Driving trade, technology, agriculture, business, and financial services to create jobs, reduce poverty, and enhance food security.
Gender and Social Inclusion
DAI integrates gender programming across all our services: design, research, monitoring and evaluation, assessments, and implementation, as well as through our staffing of projects. We draw not only on tool kits, research, and theory—valuable as those things are—but on 50 years of field experience of what works, what does not, and why. Innovative where appropriate and results-driven in every case, our holistic approach founded on culturally sensitive techniques creates real change for women and men.
Our work in Afghanistan and Pakistan demonstrates what is achievable in even the most fragile and constrained environments, where inequality and physical violence against women inhibit equal opportunity for development. DAI’s results demonstrate that with the right tools and support, women triumph over the most extreme forms of discrimination to lead change in their societies that benefits all. DAI’s approach engages men and boys, recognizing the key role they play in addressing gender discrimination and advancing well-being.
Our in-house technical experts contributing to DAI’s gender-integrated approach include nutritionists, political scientists, lawyers, anthropologists, evaluation experts, and advisors in microfinance, private sector development, agriculture, environment, trade, health, livelihoods, ICT, and security sector and justice reform. DAI’s Gender Working Group brings together our latest thinking and develops crosscutting solutions integrating all these sectors.
Our Experts
Peter Dimitroff
Chief of Party, Ukraine Promoting Integrity in the Public Sector Activity
Peter Dimitroff holds more than 25 years of international development and project management experience, focusing on anti-corruption, budget transparency, legislative strengthening, and women’s empowerment.
Leslie Gonzales is a Lead Specialist in the Resilience and Stability practice with more than 20 years of experience designing, implementing, managing, and evaluating gender, youth, stabilization, and institutional capacity-strengthening programs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, South America, and Eastern Europe.
Chief of Party, Advancing Women for Resilient Agricultural Supply Chains (AWRAS)
Rhiannon Gulick melds technical expertise in natural resource management, energy, and climate change with practical experience in business development, facilitation, and technical writing.
Nandi Hall is Director of Economic Growth, with more than 15 years of experience working in international development in both the private and nongovernmental sector.
Vishalini Lawrence is the Senior Director of DAI’s Resilience and Stability practice. Vishalini brings 15 years of experience leading peacebuilding, resilience, stabilization, and governance programs in Cambodia, Kenya, Malaysia, and Somalia.
Advisor, Safeguarding, Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusion
Sarah Maguire is an advisor on safeguarding and gender, equity, and social inclusion. Sarah practiced at the Bar of England and Wales in criminal defence, immigration, asylum, and family law before joining the former U.K. Department for International Development as Senior Human Rights Adviser.
Lead Specialist, Resilience and Stability practice
Kayte Meola is a sociologist, researcher, and gender, youth, and social inclusion advisor focusing on women’s and girls’ empowerment in agriculture and environment in international development.
Michelle Morgan is accountable for the overall performance of the U.S. Government Programs division. A five-time Chief of Party who brings to the job decades of project implementation, corporate oversight, and team leadership experience, she is responsible for effective project management and outstanding development outcomes.
Kongkona Sarma is an economist with 20 years of experience working primarily in areas of investment facilitation, business environment reform, and monitoring and evaluation.
Worldwide—Advancing Women for Resilient Agricultural Supply Chains (AWRAS)
The Advancing Women for Resilient Agricultural Supply Chains (AWRAS) aims to increase women’s equal access to and control over resources, opportunities, and decision-making authority in sustainable agricultural supply chains.
Worldwide—Social Protection Technical Assistance, Advice, and Resources (STAAR) Facility
The Social Protection Technical Assistance, Advice, and Resources (STAAR) Facility is dedicated to expanding and improving the effectiveness of investments in gender-responsive social protection and social protection approaches in crises.
Business Egypt is building a robust ecosystem of market-led institutions—incubators, accelerators, business service providers, financial institutions, youth and women’s networks, business associations, public-private forums, one-stop shops—working in harmony to create long-term jobs and a more-resilient private sector.
South Sudan—Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan (RASS) Activity
The Resilience through Agriculture in South Sudan (RASS) Activity improves food security and community household recovery and resilience in 13 target counties in South Sudan, reducing their long-term reliance on humanitarian assistance.
Democratic Republic of the Congo—Feed the Future Strengthening Livelihoods and Resilience (SLR) Activity
The DRC Strengthening Livelihoods and Resilience Activity assists the government to improve the resilience capacities in vulnerable households and communities and supports the Congolese people, households, and communities in their efforts to sustainably escape poverty and chronic vulnerability.
Zambia—Scaling Up Nutrition Technical Assistance (Zambia SUN TA)
The project engages thousands of women in maternal and child health education and works with farmers across 13 districts to help them adopt climate-resilient farming practices to produce diverse, nutritious foods that are crucial to reducing stunting.
Developments is DAI’s newsletter. News and feature articles, opinion pieces, and interviews highlight DAI projects and offer insight into global development issues of the day.