DAI’s Environment Team Welcomes New Leadership in Water, Land Practices

September 06, 2019

DAI is pleased to announce the appointment of two new global practice leads in its Environment Sector: Darren Saywell as head of the Water practice and John Leckie as head of the Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) practice.

“We’re delighted to see Darren and John take on these leadership roles,” said Environment Sector Vice President Christopher Seeley. “Both are technical leaders in their fields and both have a vision for how their teams can advance their respective disciplines. Most important, both understand that our clients and the communities we serve lie at the heart of that vision.”

Saywell has 25 years of experience in water resource management including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practice, research, and policy development; urban infrastructure and service delivery; utility management; and institutional development and reform. He previously led the water practice at AECOM International Development, and before that served with Plan International USA—overseeing WASH and health work in the United States and co-leading the federation’s WASH work in 50 countries—in addition to the World Health Organization and the International Water Association. Earlier in his career, Saywell worked at the Water, Engineering & Development Centre at Loughborough University, where he explored his passion for urban infrastructure service provision, which was the focus for his Ph.D.

Leckie is a land rights professional with 20 years of experience in LTPR and natural resource management, specializing in fit-for-purpose land administration, registration, information systems, GIS, and remote sensing technology. In a career spanning field work in Europe, Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, and South America, he has worked for a wide range of clients, including the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the European Commission (EC).

In Rwanda, he served as Senior Registration Advisor on the award-winning Support for Land Tenure Regularisation programme, and he is currently advising DFID’s Land Investment for Transformation programme in Ethiopia, while providing technical direction for DAI’s EC-funded projects in Malawi and Liberia. Leckie will bring this global, multiclient experience to bear from his new base in DAI’s Bethesda, Maryland, office.