that the HIV prevalence rate in urban areas reached a plateau. Some 900,000 people had died from AIDS-related illnesses since 1986 and that figure will double by 2008 if current trends continue, according to government predictions. Life expectancy had been cut by five years to 46 because of HIV and there are an estimated 379,341 orphans resulting directly from AIDS-related mortality. There is a pressing need to increase the number of HIV/AIDS-affected persons with access to HIV/AIDS support services in areas of prevention, care, and treatment and in areas that focus specifically on the nutritional status and income-generation abilities of AIDS-affected households.

Women remain particularly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of biological factors and because social and cultural institutions generally accept sexual violence, which increases infection rates. Women also bear the greater burden in the household for care of the sick and dying; girls are often the first to be pulled out of school when the financial impacts of HIV/AIDS are felt by the household; and widows face immense challenges in providing for their families due to their limited access to capita, inputs, capacity building, and markets.

UAPHAW was designed to address these concerns. The objectives of the project were to:

Improve the nutritional status of HIV/AIDS-affected families:
Improve the income levels of these families through sales of surplus garden crops; and
Improve the skills and alternative livelihood possibilities of HIV-affected women and orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs).

The project provided assistance in the establishment of low-cost, low-labor-intensive household nutrition gardens using simple microdrip irrigation technology to low-income HIV/AIDS-infected and -affected women and OVCs. In its first phase, the program was implemented in Addis Ababa and Bahir Bar; 4,882 HIV-infected and -affected women and OVCs established gardens, and 20,000 people benefited from them. In the second phase, the program expanded its scope and geographic coverage to assist 6,118 women and OVCs, benefiting about 25,000 people.

These gardens are particularly relevant to these target groups because they require half the water of conventional bucket water methods and half the labor, enabling the young and the elderly to participate. Combined with appropriate training, organization, and market linkages, these urban gardening systems generate food for household consumption as well as surplus for income generation. [AMAP BDS IQC]

Worldwide - Assessment of the Pro-Growth Focus of U.S. Government Economic Policies and Assistance Programs (SEGIR PGA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2005)

Evaluating U.S. government policies and programs support for economic growth in developing countries

Sustainable and equitable economic growth is one of the primary goals of international development. Growth in income raises standards of living and enables people to invest in themselves, in their childrens education, in preventive health care, and in their farms and businesses. This USAID-funded assessment classifies individual U.S. programs and policies according to their pro-growth focus and the size of their impact on the growth of developing and transitional countries. The assessment also provides recommendations for improving the pro-growth focus and impact of various programs, including, when possible, determining how to enhance indirect benefits and mitigate conflicts. Much of the assessment is qualitative, although quantitative studies are also used.

West Bank and Gaza - Palestine Information and Communication Technology Incubator (PICTI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Developing domestic capacity to deliver financial and business development services

One consequence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is sometimes overlooked is its effect on the economy and economic opportunities for Palestinians. Yet, the expansion of economic opportunity can be viewed as one avenue for easing the crisis in the region. To this end, DAI is supporting the Palestinian Information and Communication Technology Incubator, a for-profit, sustainable institution that is owned and managed by Palestinian professionals and will serve Palestinian companies. The incubator relies on local consultants to deliver services that facilitate the creation of a Palestinian consulting and financial services industry that will support the growth of information, communication, and technology enterprises. With a professional staff based in Ramallah, the incubator has advanced conference and telecommunications infrastructure. Screening criteria such as best growth potential and ability to attract private investment are used to determine entry firms. A business development unit provides business development services and mentors to the firms. The incubator continuously tests the market for new ideas and entrepreneurs. In addition, it builds public recognition, acceptance, and understanding of, as well as support for, the role information technology will play in the growth of the Palestinian economy. This project is being implemented by DAI staff based at DAIs Middle East operating company, DAI Palestine.

Mexico - Access to Rural Finance for Microenterprises (Acceso a las Finanzas Rurales para la Microempresa) (AFIRMA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
September 2004September 2009

Increasing economic opportunity through expansion of financial services to low-income entrepreneurs in rural areas

Mexican rural microentrepreneurs and households have been hard hit by both systemic and idiosyncratic shocks, such as the inherent volatility associated with agricultural production and the economic crisis of the mid-1990s. Restricted access to financial services has worsened the impact of these shocks by limiting access to safe deposit and remittance services, for example.

AFIRMA is designed to help build an inclusive, sustainable microfinance sector in Mexico as a means to increase access to a range of financial services and contribute to local economic development. It promotes the expansion of financial services to underserved and rural markets by providing targeted technical assistance, training, and grants to financial institutions. The projects objective is to expand retail operations of financial services companies serving these markets, especially remittances services. In addition, DAI is working to build the capacity of key government agencies that support the industry and to improve the legal, regulatory, and supervisory framework in Mexico through regulatory reform and policy dialogue. [AMAP MF IQC]

http://www.microlinks.org/afirma

Macedonia - Make Decentralization Work Project (MDW)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Building capacity of local governments while supporting Macedonias decentralization and democratization

Decentralization is an important component of lasting democratic development in countries such as Macedonia that are accustomed to a centralized autocracy.

This projectformerly known as Make Decentralization Work (MDW)was intended to raise the capacity of municipal governments to assume new powers under the decentralization that commenced July 1, 2005. Most of the work was at the local level, including direct, small-group or one-on-one technical advice. The project also invested in information technology hardware and software for municipal offices to support finance/budget, tax administration, and urban planning functions.

DAI team members worked with key ministries of the central government, including finance, education, transportation, and local self-government, to advise on and assisted with development of a workable legislative and regulatory framework for decentralization.

The project also provided technical and financial support to the Association of Local Governments (ZELS) and the Association of Providers of Communal Services (ADKOM).

MDW Success Story

Mayor's Initiative Doubles Tax Base in Macedonian City

USAID Decentralization Project (20042007): More Effective and Accountable Local Government
Click here to review the report in Macedonian, English, and Albanian.
.

http://dai.com.mk/

Lebanon Water Policy Project (LWPP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Bringing together government, business, and civil society to restructure Lebanons water sector

Under the Lebanon Water Policy Program (LWPP), DAI provides assistance at both the national and regional levels by supporting the Ministry of Energy and Water and the Water Establishments in Lebanon. DAI guides Lebanese ministry and water establishments officials through the complicated process of identifying and implementing sustainable financing and privatization techniques. DAIs team exposes key stakeholders to a range of privatization approaches, working with them to identify those most appropriate for Lebanon through seminars, study tours, and working groups. More than 200 participants from different Lebanese institutionssuch as the Ministry of Energy and Water, the Ministry of Finance, 21 water authorities, and five professional associationshave participated in these activities.

Resistance to change, especially with the introduction of new concepts and techniques in the water establishments, was a major obstacle for the DAI team. LWPP was able to overcome this resistance through continuous communication with the beneficiaries, including training sessions and workshops showing the importance of the projects work and its direct positive impact on employees daily operations. The team developed documentation and reference material in Arabic for the beneficiaries, increasing the projects credibility and contributing to ensuring the sustainability of the work.

To avoid overlapping and duplication of efforts, the DAI team organizes outreach programs to expose its work and the results and is in close coordination with other projects, funded by other donors, to make the best use of available funds. The work conducted by LWPPparticularly the data collection and the development of databasesis of great importance to the water sector as Lebanon prepares to undertake major reconstruction programs.

Indonesia - Support for Peaceful Democratization (SPD)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Distributing grants to civil society organizations that strengthen Indonesias emerging democracy

Indonesia has experienced tremendous political, economic and social change since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998. The country now enjoys one of Asias most pluralist and critical media, and has held internationally accepted general elections in 1999 and 2004. The transition from authoritarianism to democracy has not been free of serious complications and setbacks, however. One of the most disturbing effects of the breakdown of repressive state control has been the eruption of communal and separatist violence in many areas of the archipelago. Bottled-up and nurtured by decades of authoritarian rule, tensions between religious, ethnic and other social groups have come to the surface and plagued Indonesia since 1998.

