dai see dai disambiguation . dai global type llc industry economic and social development founded 1970 headquarters bethesda maryland owner employee owned website www.dai.com dai global llc dai is a private development company based in bethesda maryland with additional corporate offices in london and hemel hempstead in the united kingdom . in 2015 it received 272 429 308 of contract funding by usaid to deliver development services ; in 2014 it received 58.3 million from the u.k. department for international development for such services . 1 dai operates worldwide with a particularly strong presence in central and south america africa the middle east central and south asia and the asia pacific region . it has worked in 160 developing and transition countries in the areas of water and natural resources management energy and climate change governance and public sector management private sector development and financial services economics and trade agriculture and agribusiness crisis mitigation and stability operations and hiv aids and avian influenza control . contents 1 history 2 clients 3 incidents 4 criticism 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit dai was founded in 1970 as development alternatives inc. it is now legally renamed and formally registered as dai global llc by charles franklin sweet donald r. mickelwait and john m. buck who met at the john f. kennedy school of government at harvard university . prior to enrolling in the m.p.a program at harvard in 1969 sweet had spent five years working in vietnam for both international voluntary services and the united states department of state . dai s early work mostly consisted of analytical studies for government clients . in 1973 dai won a contract to conduct a comparative study of 36 usaid projects in latin america and africa . two years later the company s study strategies for small farmer development established the concept of a process approach that enabled the pursuit of development objectives while allowing enough leeway to adapt to evolving conditions on the ground . the study consolidated dai s reputation in the development community and led to further business . in 1980 dai opened its first regional office in jakarta indonesia . in 1985 jim boomgard current ceo then a ph.d. agricultural economist played a key role in developing an approach to small business promotion in developing countries . he managed a multicountry study on the emerging field of microenterprise development which led to dai winning a major new worldwide contract growth and equity through micro enterprise investments and institutions gemini . 2 at the start of the 1990s dai moved its headquarters from washington d.c. to bethesda maryland . in 1995 dai invested in london u.k. based graham bannock & partners ltd. which as the now wholly owned dai europe would go on to give dai a presence as an implementing partner for the u.k. department for international development the european bank for reconstruction and development and other european clients . in south africa dai established ebony development alternatives in 1994 as a joint venture with ebony financial services the first black accounting firm in south africa . this company was renamed ebony consulting international and subsequently eciafrica . 2 following the terrorist attacks on new york city and washington d.c. on september 11 2001 the united states invaded afghanistan and dai was chosen to lead a variety of development projects in the midst of the counterinsurgency . a philadelphia inquirer journalist who visited one of dai s projects in 2010 described it as a model of success . 3 after the united states invaded iraq in 2003 dai won a project to help provide effective governance in the country . other projects in iraq covering agriculture and the restoration of the iraqi marshlands were to follow . 4 5 6 7 for his work on the later project dai s peter reiss was awarded the lourdes arizpe award by the american anthropological association . 8 the company established dai palestine in 2004 . following the asian tsunami in december of that year dai was recognized for its efforts in both indonesia and sri lanka by then usaid administrator andrew natsios in testimony before congress in this environment the international relief community including usaid the u.s. military and other u.s. government agencies displayed remarkable ingenuity . despite the great size and complexity of the response flexibility became the rule of the day . a good example of this is the partnership between usaid and two of its partners the international organization for migration iom and development alternatives dai . prior to the earthquake humanitarian organizations were not permitted into aceh province without express permission by the government of indonesia . despite this restriction iom and dai had managed to retain a strong relationship with provincial officials through a network of local staff in every district . in the immediate aftermath of the disaster usaid and other donors capitalized on these relationships by providing relief funding to iom and dai to immediately move relief commodities into aceh from medan on 80 trucks contracted by usaid indonesia . 9 in 2005 the employee stock ownership plan esop became the sole owner of the company . the esop a retirement plan in which all corporate employees are automatically enrolled now represents hundreds of employees none of whom owns more than 3 percent of the company . 9 in 2006 dai was named government contractor of the year in an annual award sponsored by washington technology magazine the professional service council and govcon . at the start of 2009 boomgard succeeded tony barclay as dai s new ceo and the company launched new offices in amman mexico city and islamabad . the next year julian lob levyt formerly ceo of the gavi alliance joined the firm to lead its international operations from the london office dai was named the 1 company in the state of maryland 10 and the company celebrated its 40th birthday with a series of community events at its locations around the world publishing a history of the company to mark the occasion . in his foreword to the book jim boomgard looked ahead to the next chapter in dai s history the next 10 years will determine whether we can make an american success story into a global success story . over the next 10 years we ll execute a new strategy designed to bring our strengths our experience and our commitment to a changing and in many ways expanding landscape of international development a landscape that will see more development driven from the ground up more decision making in countries that have traditionally been the recipients of donor assistance and a more diverse and influential array of local actors in the development arena . 