If you want to become a development worker to help people, DAI is not the place for you. - Regional Director DAI Employee Review

2.0
24 Jul 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great salary and benefits. Work-life balance is talked of but not respected.

Cons

Company values are not my values for development work. DAI is one of the 'beltway bandits' of DC. They secure these huge USAID contracts to do great-sounding work overseas. Once overseas, this for-profit company charges as much as they can get away with to the US government project, helping very few people except themselves, while racking up millions of dollars in consultancy fees and expensive hotels for visiting US-based project staff who do next to nothing. I worked on one such project - expecting to improve the lives of the people in the country where I was based - but all the money went to business class airfare and expensive hotels for the endless stream of 'consultants' who were paid $3000 a day to do next to nothing. I left out of disgust for what the US government allows by these big for-profit companies hired to do not-for-profit work. If you have any integrity and respect for what good development can be, avoid these big beltway bandits like DAI.

Explore other reviews about DAI

5.0
26 Jan 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Highly professional, top notch technical experts in several fields

Cons

Work subject to USG funding

4.0
6 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Strong culture of integrity. Absolutely spectacular colleagues. Super interesting work.

Cons

Basically denuded of staff due to USAID cuts. Upper management had become obsessed with performance against metrics that were poorly fit to the business, and were focused entirely on how they might meet those metrics this week, without looking ahead to how to make structural improvements over the longer term.

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