The USAID Support for Peaceful Democratization Program (SPD) was a three-year program implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) under the Support Which Implements Fast Transition II (SWIFT II) IQC. This program assisted local organizations in their work to address violent conflict across Indonesia. While a range of conflicts affect every society, SPD aimed to address violent conflicts between groups with incompatible interests regarding the distribution of resources, control of power and participation in political decision making, identity, status, or values. SPD support was rapid and flexible, addressing urgent needs and overarching causes of conflict. SPD actively encouraged the involvement of women throughout the project cycle.

The overall goal of SPD was to develop a sustainable institutional capacity for building peace and resolving conflict throughout Indonesia. Using participatory processes, SPD strives to achieve this goal through activities in five thematic areas that aimed to support and strengthen civil society and public institutions:

Training to enhance understanding about and facilitate analysis of the underlying causes and consequences of local conflicts and technical capacity to implement conflict resolution approaches;
Skills development for initiatives aiming to establish democratically controlled, impartial and professional security forces;
Building peace and resolving conflicts through sustainable livelihoods initiatives in conflict-affected areas;
Capacity building through direct involvement in the drafting and monitoring of the implementation of relevant legislation in vulnerable and conflict-affected areas; and
Emergency assistance for persons directly affected by violent conflict. [SWIFT II IQC]

Georgia - Support to the New Government of Georgia (SNG)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2005)

Advising senior policy makers in the new government to develop a functional and transparent policy formulation process

Following attempts to manipulate the November 2003 legislative elections, protests erupted in many areas of this country. Two months later, Georgias citizens voted overwhelmingly to replace the sitting president with Mikheil Saakashvili. DAI is assisting this new governments national policy makers and supporting a U.S. Government Senior Advisor working with the Offices of the President and Prime Minister. Together, they are developing an effective policy formulation process in the executive branch, centered on democratic reform, greater public debate, and accountability in government. [SPIR IQC]

Timor-Leste - Small Grants Program (SGP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Helping a new nation establish self-governance and promote economic growth

The Timor-Leste Small Grants Program supported communities, organizations, and government in their efforts to build a stable, economically robust, democratic country through USAIDs strategic objectives: expanding economic growth, supporting good governance, and improving the health of Timor-Lestes people. With focused grant making and management, DAI helped build capacity in Timor-Lestes young government and its nongovernmental community by providing selected communities, organizations, and government offices with vital services and supplies, such as training and equipment.

SGPs grant-making efforts focused on USAIDs strategic objectives, while specifically ensuring that women and special groups received equal access to grant benefits. DAI strove for equitable geographic distribution of small grant assistance while incorporating key environmental issues. The program relied on its strategic vision and an integrated approach to adapt to the social and political dynamics of Timor-Lestes post-conflict development and assist in identifying, testing, and opening up new focus areas for USAID. Our carefully planned grant awards generated new opportunities for USAIDs long-term investment in several areas, including microfinance and land tenure. At the same time, we worked extensively with all three branches of Timor-Lestes new government as well as with local government offices in all 13 of the countrys districts and many subdistricts.

A key component of the programs effectiveness was DAIs participatory processworking closely with grantees throughout the proposal development process, reviewing proposals, and sharing proposal information with USAIDs strategic objectives teams. [SWIFT II IQC]

SGP Success Stories

Candlenuts Fuel Economic Growth in Timor-Leste
Building Up Businesses in Timor-Leste

http://timor-leste.usaid.gov/SG.htm

Central Asia - Agriculture Capacity Building (AgFin+)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Linking farmers to markets in three former Soviet republics

This project generates household income for farmers in the three former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Agricultural support is badly needed in each of these countries: in Tajikistan, the poorest of the republics, 67 percent of the work force is employed in agriculture, yet only 6.6 percent of the countrys land is arable; in mountainous Kyrgyzstan, agriculture accounts for more than a third of gross domestic product and more than half of the work force; and in Uzbekistan, more than 60 percent of the countrys residents live in densely populated rural areas. In each of these countries, AgFin+ will link targeted groups of farmers to specific markets, then help them overcome the obstacles to delivering products in those markets and capturing a return for their efforts.

Brazil - Micro and Small Enterprise Trade-Led Growth Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Expanding employment opportunities and supporting small business growth in Northeastern Brazil

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) make important economic contributions to the Brazilian economy, representing 20 percent of the total gross domestic product nationwide. However, although the MSE sector accounts for a large part of Brazilian businesses, it contributes a minimal percentage to Brazils exports, only 3 percent.

The USAID/Brazil Micro and Small Enterprise Trade-Led Growth Program was a pilot project, aimed at enhancing job and income creation through trade-led growth of MSEs.

The program focused on eight interventions: development of four clusters (açaí in Pará, cashew nuts in Ceará, honey in Piauí, and swimwear in Bahia) and four enabling environment initiatives (monitoring and evaluation methodology, trade finance enhancement, regulatory improvement, and a communication strategy to disseminate the results and lessons learned) For each cluster, DAI staff conducted a sector competitiveness evaluation and implemented trade-led strategy, leveraged existing cooperatives and associations of small producers to be competitive in a sustainable manner. [AMAP MF IQC]

Armenia Legislative Strengthening Program Phase II (ALSP II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Improving the capacity and responsiveness of Armenias National Assembly

As a former Soviet Republic, Armenia's legislative body is relatively young, but it has already made great progress and is eager to build a solid democratic tradition. As a subcontractor to Development Associates, DAI supported ALSP II to strengthen the National Assembly of Armenia. Following on the projects successful first stage, Phase II focused on revising the constitution, strengthening legislative committees, and creating avenues for further civil society input into policy making.

ALSP Success Story

Using the Web, Armenians Expand Their Democracy

Zimbabwe - Linkages for the Economic Advancement of the Disadvantaged (LEAD)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Empowering those most in need to emerge from poverty through increased access to opportunities

DAI staff are alleviating poverty for the most disadvantaged members of Zimbabwean society through economically empowering activities such as the creation of Business Opportunity Centers that provide information and training to youths, legal assistance in writing wills for HIV/AIDS-affected households, increased outreach of financial services to rural areas, and farmer association development. The project focused on microfinance and business development. DAI staff worked with local nongovernmental organizations and private companies to expand their life-enhancing and life-saving services to help the most vulnerable groups in Zimbabwe, such as orphans affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In August 2002, DAI launched the Legal Services Voucher Program to mitigate the economic impacts of HIV/AIDS on poor households. The program included five discrete voucher products covering wills, guardianship, opposed guardianship, maintenance claims, and property transfer. At the end of the first year of the pilot, DAI distributed 2,062 vouchers for legal services, of which 1,057 were redeemed. This was the first time a USAID-funded project explicitly used financial institutions and business services providers to mitigate the effects of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa.

LEAD Success Story

Simple Irrigation Kits Yield Life-Changing Results

Worldwide - Rural Financial Market Development

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Expanding USAID's capabilities to extend financial services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs

This project provides services on promoting rural and agricultural finance, and supports research and information dissemination to advise USAID missions and other staff on recent innovations in rural and agricultural finance, including leveraging value chain relationships to leverage financial institution lending, and project development work on weather-based indexed insurance in Peru and collateral registries in Colombia. The projects main components involve agricultural finance, savings and deposit mobilization, remittances and money transfer, legal and regulatory environment, and risk management strategies.

A major product of the project has been the development (in conjunction with other contractors under the AMAP contract) and delivery of a Rural and Agricultural Finance Workshop. Originally targeted to USAID cognizant technical officers to support the design and development of new long-term projects, the workshop has also been adapted to be a platform for a single-country strategic planning discussion. Other major activities include the Rural and Agricultural Finance Initiative (RAFI) Notes on approaches and interventions to expand rural and agricultural finance. These were also undertaken in cooperation with the AMAP contract. [BASIS IQC]

Worldwide - Assistance for Trade Capacity Building in Relation to the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (RAISE SPS)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Analyzing food safety issues in developing-country agribusiness and addressing the threat of avian influenza

Agricultural health and food safety are important to developing countries for many reasons. Apart from their obvious health benefits, sanitary conditions during field, processing, and shipping operationsand the international standards associated with these conditionsenable agricultural and processed foods to be exported to developed-country markets. Agricultural products crossing borders must also adhere to internationally accepted phytosanitary (plant health) standards, so that the risk associated with the possible transport of agricultural pests and diseases is minimized for the importing country. When developing-country governments and agencies request assistance related to these sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issues, this program allows USAID and implementing agencies to respond.

