DAI reviews

The field of development, particularly in Washington, D.C., has changed. There is more competition; there are more "experts" writing about development; and, there are more "politics" to the field than ever before. The world has also changed -- there is more capacity in the countries where DAI works than ever before. These changes (among others) are putting pressure on all of the actors in the development field. Some companies are being forced to reduce headcount and benefits and others are accelerating staff turnover to keep down labor costs. Nonetheless, in my view, there remain real opportunities for entrepreneurial, smart, geographically mobile individuals who wish to feel good about the work they do every (or almost every) day. There are lots of nuts and bolts that go into delivering international technical assistance, so most entry-level job seekers will be doing some of these mundane tasks. Read job descriptions carefully. But, patience and drive, is generally rewarded!

I had such a bad experience at DAI- the company went through two rounds of redundancies within the three year period when I was there. It was stressful, and the morale was very low, especially after the second year of redundancies. It was completely mismanaged and created a lot of distrust between employees and higher level staff. They ended up disbanding the climate team or offering those team members menial jobs below they're grade level in different departments or facilities. It really demonstrates how the company prioritizes climate work in their future projections, and that they were willing to lose all that technical expertise. As an employer, DAI's model is fully built to take advantage of entry-level/junior level/and most mid level employees. There were a lot of morale issues regarding salaries, or when employees would find out the salaries of their colleagues. I would really not recommend DAI as an employer- it's neither lucrative nor skill-building to work there.