Q&A: DT Global's approach to doing development differently

CANBERRA — Can for-profit development consulting entities deliver development assistance? DT Global, a new entity, is testing exactly that. With GPD Charitable Trust as the principal owner, DT Global is aiming to redirect the majority of income from services back into its non-profit arm, DT Institute, to support development initiatives — and possibly even become a donor itself. DT Global became a new name in the development sector in July, formed through the combination of GPD Charitable Trust, Development Transformations, and the former international development arm of AECOM. “We want to be an employer of choice and we think that when you work for DT Global, there is an opportunity to support a range of clients across a range of geographies. This creates a purposeful and meaningful objective in our work.” --— Mel Dunn, vice president of strategy and innovation, DT Global Mel Dunn had been the vice president of international development at AECOM for six years prior to this transformation, and from his base of Adelaide in Australia, is now the vice president of strategy and innovation for DT Global. In a conversation with Devex, he discusses the transformation of the business — and the importance of innovation and strategy in building its success. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Following the announcement to form DT Global in July, what has the impact been on the former international development arm of AECOM and your role in particular? The only thing we do now is development for good work. It’s not singularly unique in the industry, but it is different from many in that we’re not inside a larger organization whose core business is not development — that is an opportunity for us to shape our future direction and hopefully, that means we can engage strategically with our clients and stakeholders. Related to that, my role has changed, with our focus on being a truly global organization that is fully integrated and seamless. We hope that creates greater opportunities for clients and stakeholders that, no matter where they engage with our organization, they get access to our global resources to be able to deliver services — which might not be possible in other organization structures. How has the daily operation of the Adelaide office changed anything for local staff? The reality is that the international development team has not been affected by any attempts to create [cost] efficiencies — our people have all continued. From a client-side perspective, we’re still managing the same programs we were before, and the people are the same. The 50-odd year history we had [with AECOM] still exists. The change has been in the network we are collaborating with. We were already a highly collegiate operation between our three core hubs out of Spain, Adelaide, and Washington D.C., but we now have a whole other possibility to be far more integrated and strategic. That means we are spending times at strange hours collaborating — but I think that is terrific. It creates opportunities and global mobility for staff. We want to be an employer of choice and we think that when you work for DT Global, there is an opportunity to support a range of clients across a range of geographies. This creates a purposeful and meaningful objective in our work. There is still a bit of business as usual — as an example, we are still a significant and capable provider of infrastructure services in development. We are still managing a range of infrastructure-related services for a range of clients including DFAT and USAID and were recently awarded a contract by the European Commission to support the African Union Commission’s prioritization of infrastructure. What has been your approach in managing customers and their expectations as you have become DT Global? I think we absolutely have managed expectations for clients well, ensuring they have only experienced an upside. A lot of the conversation has been focused on the positives of what we can deliver additionally through this new business model, which we think is pioneering a new approach to development. We’re majority owned by a charitable trust, the not-for-profit arm and through that, we can reinvest, become a co-investor, become a donor, grantor, invest in research, and more. Fundamentally in engaging with clients our focus has been on the change and becoming DT Global. But we also need to be focused on delivering the services we are both morally and contractually obligated to deliver. We’ve had very positive feedback from our clients who I don’t believe would have felt any different, especially as we have not reduced staff. The key has been in maintaining the principle of honest, open and transparent conversation with no surprises. I am confident we are doing everything we said we would, and will continue to do so. “As development professionals, we all have an obligation to come together better to see what else might we be able to do. This is where DT Global, with a slightly different business model, might create an example of a new way of doing things.” --— Focusing on the services you are delivering to the Australian aid program, are there any changes in the services you are anticipating being able to deliver to support the objectives of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade? I’d rather step away from looking at what tender comes up as there is so much more we can do. Tenders exist, and part of our business model is that we want to continue supporting the Australian aid program. So in order to do that we have to make sure that we are competitive on tenders. But beyond that, we will be and are engaging with DFAT to help educate on who DT Global is. We are investing time to introduce how we see extracting value in what we do — and having conversations with a range of partners to help to give back through the work we are doing. We want to have a similar conversation with DFAT and other clients to see what else might be possible to achieve with them through our new structure. As a development professional, how do you see the landscape — including opportunities and challenges — for organizations like DT Global and development as a whole in the changing political climate? To think I would have the right answer is a huge leap. But I think there are aspects of the traditional development business model that is still worthy of evolution. There have been positive moves at the practical level — including DFAT looking at ways to engage with the market and market actors. But more can be done. If we look at the macro-level, we are gearing up for the reality of a post-SDG environment and we’re still in the phase where the SDGs are overt about the importance of the private sector. Yet I think we have work to do to consider the best way to harness the private sector in its multiplicity of definitions. As development professionals, we all have an obligation to come together better to see what else might we be able to do. This is where DT Global, with a slightly different business model, might create an example of a new way of doing things.