Under this task order, DAI undertakes technical research studies, conducts regional and subregional reviews, evaluates previous USAID- and other donor-funded SPS assistance programs, and carries out country-specific diagnostic studies of SPS issues. Of special interest are the relationship between SPS standards set by the private sector and those set by the public sector and the way the standards affect the participation of small farmers in domestic and international supply chains.

In 2005, the SPS mandate was expanded to support interventions to reduce and contain animal-to-animal and animal-to-human outbreaks of avian influenza (AI). Under this program, DAI has worked in more than a dozen countries, completing numerous rapid-response assignments including tabletop simulations; training state and private veterinarians in preventing, testing for, and diagnosing AI; developing electronic, print, and mass media messages; and delivering behavior change communication and training-of-trainers workshops on decontaminating AI-infected areas, rapid diagnostic testing, packaging and international shipping of AI samples, and the use of commodities such as personal protective equipment.

The primary components of RAISE SPS include:

Global Research Studies: What common SPS issues affect developing countries?

Regional Analytical Reports: What are regional trends related to SPS requirements?

Country Diagnostic Reports: How can individual countries achieve SPS compliance?

Project Evaluations: What are SPS activity lessons learned?

Project Designs: What investments should a mission make in response to SPS requirements?

National Assessments and Follow-Up In-Country Training: Is the National AI Preparedness Plan adequate? Are animal and human health specialists properly trained should an AI outbreak occur?

Worldwide - Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Providing technical leadership for USAID worldwide in fiscal reform, especially in support of trade liberalization

Fiscal Reform in Support of Trade Liberalization provided technical leadership and support to USAID and its overseas missions concerning all aspects of fiscal reform, including the fiscal aspects of trade liberalization. Based in Washington, D.C., the project researched fiscal issues in developing and transition countries; trained USAID officers in the fundamentals of fiscal policy and management; promoted knowledge sharing through workshops, seminars, conferences, and brown bags; and reached out to engage the wider public finance community of practice. The project also provided technical assistance to USAID field missions in fiscal reform and the fiscal aspects of trade liberalization. In addition, the project provided assistance in intergovernmental fiscal relations in India, tax and expenditure policy and administration in Guatemala, designing a fiscal system in Sudan, modeling the impact of trade liberalization on government revenues in Vietnam, and designing and starting up a fiscal programming office in the Ministry of Finance of Angola. In addition, the projects fiscal reform website provides an accessible platform for publishing project research, posting relevant literature, and presenting information on the projects field activities and public events. [SEGIR EP IQC]

http://www.fiscalreform.net

Worldwide - Financial Services Knowledge Generation (AMAP-FSKG)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Conducting research on innovative practices in microfinance

For more than two decades, DAI has been USAIDs partner in microenterprise development and microenterprise research, and has been involved in all of the debates about how to provide high-quality, sustainable financial services to low-income, informal sector businesses. As the debates and research continue, DAI and its partners continue to push the research frontier, identifying innovative, efficient, and cost-effective ways to extend financial services to poor and geographically remote clients. The new research and knowledge will increase the capacity of donors and USAID missions to design and strengthen the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of microfinance projects. DAI undertakes research in the following topic areas: rural and agricultural finance, commercial banks in microfinance, HIV/AIDS, remittances, financial standards, microfinance networks, housing, risk-based supervision, credit bureaus, the Development Credit Authority, and private debt placements, among others. Research is disseminated through reports, technical notes, conferences, training, and technical consultancies. For example, project staff are disseminating a training course on HIV/AIDS and microfinance that helps institutions think about how to mitigate the diseases impact on their bottom line and on staff. The course encourages institutions to think strategically about HIV/AIDS and implement changes that might include product refinement for clients affected by HIV/AIDS or a workplace program for staff. FSKG will finance four training sessions and continue to investigate how institutions use the training to implement program changes around HIV/AIDS. Further HIV/AIDS research focuses on new product development, specifically financial products that address the needs of communities and households affected by the pandemic. All program activities feed into a collaborative USAID knowledge management system focused on USAID staff, practitioners, other donors, and governments. [AMAP MF IQC]

Worldwide - Development Credit Authority (DCA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Designing and analyzing the next generation of DCA Credit Enhancements and communicating the important role of the DCA to increase its use and impact in international development

USAIDs Development Credit Authority provides flexible credit enhancement tools to encourage sustainable private sector investment in creditworthy growth sectors currently underserved by formal financial institutions. The DCA allowed USAID missions to partially guarantee loans or debt instruments issued by private sector lenders to sub-sovereign borrowers (private companies and municipalities). Successful DCA deals ensured sustainable credit relationships between local, underserved businesses and commercial financial institutions. The DCAcatalyzing finance and facilitating new financial institution relationshipspromoted a sustainable private sector approach to economic development and growth.

DAI worked with USAIDs Office of Development Credit (ODC) to design and analyze new DCA deals and to communicate clearly the DCAs strengths and functions so that it became a regular component of mission programming. DAI addressed the ODCs next generation of activities, expanded upon the offices successes and facilitated the increased use of the DCA abroad. [SEGIR FS IQC]

http://www.segir-fs.com

Worldwide - Business Development Services Knowledge & Practice (AMAP-BDS-K&P)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Determining best practices among USAID's business development services projects

Spanning various regions of the world and development conditions, the role of microenterprise in economic development is strengthening. In this task order project, DAI is identifying the evolution and practices of value chain and private sector development projects so that microenterprises can generate sustainable income for the families of microentrepreneurs.

DAI is executing six major components of the total BDS-K&P award: leading the impact and market assessment components and contributing papers on micro and small enterprise (MSE) growth, the effect of globalization on MSEs, MSEs in agribusiness value chains, and ways to mitigate the effect of HIV/AIDS on productive households. [AMAP BDS IQC]

Vietnam - Support for Trade Acceleration Project (STAR II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Phase I: Completed 2006; Phase II: September 2006 - September 2009

Reforming economic and trade laws to pave the way for a healthy trade relationship with the United States

In December 2001, the governments of the United States and Vietnam signed a historic bilateral free trade agreement that promised to strengthen economic and political ties between the two countries. USAID-funded STAR (September 2001December 2006)the first major USAID technical assistance contract in economic growth implemented in Vietnam since 1975 worked to support the Government of Vietnam to implement the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement and begin reforms needed for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Five years later, and 12 years after the country first applied for membership, Vietnam is expected to accede to the WTO in January 2007.

Following on the enormous successes of STAR I, STAR II focuses on supporting the development of institutional and administrative systems needed to implement the massive legal and regulatory changes that have been promulgated over the last five years in the areas of trade in goods and services, commercial dispute settlement, intellectual property rights protection, development of foreign direct investment, and transparency and the right to appeal. These reforms are partnered with extensive educational programs that include training for officials, lawyers, judges, and business leaders; revision of university curriculums and capacity development; and media-based public education campaigns.

Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Supporting Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises to grow and compete internationally

VNCI is an economic growth project designed to increase the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam through 1) improved economic governance, particularly at the provincial level, through the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and key policy research analysis; 2) demonstration and catalytic work in four industries (information and communications technology, dragon fruit, home furnishings, and banking, which also addressed SME access to credit) to remove key constraints to international competitiveness; and 3) improved access to financing for SMEs. VNCI has also engaged industry to identify policy and regulatory constraints to competitiveness and conduct research, analysis, and advocacy on its behalf. VNCIs industry-specific work concluded in September 2006.

In years 4 and 5, building off the success and impact of the PCI, VNCI focuses on improving economic governance at the provincial level and creating national linkages between local economic governance and national policies and their implementation. Specifically, working with provinces, VNCI is 1) providing a more systematic understanding and benchmarking of provincial economic governance; 2) providing the opportunity for the voice of the domestic private sector to enter the policy debate at national and provincial levels; and 3) providing provinces with specific knowledge and technical support to implement concrete reforms.

To create national linkages, VNCI is establishing regular national-local dialogues to identify policies and regulations (or the lack thereof) that impair the ability of provinces to create a business-enabling environment, as well as the competitiveness of local businesses. These constraints will be identified and possible solutions formulated via the regular dialogues, leading to changes in national policy and regulations. In addition to the regular national-local dialogues, VNCI will develop and publish a National Competitiveness Assessment that will provide a picture of the main factors that affect Vietnams competitiveness vis-à-vis its regional neighbors, focusing on the post-World Trade Organization environment.

