The Development Practitioners Forum was established in January 2009, with seed funding from DAI. In our first few months, we have been designing the new nonprofit organization to meet the needs of people who are implementing development projects at field sites in all corners of the world. "Practitioners" are a large and diverse group, spanning many different cultures, languages, disciplines, geographic regions, and types of organizations. Most of them have a passion to acquire new knowledge that is relevant to the work they do - equally, they are keen to share experience and lessons learned with others who are doing the same kind of work. That is why The Forum's vision of service to practitioners is "Real Development Knowledge at Your Fingertips".

As we have searched for opportunities to expand and enrich the knowledge networks of field practitioners, we've had enthusiastic responses and creative suggestions from dozens of colleagues in the DAI global community. It's clear that the path we have charted is one that speaks to shared experience and common needs.

At the February DAI Staff Conference, The Forum received a generous pledge of financial support by David Anderson, DAI's Chief of Party on the AMARTA agribusiness project in Indonesia:

"I congratulate Tony Barclay and Jim Boomgard for creating The Development Practitioners Forum. It will not only be of great benefit to the entire development assistance community, but it highlights DAI as a leader once again in developing and implementing innovative practices to further enhance development efforts around the world. I am glad to make a $1,000 contribution to The Forum, and I challenge my colleagues here and overseas, who have had good careers working with DAI, to match or exceed my contribution as a way of supporting this new initiative".

Listen to David Anderson's Challenge:

The Forum is now able to receive voluntary donations from DAI staff, friends, and extended family, as well as from members of the general public. Our application for 501-c-3 status has been filed with the Internal Revenue Service, and we expect our tax-exempt status to be retroactive to January 2009. We will acknowledge all donations and confirm their tax-deductibility as soon as our status becomes official. You can make a donation through PayPal:

Our website, www.devprac.org, is currently under development, with design assistance from DAI's Information and Communications Technology team. We anticipate a full launch of the website in midsummer. I hope you'll stay tuned, send us your ideas (as well as contributions!), and spread the word in the wider development community.

Tony Barclay
President, The Development Practitioners Forum