DAI Launches the Center for Secure and Stable States

May 04, 2017

DAI today announced the launch of the Center for Secure and Stable States, a center of excellence with a mission to raise the bar for development and security programming in fragile states.

Based at DAI’s U.S. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland—but spanning the globe in terms of clients, operations, research, and learning—the Center will integrate DAI’s technical and operational experience in designing, delivering, and monitoring projects in fragile states, serving as a locus point for synthesizing and projecting DAI’s expertise in political transition, stability and resilience, and countering extremism.

“The hallmark of DAI is turning research and innovation into action and results,” said DAI Vice President Tine Knott, who will lead the new organization. “The Center, accordingly, will be both a technical and a project management hub, feeding practical insights from the field into the design and delivery of fragile states programming worldwide.”

Currently, DAI is delivering security, stability, and countering violent extremism (CVE) programming for clients including the U.S. Agency for International Development and its Office of Transition Initiatives, and the U.K. Department for International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (through the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund). The Center’s initial project portfolio includes work in Kenya, Burma, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Syria.

“In addition to the projects we implement directly through the Center, we’ll draw on—and contribute to—DAI’s ongoing development programs in challenging environments from Afghanistan and Iraq to Libya and Honduras,” said Knott. “The idea is to raise the pace of our learning across projects, geographies, and clients, and to share that accelerated learning with our clients as seamlessly as possible.”

Knott joined DAI in 2011 following 15 years of service with USAID. Most recently, she served as DAI’s Managing Director for Governance, in which position she oversaw the firm’s business with USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives; USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance; USAID Mission Democracy and Governance Offices; and the U.S. Department of State.