VNCI Success Story

Vietnamese Handicrafts Enter the Global Marketplace

http://www.vnci.org

Ukraine - Support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development (BIZPRO/Ukraine)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Working with businesses to improve their skills and with government officials to strengthen the economic foundation for growth

The purpose of BIZPRO is to assist Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine to achieve economic growth through micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise development initiatives.

BIZPRO has been operating in Ukraine since 2000. Its goal is to help enterprises compete in foreign and domestic markets by working at the enterprise, sector, and policy/legal levels.

BIZPRO is forming advocacy coalitions of innovative and knowledgeable business groups in Ukraine to lobby national leaders to eliminate needless bureaucracy and reform outdated regulations to foster a free-market environment and increase economic opportunities for entrepreneurs. BIZPRO contributes to the economic development of Ukraine by providing assistance that improves the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to operate and compete in local and international markets. The program in Ukraine is focused on two tasks: 1) market development support, and 2) fostering a business and regulatory environment that enables SMEs to succeed.

In terms of market development support, BIZPRO works to improve the ability of Ukrainian SMEs to grow and compete in local, regional, and international markets and to develop business linkages and improve the industry-specific skills that SMEs require to grow (based around multiple industrial subsectors). BIZPRO also works with business service providers to improve SME operations and increase SME efficiency through the development and delivery of industry-specific skills to SME beneficiaries. BIZPROs partners in this endeavor include local business and industrial associations; the business service providers that conduct subsector market assessments, develop stronger business linkages, and deliver sector-specific knowledge and skills; and other donor-funded programs that work in the area of SME development.

BIZPRO strengthens the SME-enabling environment by helping the public and private sectors in selected municipalities formulate and implement balanced and predictable regulations that improve their business environment. BIZPRO also assists the private and public sectors to develop and implement the one-stop shop concept, primarily in the area of the issuing of permits, which constitutes a major obstacle to business development in Ukraine.

http://www.bizpro.org.ua

Ukraine - Agricultural Marketing Program (U-AMP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Developing linkages across the food production supply chain

With its fertile black soil, Ukraine accounted for more than one-fourth of the entire former Soviet Unions food production. Likewise, today, more than a decade after gaining its independence and despite its strong industrial base, the country relies on agriculture for roughly a quarter of its gross domestic product and employment. To build the capacity of this important component in the Ukrainian economy, DAI implemented a demand-driven strategy to form strong and lasting commercial linkages between Ukrainian processors, wholesalers, and producers of agricultural goods, especially high-value fruits, vegetables, and animal products. Through U-AMP, DAI provided agricultural marketing, agribusiness consulting, nongovernmental organization strengthening, and small and medium-sized enterprise development through long-term staff made up of Ukrainian citizens and U.S.-based short-term consultants. Programming focused on helping farmers meet the quality standards required by the emerging supermarket industry as well as helped them gain access to inputs, credit, contracting arrangements, and legal support.

Uganda - Productive Resource Investments for Managing the Environment Western Region (PRIME/WEST)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Developing community-based, sustainable natural resource management

The Albertine Rift is an incredibly important region for global conservation, harboring more species of vertebrates than any other region on the African continent. It shelters more than half of continental Africas bird species and nearly 40 percent of its mammal species. There are more endemic mammals, birds, and amphibians found in the Rift than at any other site in continental Africa. However, the problems of high population density, few alternative economic opportunities, and weak natural resources governance are becoming acute and threaten biodiversity assets by causing deforestation, unsustainable forest management, and habitat loss. Unless these problems are addressed, continued over-harvesting of natural resources will further erode biodiversity assets, reduce productivity of the natural resource base, and reduce the potential economic returns to communities.

With the goal of reducing threats to biodiversity in the Uganda portion of the Rift, while sustainably and equitably integrating the regions economy and people into the global economy, DAI PRIME/West staff used three approaches that systematically aimed to bring biodiversity conservation/natural resource management and economic development together into a practical and sustainable model. These approaches included landscape analysis, community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), and competitiveness.

The impact of PRIME/West lay not in the soundness or application of these individual approaches but in their creative combinations that yielded sustainable solutions in participation with local partners. Thus, landscape principles drove the analyses and informed program participants on the productive potentialboth economic and ecologicalof the land. The CBNRM approach provided communities with use-rights of the natural resources concerned, along with the ability to decide when and how to use those resources. The competitiveness approach turned economic and environmentally sustainable solutions and secure tenure and use rights into action within the private sector.

Tanzania - Private Enterprise Support Activities (PESA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Promoting private sector development throughout Tanzania

In the forefront of its activities, PESA promoted the development of producer associations and their memberships in 11 districts within a six-region zone of Tanzania that included 30 percent of the countrys population and territory.

By September 2006, the DAI team had provided technical assistance to 170 associations, more than 90 of them newly formed, with a combined membership of 24,000. Twelve critical mass producer subprojects with eight agricultural commodities form the base. The project operated on an integrated subsector development basis, strengthening producer associations as the foundation stone to sustainable development in governance, business, and technical capacity development. The team facilitated access to capital and linkages to markets. To widen impact, project staff promoted district-level all-stakeholder alliances that embraced both direct economic/commercial and crosscutting issues, such as HIV/AIDS mitigation, youth unemployment, gender imbalance, and environmental balance. They also worked to improve select policy constraints, for example, in cashew tax and the standardization of weights and measures. Project staff worked with selected government agencies to promote publicprivate dialogue and disseminate market information over the radio and internet.

The PESA team recognized the impact of HIV/AIDS early in the project and responded by integrating HIV/AIDS programming into its activities and leveraged outreach in rural areas to deliver a training program that integrated bio-intensive sustainable agricultural practices, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention, and positive living training. The program was well received by communities, many of which had received no training on HIV/AIDS and had little information on the disease.

PESA has assisted 24,000 core farmers to understand and practice market economy dynamics and tactics. Additionally, because of a failed central cooperative system, farmers first needed technical training in basic farming and seed selection to meet market demands and then graduate to post-harvest improvements. Project staff trained farmers to help them find new markets, plant new varieties, and organize themselves into associations. A majority of project-supported micro and small enterprises were trained and linked to savings and credit associations to buy inputs and implements. The team also formed public-private alliances at the district level to democratize and devolve governance and to resolve policy issues. [RAISE IQC]

PESA Success Stories

Building a Market Economy from the Ground Up

Connecting Farmers to Markets in Tanzania

Tanzania - Management Consulting to the National Microfinance Bank

Client: World Bank/Government of Tanzania
Project Completed (2005)

Improving management and extending services to make the Tanzania National Microfinance Bank profitable

DAI began working in August 1999 to transform the National Microfinance Bank (NMB), a troubled state-owned savings bank in one of the worlds poorest countries, into a profitable commercial bank providing a full range of services to poor and middle-income customers. DAIs management team has focused on growing the Bank's revenue base while instituting operational improvements to create a foundation for institutional strength. With technical assistance financed by the World Bank and the Government of Tanzania, NMBs management was restructured, new products were developed, all levels of staff were trained and retrained, and new information technology and management information systems were implemented. DAIs comprehensive re-engineering of the Bank has spread improved management, customer service, and product offerings throughout the Banks branch network. Today, NMB provides micro, salaried worker, personal, and pension loans, deposit, remittance, and payment services to 131,000 clients through 108 branch locations countrywide, and maintains an outstanding loan portfolio of 61.3 billion Tanzanian shillings (approximately US$61 million). DAI continues to manage the Bank while building staff capacity, guiding the expansion of microfinance products, and designing and rolling out new products, including agricultural credit and small and medium-sized enterprise loans. To complement traditional staff development programs, DAI is working with the African Medical and Research Foundation to implement a workplace HIV/AIDS program. The program includes a review of staff benefits (including health insurance, leave, and death benefits) and health expenditures, a knowledge survey of staff on their understanding of HIV/AIDS, a two-day prevention education program for all staff, and the development of a peer educator program.

