Stories
Stories
Collaborating with hundreds of institutional partners around the world, DAI is working to bring about transformational development on many levels—for regions and nations, companies and communities, families and individuals. Here are some of their stories.
Pakistani Provincial Assembly Launches Media Center
When the Provincial Assembly of Sindh reconvenes in Karachi after elections slated for February 18, 2008, correspondents covering the provincial legislature will have access to the best press facilities the Sindh Assembly has ever known. In early December 2007, reporters from several major news outlets previewed the new media center, established with the assistance of DAI’s Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Program (PLSP).
Serbian Teens Learn the Ways of Businesses, Emergency Preparedness
Serbia’s youth have in many ways gotten a raw deal, inheriting a country with limited employment opportunities and still recovering from the conflicts and sanctions of the 1990s. Many young people are more isolated and less worldly than were their parents and grandparents in the former Yugoslavia, who could travel freely and enjoyed luxuries in what was one of the richest nations in the region.
Social Fence Makes for Good Neighbors, Good Policy in Nyika National Park
Ranging over some 3,200 square kilometers at an elevation 2,500 meters above sea level, Malawi’s Nyika National Park protects an afromontane ecosystem that harbors an amazing array of flora and fauna. But Nyika’s biodiversity, and sacred places such as Mwanda Hill and Kaulime Lake—which for centuries have served as spiritual sanctuaries for the local population—are under threat.
Creating a Comprehensive Social Strategy for Marathon in Equatorial Guinea
Marathon is one of a handful of international oil and gas companies operating in Equatorial Guinea. Given the country’s broad range of development challenges, each of these operations stands to create significant impact on the local communities.
Strengthening Suppliers for M&M Mars in Haiti
Companies sourcing raw materials in emerging markets continually face the challenge of quality and quantity. In Haiti, DAI partnered with MasterFoods, an M&M Mars Company, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish a reliable source of high-quality cacao to meet M&M Mars’ supply needs.
DAI Energizes the Dairy Sector in Eastern Sri Lanka
Every day, 51 year-old Premadasa carries a plastic bottle filled with seven liters of milk to the Kaluthavalai collection point, one of five such collection points established under a DAI initiative to improve the lives of small dairy farmers in conflict-stricken eastern Sri Lanka. Milk is a rewarding business for the Sinhalese farmer. But it wasn't always this way.
Palestinian Apprenticeship Program Celebrates 61 More Graduates
In the fall of 2007, 61 apprentices graduated from the Palestinian Enterprise Development project’s Employment Generation Program (EGP). Even before the graduation ceremony, 40 of them had been asked for interviews and 20 had been hired.
Farm Price Index Expands to Cover Northern, Western Afghanistan
Farming in Afghanistan means doing business in a climate that can range from dysfunctional to deadly. Years of war and disorder have wrought havoc on the nation’s agricultural markets. Infrastructure such as energy and roads often doesn’t exist, crippling basic commerce and transport.
DAI-Designed Learning Institute Launched by Pakistan Parliament
Pakistan in recent years has endured political and security turmoil and been hit by devastating floods, all of which has challenged the country’s physical and governance infrastructure. But initiatives toward better governance are moving forward.
Festivals Get Children in the Habit of Healthy Hand Washing
A communications campaign to publicize the potentially lifesaving act of hand-washing has taken on a life of its own in Indonesia, thanks to collaboration between the Indonesian government, DAI’s Environmental Services Program (ESP), and other stakeholders.
Cutting Red Tape Boosts Small Business in Uganda
For residents of this city of 90,000 on the northern shores of Lake Victoria, the process of transforming an innovative business idea into reality had always been tedious and expensive. To obtain the necessary trade license, an entrepreneur would have to pay various fees, visit a registrar who reviewed paperwork, receive site visits by a health and safety inspector, and then await final approval from the local chairman. On average, this process took two days and cost a start-up business roughly $30—not a small sum in Uganda. With such regulatory impediments, it was not surprising that job creation and business growth were stifled.
Women’s Farms Flourish in North Sumatra after Training Takes Root
Going into debt can be risky business, especially if it is to support a business as challenging as running a small farm. When Rossi Sembiring borrowed Rp60 million, or about $6,300, over two years to operate her citrus farm, success was far from guaranteed.
Mayor’s Initiative Doubles Tax Base in Macedonian City
Just one year out of university in Vrapchiste, Macedonia, Mustaf Mustafa hardly expected to be tasked with solving one of the most critical problems facing his local government. But when the mayor called on him to help create a new tax collection database, Mustaf was excited to be part of such a consequential program.
Designing a Community-Based Agribusiness Development Program for Newmont Mining Corporation in Ghana
Newmont Ghana Gold Limited began production at its property in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region in mid-2006. The mine itself is surrounded by small, rural farming communities. Like most mine projects, this project faced social risks arising from the impact of mine operations on these communities. Newmont is committed not only to mitigating this risk, but to adding value so that local communities can participate in the benefits arising from development of the gold mine.
Building a Market Economy from the Ground Up
Strength in numbers. That is the lesson the rice farmers of Tanzania’s southwestern Mbarali district have learned. Long at the mercy of local moneylenders who supplied much-needed capital but demanded up to half their crop as repayment, the region’s poor farmers saw little room for economic advancement.
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