DAI Shaping a more livable world. Six-Month Report October 2016 – March 2017

Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Global Development Lab in advancing USAID's culture of innovation. DAI's four-year, $25 million professional management services contract with the Center for Development Innovations (CDI) aims to integrate innovation into international development. From October 2016 to March 2017, USAID invested $2.9 million in DAI support. DAI's strategic counsel and implementation are guided by four principles: extending USAID's reach, making a client's vision a reality, flexibility, and experimenting and learning quickly. The case studies that follow represent a sample of the many DAI-supported activities conducted in the first half of the 2017 fiscal year. In Barbados, DAI partnered with the Innovation Design (iDesign) team to facilitate a co-creation process, which culminated in a three-day workshop in early December 2016. The workshop aimed to strengthen local civil society organizations' managerial, administrative, and operational skills. DAI conducted research to understand the context and landscape of local organizations and interviewed each organization to understand their interest in the project. The co-creation workshop agenda was developed, and DAI facilitated the meeting, which included exercises to better understand and mitigate barriers and prototyping and pitch sessions to develop possible solutions. The outcomes of the workshop were positive, with participants finding value in the co-creation process and networking opportunities. The Mission reported having a better understanding of participating organizations' creativity, organizational dynamics, and innovation potential. Two groups are submitting formal proposals, and the Mission intends to fund one. In Zambia, DAI supported USAID's Zambia Integrated Health and Education team in convening a stakeholder engagement meeting in early February 2017. The meeting aimed to address the complex issue of child development, which requires the collaboration of multiple disciplines. DAI conducted desk research to pull together a preliminary matrix of all donor resources, projects, personnel, and investments. The diverse group of stakeholders made full use of the three-hour session to determine a vision of Zambia's children, agreed on what they meant by "childhood development," and openly discussed barriers and gaps in resources. The outcomes of the meeting were positive, with participants understanding that this was simply the beginning of the process. They agreed to identify or advocate for high-level coordination within the government of Zambia around early childhood development, including generating a government-led joint action plan and developing a shared platform for data and learning. USAID Zambia has acted as a convening body until the Zambian government determines where to house this work.