Sri Lanka - Transition Initiatives Program (SLTI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
August 2004 - September 2009

Promoting reconciliation and peaceful coexistence

SLTIï¿½s goal is to build support for the peace process among Sri Lankaï¿½s citizens and increase collaboration among diverse groups to set and address priority needs at the local level. DAI designs and supports grant-funded initiatives that promote good governance, improve local government service delivery, strengthen civil society, create public space for open dialogue, and increase competitiveness and access to economic opportunities in conflict-vulnerable and tsunami- and conflict-affected communities.

Through its offices in Colombo, Trincomalee, Ampara, Matara, and Batticaloa, SLTI has fundedï¿½as of January 2009ï¿½600 grants worth $30 million. SLTI partners and grantees include local government entities, nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations and, to a lesser extent, international nongovernmental organizations, chambers of commerce, trader and farmer associations, student groups, and the media. Some of these partners would not necessarily meet the financial or institutional requirements of other international donors; DAI engages with them in activities that build constituencies for a lasting peace while ensuring compliance with USAID regulations by using an in-kind funding mechanism.

SLTI was at the forefront of USAIDï¿½s immediate emergency response in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami. In the ensuing months, the project contributed to the tsunami recovery and the return to normalcy in its targeted communities through programs in community infrastructure, livelihoods, and information dissemination totaling $15 million.

These programs include a $715,743 infrastructure project financed in equal parts by USAID and Hellenic Aid of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece. This DAI program to rehabilitate the Anuradhapura Junction Market in Trincomalee was the first ever partnership between the two donors.

In July 2008, SLTI received funding from the U.S. Department of Defenseï¿½s Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid (OHDACA) appropriation, through the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM), to support the return of persons displaced by conflict to their Eastern Province communities of origin. DAI is rehabilitating schools, health facilities, and other public infrastructure to meet critical needs in these newly resettled areas. Projects were identified in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers based on needs identified by relevant government authorities and international agencies, and vetted through an inclusive participatory community consultation process. These infrastructure projects aim to generate high levels of community participation and ownership, and also to engage the local and regional government authorities.

The programï¿½s goal- and conflict-sensitive approach to peace building has remained consistent throughout the life of SLTI, although the strategy and design of grant programs constantly adapts to meet the changing political landscape and realities in the field.

SLTI is the follow-on program to BPI, which was implemented from February 2003 to July 2004 and funded 190 grants worth $3.6 million.

OTI Success Stories

After the Tsunami, Sri Lankans Band Together to Clean Up Their City

DAI Energizes the Dairy Sector in Eastern Sri Lanka

In Trincomalee, a New Terminus Offers a New Beginning

New Schools, Hospital Lay Foundation for Community Recovery in Sri Lanka

Serbia Local Government Reform Program (SLGRP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Strengthening local governance through creative training programs and consulting services

Three years into project implementation, SLGRP achieved many resounding successes in its efforts to strengthen local governments abilities to serve their citizens. More than 15,000 local residents of municipalities throughout Serbia attended more than 200 public budget hearings to voice their concerns and ideas about how best to improve their communities. Thirteen municipalities created Citizen Assistance Centers and 12 created One-Stop Permitting Centers to provide improved information and services to their citizens. Through the creation of innovative Business Improvement Districts, SLGRP fostered public-private partnerships to improve economic development in four municipalities. SLGRP improved the enabling environment for local governments by creating model ordinances on local communities (MZs), public budget hearings, and local ombudsmen; by drafting a code of ethics for locally elected officials; and by authoring a draft law on local government property. In addition, SLGRP built information technology networks in 50 municipalities; assisted local governments in attaining $7.3 million in additional funding from other donors, other programs, and the Serbian government; and helped the municipal association increase its budget and services dramatically.

SLGRP Success Stories

After 45 Years, Romanian Students Finally Get Running Water

Cutting-Edge Management System Boosts Municipal Governments Efficiency and Accountability

You Brought us Back to Life

Russia Microfinance Sector Support Program (RMSSP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2005)

Developing the Russian microfinance industry through the creation of a best practice center

The command-and-control economy of the Soviet days has left its imprint on the free market institutions that developed in its place. The Russian financial sector continues to be overregulated and serves primarily large enterprises. Financial sector deepening is only beginning to take place with the expansion of microfinance in Russia, which has allowed for the creation of new financial institutions that serve small entrepreneurs and individual consumers. Starting in September 2001, the RMSSP worked to promote this deepening by creating a Russian best practice microfinance center that supports this nascent industry. The Russian Microfinance Center (RMC) provides training, consulting, information, benchmarking, and policy support services to Russian microfinance institutions (MFIs). Additionally, the project provided grants to smaller indigenous MFIs to increase their outreach to low-income households and entrepreneurs.

Established in July 2002, the RMC provides fee-based services to MFIs, regardless of their service model, methodology, or size. It has become the clearinghouse for international research, tools, and manuals related to microfinance that have been translated into or written in Russian. The center also produces its own research, including a comprehensive analysis of the Russian legal environment, and publishes a monthly policy newsletter that monitors the current legal and regulatory environment for microfinance as well as efforts to improve the environment in the long term. In 2004, discussions began on transforming the grants facility into a debt fund that would provide debt financing to Russian MFIs. Although affiliated with the RMC, the debt fund has separate management but still be able to tap into the knowledge, expertise, and client base of the grants facility for its loan clients.

http://www.rmssp.ru

Philippines - Environmental Governance Phase II (ECOGOV2)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
October 2004-September 2011

Working with local governments and communities to foster sustainable environmental management

Like most countries that have achieved significant economic development, the Philippines now is struggling with developments byproducts: forest loss, declining fisheries, increased solid waste, and untreated wastewater. The key to overcoming these environmental problems is institutionalizing incentives for sustainable resource management.

Building on the success of the DAI-implemented EcoGov 1 (20012004), this second phase of the program continues to support two important trends in the Philippines: the move toward integrated resource management, which addresses linkages and resolves conflicts between upland and coastal resources, and the move toward decentralization, which empowers local governments and communities to play bigger roles in managing their natural resources.

EcoGov 2 works with the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources to provide technical assistance for the implementation of activities resulting in improved environmental governance by the projects local and national counterparts; improved management of forests, coastal areas, and solid waste; and the promotion of local government investment in sanitation facilities.

The projects primary working relationship is with 90 municipalities and cities. It has offices in Manila, northern Luzon, Central Visayas, southern Mindanao, and western Mindanao, as well as satellite offices in six other locations. EcoGov 2 employs roughly 70 personnel and subcontracts primarily with three local firms. The project also maintains a grant fund of $350,000 and has 12 local firms engaged in indefinite quantity subcontracts.

Peru - Policy and Institutional Development Component (PIDC) of the Alternative Development Program

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Improving counter-narcotics policy and facilitating implementation of counter-narcotics strategy in Peru

Peru is the second-largest producer of coca leaves in the world, and production of coca leaves and cocaine has been rising dramatically as a consequence of counter-narcotics activities in Colombia and comparatively ineffective counter-narcotics policies and institutions in Peru.

USAID/Peru contracted DAI to work on improving the counter-narcotics policy framework upon which success of the alternative development program depends and to strengthen government institutions responsible for implementing those policies. This follow-on contract continued that work: strengthening control of the licit coca market, strengthening control of precursor chemicals used in processing coca into coca paste and cocaine, and strengthening enforcement of money-laundering controls. Tools employed included policy analysis and technical and legal analysis to support policy reform, media outreach, and advocacy work with the executive branch and Congress.

Mongolia - Khan Bank: Micro Credit Advisors to the Agricultural Bank of Mongolia

Client: European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Project Completed (2006)

Reviewing and redesigning procedures in a major Mongolian bank

DAI was awarded a new two-year contract by the EBRD to provide technical assistance to Khan Bank as it expanded and diversified its lending to micro and small enterprises (MSEs). This assignment was geared to enable Khan Bank to provide MSEs of all sizes, economic sectors, and financing needs with responsive loan products. Key activities included staff training to improve the skill of lending personnel and to strengthen the credit methodology and lending procedures in order to improve processing times and control arrears. DAI also designed and implemented new loan products and loan parameters and strengthened portfolio management and monitoring procedures.

http://www.khanbank.com

Mongolia - Khan Bank: Bank Management Support

Client: HS Securities of Tokyo
March 2003October 2010

Managing the operations of a major Mongolian bank on behalf of its foreign owners

Khan Bank (formerly Agricultural Bank of Mongolia) was under receivership by the Bank of Mongolia in 2000. The Government of Mongolia recapitalized the bank under a unique remediation agreement among the Government of Mongolia, the Bank of Mongolia, the World Bank, and USAID. Under contract to USAID, DAI provided an external management team whose mandate was to restore banking services in rural Mongolia, return the bank to profitability and sound financial condition, and prepare the bank for privatization.

