Sakil Malik to Lead Growing Education Practice at DAI

November 02, 2018

Sakil Malik has been named DAI’s Senior Global Practice Lead for Education. He comes to DAI with more than 20 years of experience working on education initiatives, including in Cambodia, India, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Timor-Leste.

Malik most recently served as World Learning’s Vice President for Global Development. He served as Director for the Reading within Reach Project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and led the Global Reading Network Community of Practice to improve the literacy of primary school children around the world. He has also served as a Project Director for Creative Associates, managing literacy and education programs.

A native of Bangladesh, Malik began his career in international development with BRAC, one of the largest nongovernmental organizations in the world.

“Sakil is both an ideas guy and a hands-on project manager,” said Brigit Helms, DAI’s Vice President of Technical Services. “He’s known for his expertise both in conceptualizing education programs and delivering those programs on the ground. Given DAI’s cross-sectoral approach to education challenges and our resistance to orthodoxy when it comes to the ‘siloes’ that too often inhibit education innovation, Sakil’s breadth of experience and nose for innovation will be a real asset to our education and youth development work.”

DAI’s Education Practice strengthens the provision of high-quality, inclusive education for children and youth around the world. We work hand-in-hand with educators, policy makers, communities, and stakeholders to implement local solutions, borrowing and building on ideas and innovations from across sectors and working to understand education systems as a whole.

In Honduras, for example, we partner with school systems to keep students safe so they can attend school without fear, and thrive; in El Salvador, we work with students to hone their vocational skills and employability; and in Pakistan we worked with local organizations to mobilize millions of people in a successful grassroots campaign to advocate education for all.