2 in 2011 dai was named a devex top 40 development innovator one of only 10 consulting firms so honored globally . the award was based on a poll of 100 000 devex members who comprise the world s largest network of international development professionals . 11 clients edit clients of dai include development agencies international lending institutions private corporations and philanthropies and governments . among them united states agency for international development european commission u.k. department for international development european bank for reconstruction and development united states department of defense united states department of state millennium challenge corporation australian agency for international development ausaid world bank international finance corporation bill & melinda gates foundation world food programme asian development bank and various private companies and national governments . incidents edit on 26 september 2010 linda norgrove and three afghan colleagues were kidnapped in the chawkay aka tsawkay sawkay district of eastern kunar province . ambushed by members of the taliban on the main highway from jalalabad to asadabad norgrove and others were eventually taken into the dewegal valley within the chowkai district by their captors . 12 13 eventually a rescue attempt was carried out by navy seals from the naval special warfare development group also known as navy seal team 6 a unit used for high risk counter terrorist operations . norgorve was wounded in the action received emergency medical treatment and was evacuated by helicopter but died from her injuries . in december 2009 alan phillip gross was detained by cuban authorities after attempting to distribute satellite communications equipment . 14 he was principal of a small business called jbdc working as a subcontractor on a usaid project . 15 the supreme court of cuba sentenced gross to 15 years of imprisonment despite diplomatic pressure from high level american officials . 16 17 gross was released in december 2014 at the same time as other prisoners were released on both sides us and cuba and announcement of planned resumption of diplomatic relations . criticism edit eva golinger a venezuelan american attorney and editor of the correo del orinoco a web and print based newspaper which is financed by the venezuelan government claims that the dai is a central intelligence agency front organisation for their covert actions . 18 see also edit death of linda norgrove references edit developmentwork.net 2010 . said top vendors contractors and grantees fy 2015 . retrieved from http www.developmentwork.net resources usaid resources 206 usaid top vendors contractors and grantees fy 2010 a b c dai . 2010 . the first 40 a history of dai . source http www.dai.com pdf dai history book.pdf trudy rubin 05 02 2010 . successful model for foreign aid is idea new source http www.philly.com philly columnists trudy rubin trudy rubin successful model for foreign aid is idea new . html naomi lubick iraq s marshes renewed source http www.agiweb.org geotimes oct03 feature marshes.html economist 02 24 2005 . the marshes of southern iraq one third of paradise source http www.economist.com node 3690610 michael hopkin 02 21 2005 . reflooding bodes well for iraqi marshes nature http www.nature.com news 2005 050221 full news050221 1.html curtis j. richardson peter reiss najah a. hussain azzam j. alwash and douglas j. pool 02 25 2005 . the restoration potential of the mesopotamian marshes of iraq science http www.sciencemag.org content 307 5713 1307 . abstract american anthropological association source http www.aaanet.org cmtes copapia arizpe.cfm a b congressional testimony of andrew s. natsios usaid administrator on us relief efforts to tsunami affected countries source http reliefweb.int node 164652 gazette of politics and business source http ww2.gazette.net pb53 pauline zalkin 03 23 2011 . employee ownership and development innovation go hand in hand source http www.devex.com en blogs innovators blog dai rescuers may have killed hostage . bbc . 11 october 2010 . retrieved 12 october 2010 . nato probes death of aid worker in afghanistan . npr . retrieved 12 october 2010 . goldstein b. 2010 . what was alan gross doing in havana . aol politics daily . retrieved from http www.politicsdaily.com 2010 02 11 what was alan gross doing in havana haven paul . 2011 . american contractor found guilty in cuba . associated press . source http www.miamiherald.com 2011 03 12 2111927 american contractor found guilty.html ukman j. 2011 cuba rejects appeal of u.s. contractor . washington post . retrieved from http www.washingtonpost.com blogs checkpoint washington post cuba rejects appeal of us contractor alan gross 2011 08 05 giqaft0ewi blog.html padgett t. 2011 . the alan gross affair the us and cuba begin their dysfunctional diplomatic dance . time . retrieved from http globalspin.blogs.time.com 2011 08 09 the alan gross affair the u s and cuba begin their dysfunctional diplomatic dance golinger e. 2009 . cia agent captured in cuba . web of democracy . retrieved from http www.webofdemocracy.org cia agent captured in cuba.html dead link external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title development alternatives incorporated & oldid 734151464 categories economic development organizationscompanies based in marylandhidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from january 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history