DAI successfully accomplished the turnaround and, in March 2003, HS Securities of Tokyo, Japan, purchased Khan Bank for $6.85 million under international tender. HS requested DAI to stay on at the bank under a three-year contract. In December 2004 DAI became a shareholder of the bank, and the management contract was extended.

DAI provides the two senior managers of the bank: J. Peter Morrow, CEO, who is also a member of the Board of Directors, and Ben Turnbull, Deputy CEO.

http://www.khanbank.com

Moldova - Support to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development (BIZPRO/Moldova)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Bringing microfinance and business development services to Moldovan entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs and owners of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) face many obstacles in Moldovas business environment, yet their success is one of the keys to meaningful economic growth in the country.

The purpose of BIZPRO is to assist Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine to achieve economic growth through micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise development initiatives.

BIZPRO contributes to the economic development of Moldova by providing assistance that improves the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to operate and compete in local and external markets. Its many components focus on creating an economic environment conducive to entrepreneurial innovation and job creation and building Moldovas domestic capacity to support business development. Program staff work to increase access to business service providers (BSPs), develop a network of commercially oriented BSPs, spread information on industry best practices, explore international trade opportunities for MSME products, develop and strengthen business associations, support MSME-friendly economic reforms, and assist financial institutions to find new credit markets among MSMEs and entrepreneurs. BIZPRO/Moldova stresses the interconnection between its various components and coordinates its activities with the other domestic and international organizations working in small business development in Moldova.

http://www.bizpro.md

Malawi - Community Partnerships for Sustainable Resource Management (COMPASS II)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2009)

Working with local residents to develop environmentally-friendly employment and business opportunities

Malawis soils, waters, forests, wildlife, fisheries, and other natural resources are being harvested and degraded at rates exceeding their ability to regnerate and replenish. Widespread poverty, low education levels, and epidemic diseases such as AIDS and malaria contribute to effectively forcing rural households to use a survivalist strategy in their interactions with natural capital assets. The assets are being liquidated rather than enjoying reinvestment, as harvesters must use the meager incomes to meet todays needs. The prospects for long-term wealth generation from these assetsand the biodiversity that underpins the natural capital baserely on transforming the relationships that households, villages, and society have with their natural resources.

COMPASS II is identifying natural resource-based products that meet four key criteria:

1. Have robust domestic and external markets,
2. Have the possibility of significantly increasing the income of hundreds or thousands of households,
3. Form the basis for vibrant small-scale commercial production that provides incentives to revive rather than diminish the natural capital base, and
4. To the extent possible, provide business oportunities for HIV-affected and other marginalized households (such as those headed by women or youth).

Once products are identified, the DAI team compiles the best available technical information into easily accessible formats (radio, print, video, drama) and disseminates it as widely as possible, including to specifically targeted comunities where opportunities for transformative utilization and reinvestment in natural resources are greatest. These materials aim to expand the production base while also increasing product quality. The project augments the effectiveness of the informational materials by working at other leverage points along the value chains, such as input supply, product consolidation and distribution, value-added processing, and market functionality.

http://www.compass-malawi.com/

Madagascar - Eco-Regional Initiatives to Promote Alternatives to Slash & Burn Practices (ERI)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2009)

Preserving diverse habitats while raising incomes in critical areas

As a tropical island nation, Madagascar has a rich and diverse foundation of plants, trees, and animals. However, the natural environment has been depleted over the years to the point where desertification threatens Madagascar's future.

Through ERI, DAI supports the third phase of the National Environment Action Plan. The program's goal is to create in Madagascar an innovative form of ecoregional conservation and development that contributes to national goals articulated in the "Madagascar Naturellement" vision, the "Madagascar Action Plan," and other government policy documents. Working in close concert with partners of the Ecoregional Alliance, USAID and DAI are working to construct a foundation for responsible management of the New Protected Areas that leads to improved economic welfare for the people living near the forest corridors of the Fianarantsoa and Toamasina provinces, as well as citizens throughout the country.

To see a 10-minute video on the ERI program's work in biofuels and carbon emissions reduction, click here.

Liberia Community Infrastructure Project (LCIP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Reconciling ex-combatants and communities through reconstruction projects

With the formal end to 14 years of civil war in August 2003, LCIP began in March 2004 as a key element of the United Nations Mission in Liberias comprehensive disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and repatriation (DDRR) program for ex-combatants. The projects goals included employment generation, social reconciliation, and infrastructure rehabilitation.

LCIP provided vocational training and social services to more than 37,000 war-affected participants, and they have performed 4 million person-days of work rebuilding roads and community infrastructure in 8 counties.

The DDRR phase, which completed its activities in June 2006, had three main components:

Psychosocial Counseling and Reconciliation This component included community-based counseling and reconciliation activities conducted in conjunction with employment programs as well as public awareness and reconciliation services. A sports program, in particular soccer, for all participants and communities was a key psychosocial activity to engage communities and build peace between ex-combatants and war-affected persons.
Employment Generation This was the central effort to create jobs and employment opportunities through reconstruction activities for ex-combatants and war-affected persons.
Formal and Non-Formal Education LCIP used its reconstruction component to create or enhance access to formal school and accelerated learning programs, associated on-the-job training opportunities, and vocational and skills training.

LCIP was also engaged in the repair of critical infrastructure identified by the Government of Liberia. The infrastructure components were selected to have an impact during the first 150 days of the new Presidents time in office and to assist the government in improving the countrys economy, educational systems, and level of governance. [MAC IQC]

LCIP Success Stories

Artisans and Apprentices Learn Basic Business Skills in Liberia

Baking Their Way Into Business

Kenya Microfinance Capacity Building Project (KEMCAP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Strengthening the capacity of the countrys microfinance network

As the regional trade and financial hub for East Africa, Kenya has been one of the leaders in Africa developing a network of microfinance institutions that extend loans to small farms, businesses, and entrepreneurs. The Association of Microfinance Institutions (AMFI) was formed to serve the interests of these institutions by creating an enabling environment for microfinance, sharing best practices, and creating business connections between various regional firms.

KEMCAPs principal objective was to build and strengthen AMFI so that it could become a permanent fixture in the Kenyan financial services marketplace, improving much-needed industry infrastructure for microfinance institutions while helping to increase client outreach and business performance.

KEMCAP also provided best practice guidance to the Central Bank of Kenya, a key project partner, and directly supported commercial banks through technical assistance, consulting, and advisory services. KEMCAP brokered several DCA loan guarantees, and provided technical assistance to increase the use of existing loan guarantees for SME lending, lending to woman-owned businesses, and warehouse receipt lending.

A key KEMCAP success was its support for the successful passage of the Microfinance Act 2006, which allows for microfinance institutions to become licensed and regulated deposit taking institutions. DAI staff also took special care to ensure that rural and woman-owned enterprises benefit from KEMCAPs work.

Jordan - Financial Accounting System (WAJ FAS)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Equipping the Jordanian Water Ministry with the capacity to regulate water resources

The Jordanian government requested DAI and USAID support to improve the countrys water management to ensure that this vital resource is used as efficiently as possible. DAI developed a work plan, implemented a new financial accounting system, and provided equipment and training for Jordans Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI). The DAI team first reviewed the financial procedures of the Water Authority of Jordan and the MWI to set a baseline context for the new financial system, then designed the system, developed an implementation plan, and determined a method for building consensus among various stakeholders. Working with the Ministry of Finance and MWI staff, the project team mapped out business processes and identified data to redesign the system to flow optimally. Equipment and hardware needs were identified, and a training program was developed for staff. Once the redesign was approved, the team installed ORACLE financial software and database technology, trained staff, migrated data, prepared final system use, and trained senior staff how to use information generated in the financial reports as required by the Ministry of Finance.

Jordan - Education and Information Program to Improve Irrigation Water Use Efficiency in Jordan (KAFAA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Combining water conservation with economic consulting to conserve vital water resources

Water is a scarce resource in the deserts of the Middle East, including within Jordan. DAI worked with farmers groups and nongovernmental organizations to adopt water-saving irrigation technologies and produce higher-value and lowerwater-consuming crops. This program combined social marketing and public awareness of water conservation issues with high-quality economic and engineering analyses to conserve irrigation water, particularly in the Jordan Valley. In addition, KAFAA worked to improve the capabilities of the Irrigation Advisory Services of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and develop rainwater harvesting techniques in Jordans western highlands to capture rainfall during the NovemberApril rainy season. The program also focused on important policy issues confronting water use in Jordan, including licensing for groundwater extraction, use of wastewater for agricultural production, water tariffs, and publicprivate partnerships for improved irrigation management.

Haiti - Hillside Agricultural Program (HAP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Alleviating poverty through improving business skills among hillside farmers

Farming provides two-thirds of Haitis 7.6 million residents with food and any above-subsistence-level income they can obtain. Unfortunately, a shortage of land forces many farmers to farm on the countrys many hillsides. To make hillside farming sustainable, one must grow suitable crops and use the correct techniques.

DAI staff worked with hillside farmers to show them how to do this. HAP used a market-based approach that treated the hillside farm as a business enterprise, enhancing productivity through improvements in resource management, agricultural production, post-harvest technologies, and marketing systems. In addition, HAP strengthened institutions such as farmer cooperatives and private sector associations, which support both farmers and local communities. In sum, the project worked to raise rural incomes, improve the standard of living, and foster sustainability in rural Haiti. Primary target crops include mango, coffee, and cacao, along with several field crops intended for local and ethnic export markets.

HAP Success Story

Micro-loans Fight Poverty in Rural Haiti

Central America - Continuous Improvement in the Central American Workplace (CIMCAW)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development and private sector
Project Completed 2008

Working with the private sector to improve working conditions while strengthening the supply chain

As globalization continues, the challenge of ensuring the implementation of international and national labor standards has moved to the forefront of companies business and corporate citizenship priorities. For local suppliers, meeting labor standards is critical to ensure their global competitiveness.

DAI worked in Central America with international apparel buyers that included Gap Inc., Wal-Mart, Limited Brands, and Timberland to enhance labor standards in apparel and textile factories. With financial support from USAID and multinational apparel companies, DAI staff worked with international and local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) recognized for their workplace training approaches and with unions and local governments to achieve sustainable change in workplace conditions. Active in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic, this multistakeholder initiative worked with both workers and managers to integrate solution-based approaches into the management systems of local supplier factories. The training identified approaches for meeting national and international labor standards that enhance productivity and competitiveness. It also strengthened the capacity of local monitoring groups and government inspectors to carry out workplace evaluation now done by the multinational buyers.

CIMCAWs pioneering activities aimed to improve factory working conditions, reduce the monitoring costs of the international companies, and create a model for change that can be replicated across industries and throughout multinational corporations global supply chains..

http://www.cimcaw.org/

Ecuador - Strengthening Access to Microfinance and Economic Liberalization (SALTO)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Building conditions and expanding opportunities for lasting economic growth

The SALTO project had been the central implementing mechanism for USAID/Ecuadors Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy. Under this strategy, SALTO activities were designed to achieve multiple objectives under two components: the development of the microfinance industry in Ecuador, and critical macroeconomic and structural reforms.

SALTO staff worked to strengthen selected microfinance institutions (MFIs) to address regulatory, supervisory, and policy issues that are critical for the growth of what is now a burgeoning microfinance market, and to strengthen other elements of the financial system infrastructure (such as credit bureaus) on which MFIs rely.

Under the second component, project tasks were aimed at increasing government tax revenues (apart from petroleum sector income), developing a more transparent and effective process for preparation and execution of annual national budgets, and strengthening fiscal policy analysis capabilities.

In addition, this component addressed structural reforms and competitiveness initiatives. SALTO staff provided comprehensive assistance for the Superintendency of Banks and Insurance, focused on stricter regulations and tighter supervision of financial institutions to prevent reoccurrence of the financial crisis that devastated the Ecuadorian economy in 19992000.

SALTO also focused on trade capacity building to define foreign trade policies, prepare for negotiation of trade agreements, and comply with implementation requirements of existing trade agreements to which Ecuador is a signatory. The project concentrated on preparation and implementation requirements of the bilateral free trade agreement between Ecuador and the United States.

A third initiative was SALTOs Competitiveness Pilot Program, which provided cost-shared assistance to selected private sector clusters to help solve technical, marketing, or financing bottlenecks and build competitiveness in foreign or domestic markets. The principal clusters were the Cuenca-based leather industry and ecotourism development on Isabela Island, Galápagos. Another project supported exports by the Ecuadorian Food and Beverage Manufacturers Association to a U.S. market.

Finally, SALTO implemented a pilot initiative with Banco del Pichincha and Banco de Guayaquil to adapt microcredit techniques to their small and medium-sized enterprise clients.

SALTO Success Story

Using Micro-Credit to Preserve Local Identity

Croatia - Raising Incomes in Economically Distressed Areas (RIEDA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Revitalizing economic and social conditions in areas hardest hit by a decade of violence

RIEDA was a demand-driven agricultural project that extended the reach of the Croatia Agribusiness Competitiveness Enhancement project to bring small and part-time farmers in the Area of Special State Concern (ASSC) into the mainstream. The ASSC includes both urban and rural areas. USAIDs objective is to improve the competitive position of farmers in order to increase agricultural employment and incomes.

DAI helped accomplish these objectives by leveraging already established market linkages for farmers in the economically distressed areas. DAI strategy was to focus on farmer organizations as support delivery platforms and as a cost-effective way to reach large numbers of small, geographically dispersed rural farmers. Direct technical assistance provided by DAI was enhanced by the use of business service providers that were receiving capacity strengthening support from the project.

Croatia - Enhancing Small and Medium Enterprise Performance (ESP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2008)

Triggering job creation by increasing Croatian competitiveness in the global marketplace

With an unemployment rate estimated to be as high as 20 percent in 2003, job growth is a primary economic imperative for Croatia. This project worked to create lasting private sector jobs in economic sectors where Croatia is internationally competitiveleading to higher levels of investment and sustainable economic growth.

ESPs strategy was to create 20,000 new jobs by improving the business performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in growth sectors by providing technical assistance through industry associations, economic development organizations, and business and financial services firms. ESPs goal was to improve the business environment for all SMEs through technical assistance to the Croatian government, national organizations, and educational institutions.

The project worked through partner organizations to build capacity in delivering services, advocating policy and institutional change, and improving business performance.

To improve access to financial services, the team worked with commercial banks, including the largest banks, to introduce deposit mining and credit scoring that extended credit to SMEs for the first time. Banks dropped collateral requirements and now offer credit to SMEs in growing numbers. The project also introduced the concept of regional guarantee funds, promoting a business model whereby regional development agencies are setting up preferred lender programs with banks and extending loans to regions that were never served before.

In addition, the team has facilitated $54.1 million in foreign direct investment and generated an estimated $20 million in complementary local investment.

ESP also worked with the Office of the Prime Minister in reviewing an estimated 1,500 laws, bylaws, and business regulations and procedures to determine their relevance, necessity, and impact on business.

ESP was the close-out project for USAID/Croatia. It is implemented by DAI and Nathan Associates.

Croatia - Agribusiness Competitiveness Enhancement Project (ACE)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Expanding Croatian agribusiness' capacity to compete in global trade

Although the country is more industrialized than many others in the Balkans and southeastern Europe, Croatia has roughly 250,000 residents who rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. With the primary goals of raising rural living standards and fostering sustainable agricultural production, ACE worked out of three regional offices in Zagreb, Eastern Slavonia, and Dalmatia to reach farmers nationwide.

By developing effective support systems for producers and strengthening the linkages between producers and agricultural markets, the project enabled agribusiness enterprises to determine and meet market demand by producing more profitable goods. DAI worked on developing market linkages between producers, traders, processors, and tourism-related enterprises and on developing credit resources for short- and medium-term needs. These efforts required the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, including farmer cooperatives, to serve as producer counterparts to traders, processors, and tourist industry personnel. In addition, the DAI team directly assisted farmers to improve production efficiency and worked to identify and secure new sources of credit for rural producers. [RAISE IQC]

Colombia Enterprise Development Program (CED)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Supporting business development in Colombia's small cities

As in most Latin American countries, the economics, society, and politics of Colombia are predominantly centered in the countrys capital city, Bogotá. The CED program supported business development and job growth among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Colombias secondary cities through consulting, finance, and marketing support. Consulting increases the productivity of SMEs in a variety of areas, including strategy, operations, and financial management, in addition to enhancing business development services. Access to finance is increased through the establishment of a financial-services clearinghouse that introduced bankable SMEs to financial-service providers, works with SMEs to improve their financial management, and enhances the range of financial products available to SMEs. Finally, marketing links SMEs with anchor companies in Colombia to create networks that increase SME access to both national and international markets. Through this integrated package of improved productivity, increased access to finance, and improved market readiness, the project anticipated creating 8,000 jobs in 650 participating SMEs. DAI was primarily responsible for CEDs finance component. [SEGIR GBTI IQC]

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Governance Accountability Project (GAP)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Project Completed (2008)

Aiding local governments to cut costs and improve services

Since the Dayton Peace Accords of 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been consolidating its emerging, multiethnic, and representative government. To improve the chances for political success and sustainability, GAP built the capacity of 41 partner municipalities to better serve their citizens within a policy and fiscal framework of good governance. Success fostered political legitimacy for the government, leading to sustained peace and inclusion in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Through its municipal work, including the development of Citizen Service Centers, or one-stop shops, GAP contributed to a significant increase in citizen satisfaction with the services provided by municipalities.

GAP was also involved in policy work at the central government and subnational jurisdiction (above the municipal level) levels, advising on how to make structures of government more efficient and accountable. The DAI team worked on two entity laws on local self-government, working with the Republic of Srpska entity government to strengthen municipal autonomy, promoting a transparent and workable commercial debt market for municipalities, and promoted the adoption of appropriate intergovernmental revenue-sharing methodologies to be implemented in conjunction with the introduction of value-added taxation.

GAP Success Story

The Drvar Birthing Centers First Baby Boy

Bolivia - Policy and Regulatory Enhancement for Microfinance Innovation and Expanded Outreach (PREMIER)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2006)

Working with the Bolivian government and microfinance sector to expand access to financial services

Bolivia has historically been one of the poorest countries in South America and has experienced considerable political turmoil, including violent rioting. In this tumultuous environment, the financial services sector faces significant challenges in remaining viable, particularly in the microfinance field, which makes credit available for low-income Bolivians. Because a strong microfinance sector supports national economic growth, poverty alleviation, and the economic empowerment of disadvantaged groups, PREMIER worked throughout the country to strengthen this sector.

Building on DAIs microfinance successes in Bolivia under USAIDs Bolivia Rural Financial Services contract, PREMIER had three primary focuses: national policy reform, microfinance industry development, and innovation. DAI staff advised the Bolivian government concerning legal and regulatory reform of the financial services sector, including coordinating policy dialogue with relevant local, national, and international agencies. DAI also supported an operational credit information bureau that assisted with the sectors development, strengthened the microfinance industry association and alliances, developed dissemination channels such as a market intelligence newsletter for the industry, undertook market studies, created training alliances, and lay the groundwork for an agricultural insurance system to support industry development. Lessons and innovations from similar USAID programs in El Salvador and Ecuador were incorporated throughout the project.

Finally, DAI promoted institutional innovation and expansion using new products and strategies such as deposit capture, stored value (smart) cards, satellite communications, warehouse receipts, improved loan guarantee mechanisms, remittance and payment services, improved customer service, and enhanced information systems. [AMAP BDS IQC]

Armenia - Agribusiness Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Market Development Program (ASME)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Helping Armenian businesses expand through international trade opportunities

ASMEs goal was to increase market opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses. For the first four years, efforts were exclusively targeted at agribusiness enterprises such as canneries, dried fruit producers, meat processors, milk processors, poultry producers, and fish farms.

Beginning in early 2004, USAID asked DAI to broaden ASMEs focus to include textiles and apparel and a broader set of nonfarm rural enterprises. Those new initiatives delivered very good results: they strengthened the rural business service provider network and the commercial links between the providers and their private clients, and ASME contributed to the development of the Armenian fashion industry, members of which are now rapidly increasing their share of the growing Armenian market and beginning to export. The project team expanded its client base and had notable success in encouraging local industry association development.

In May 2006, USAID requested ASMEs assistance in working with government agencies and private producers to respond to the growing threat of avian influenza (AI). ASMEs AI program was forged around three pillars: 1) providing technical support to the Government of Armenia to strengthen its surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, and monitoring capabilities; 2) assisting private poultry producers to improve their flock monitoring and biosafety practices, and preparing to respond effectively to outbreaks; and 3) coordinating AI communications activities among donor organizations and government ministries, developing communication materials to improve the publics knowledge of AI, improving the biosafety practices of both domestic bird raisers and commercial poultry operations, and enhancing consumer confidence in the safety of poultry products.

Albania - Enterprise Development and Export Market Services (EDEM)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed 2008

Improving Albanian industry competitiveness in the global marketplace

Albania has one overriding national goal for the early years of the 21st century: to end more than 50 years of isolation by becoming a full-fledged member of the European Union. To achieve this objective, the Government of Albania must accelerate economic growth and sharply reduce poverty. EDEM focused on increasing economic opportunity to raise the standard of living and facilitate Albanias entrance into the global marketplace. The project team identified and rapidly developed those industries and services that offer the most promise for growth and job creation, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises.

EDEMs focus on improving competitiveness included assisting Albanian businesses to increase the effectiveness of their operations by supporting their efforts to implement management plans, marketing, and promotional strategies; develop new products; and upgrade their technologies.

During its initial three years, EDEM primarily assisted four industry sectors: meat processors, herbs and spices, tourism, and fruits and vegetables consolidators and processors. In addition, EDEM assisted the Albanian Center for International Trade in supporting the footwear industry.

Africa - Conflict Prevention, Mitigation, and Response Programs in East and Southern Africa (CPMR-ESA)

Client: U.S. Agency for International Development
Project Completed (2007)

Overcoming political instability through civil society development

Ethnic conflict, weak economies, health crises, and fragile governments dramatically hinder sustainable economic and political development in Africas Horn and Great Lakes regions. Although a wave of democratic transitions in Southern Africa has helped decrease the likelihood of large-scale civil war and cross-border conflict, the use or threat of violence as a political strategy continues, especially prior to elections. The region remains vulnerable due to interrelated, root causes of conflictincluding health, demographic, social, environmental, economic, and political factors.

CPMR-ESA supports implementation of the conflict prevention, mitigation, and response programs of the USAID/East Africa Office in Nairobi, Kenya, and the USAID/Southern Africa office in Gaborone, Botswana. The goal of the program is to strengthen the capacity of African organizations to understand, manage, and respond effectively to actual and potential sources of conflict.

The DAI team provides long- and short-term technical assistance in conflict-related areas such as conflict vulnerability assessments, conflict sensitive programming, conflict monitoring and reporting; specialized training on conflict management and mitigation related issues; direct grants and grants management support for nongovernmental implementing partners; institutional capacity building and other direct support for government and nongovernmental partners; information and communication technology assistance; knowledge management; and project monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment.

The USAID/East Africa-funded Peace in East and Central Africa (PEACE) component is focused primarily on addressing cross-border conflict issues affecting local and regional peace and stability in the Horn of Africa, with particular emphasis on border areas of the pastoralist arc that includes parts of Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. PEACE activities include support for localized peace-building efforts through civil society and community-based organizations as well as coordination with regional organizations such as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism. Other components of the East Africa program include support for Somalia reconciliation and a regional anticorruption program to increase transparency and reduce opportunities for corruption in the East African regional freight forwarding and clearing sector.

In Southern Africa, the programmatic focus has been on preventing, managing, and mitigating potential violent conflict resulting from political competition stemming from the slate of scheduled elections in eight countries throughout the region between 2003 and 2006.