Devex Newswire: What is that elusive X factor in development?

It seems obvious: Put people at the heart of development. Duh — isn’t that what the sector is all about? Not as much as you think.

Also in today’s edition: The need to put people first in climate change efforts, the frustrations when putting people first in localization efforts, and a U.S. lawmaker issues a strange warning.

The human touch

A lot of the time, development practitioners approach their work from the mindset of things — a road, mosquito net, vaccine, classroom — things that can be tracked, monitored, and quantified. People in a sense are secondary.

But a burgeoning movement is putting people first by investing in leadership development.

For Wendy Kopp, it’s a no-brainer. Kopp was just 21 when she started Teach for America, a program that today has placed some 65,000 educators in underserved schools, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes.

“Through that journey, I became obsessed with this idea that with enough leadership, you could change anything,” says Kopp, who now runs Teach for All, a global network that mirrors Teach for America in 62 countries worldwide. “What we’ve come to call collective leadership is the X factor.”

Many other organizations were also embracing that X factor — and Kopp felt she’d stumbled onto something big. So in 2019, she helped launch the People First Community, a network of organizations focused squarely on leadership development. Today, there are more than 600 organizations, governments, donors, and researchers under the People First umbrella, all of which are trying to build up leadership to bring about impact. 

“We decided to convene around this question of, how do we ignite an evolution in development that puts people and leaders at the center?” says Anna Molero, who works at both People First and Teach for All.

For Musimbi Kanyoro of United World Colleges International — a member of the People First Community focused on education — honing in on the humans who ultimately power development efforts is important because it makes programming more effective.

“We all know that we need infrastructure, bridges, and schools. But when you focus on the people in a particular place, you can ask them what’s most relevant, and they can participate,” Kanyoro says. “You can have the same amount of money, but be able to give it differently depending on a community’s own needs.”

Read: The X factor? The case for people over things in development (Pro)

+  You’ll hear more from Wendy Kopp, Musimbi Kanyoro, and other luminaries at Devex World 2024. Join us on Oct. 24 in Washington, D.C., at Studio Theater to connect with leaders shaping the future of global development. Save your spot now.

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People, not percentages

Centering people — and, by extension, communities — at the forefront of development is increasingly recognized as the best way to effect lasting change, whether it’s on health, education, or climate change.

On the latter, Mahmoud Mohieldin, the U.N. special envoy on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, said the world could only chip away at climate finance targets by engaging the communities most affected by climate change.

“This bottom-up approach is not just democratic,” it will also lead to better outcomes on climate targets, he said at Devex’s Climate + Finance event in London.

Mohieldin rattled off various figures needed to meet the myriad climate targets that countries have set forth, but he said that at the end of the day, climate change doesn’t just come down to “abstract” numbers. It boils down to the people dealing with its effects every day. “And the solution has to be dealt with through some sort of a local … enterprise.”

“We are not relying on a more bottom-up approach, we're not engaging people actively well, and we're not listening to their priorities,” he said. “And we assume as leaders somewhere that we know better than those who are concerned.”

Read: How a 'bottom-up' approach can help meet climate finance targets

+ Read more coverage and watch panel sessions from our Climate + Finance event.

A litany of frustrations

Listening to the people meant to benefit from development programs has become the lodestar of the sector.

It’s localization in a nutshell, but it’s a tough nut to crack. USAID in particular has tried to shift money and power to local communities, though its efforts have been wobbly.

So, what are the biggest frustrations when it comes to localization? For Dennis Vega, the agency’s acting deputy administrator for management and resources, “it’s hard to point out just a few.” But during a panel at InterAction’s annual forum in Washington, D.C., last week, Vega did his best to do so, Elissa reports.

“There’s the time it takes for us to go, as an agency and a government, from when we have an idea of something we want to do, to actually getting money out to the people to do it,” Vega said. “It makes it really hard to pivot, and to see change happen as quickly as we want.”

Vega was speaking the week after USAID released its latest progress report on localization that found the agency had actually backtracked on its target since 2022. With just two years before its deadline, which aimed to redirect a quarter of all USAID’s funding to local organizations by 2025, the agency reported directing just 9.6% to local groups last year.

It’s not for lack of trying, Vega said: The agency is working to shift USAID’s operations in many different ways, including by moving away from a “compliance mentality.”

That’s a difficult shift, Vega said, especially given the strict congressional oversight of the agency. But for many local organizations, true progress on localization can’t happen without extending more trust to local partners. Vega’s co-panel Moses Isooba, the executive director of the Uganda National NGO Forum, stressed that point.

“We need to be doing development differently,” Isooba said. “We need to be intentional in ratcheting up your appetite for risk.”

Vega also mentioned the fact that USAID doesn’t have enough people to engage as deeply as they’d like with local communities and it’s getting funding later and later every year.

“That just incentivizes big contracts and big awards,” he said. “It’s the reverse incentive of what we want.”

Despite that, Vega did mention the bright spots. USAID funded more local partners last year than ever before, and more than 30 of its missions have doubled the amount of funding going to local partners.

“People are shifting from: This is something extra I have to do,” Vega said. “Now it really is, how do I engage in a different way?”

+ How has USAID been progressing on its localization agenda? Download our latest report where we present figures to highlight how far the agency is to reaching its localization target, as well as what we can expect next.

Head-scratching warning

There was some head-scratching and raised eyebrows at that InterAction forum when U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, told the audience to stay out of politics — even though most of the crises humanitarians deal with are inherently political.

“Your mission is to save lives. It’s not to be a lobbyist,” McCaul said. “I know all of you are passionate about your work. But it’s also important to know the confines of what your job is and what it’s not.

“I just happen to be an attorney, and a 501(c)(3) cannot lobby,” McCaul pressed on, referring to how the U.S. tax system defines a nonprofit. “If you start saying Israel is to blame for this, my side of the aisle is not going to be happy about that.”

McCaul may be an attorney, but that doesn’t mean he’s right. According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, 501(c)(3)s can engage in some lobbying, although too much of such activity "risks loss of tax-exempt status."

One audience member, Patricia McIlreavy, the president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, put it succinctly: “Us ceding our voice is actually political.”

Read: US congressman urges humanitarians to 'stay out of politics'

In other news

The U.N. adopted a China-backed resolution meant to help low- and middle-income nations benefit from artificial intelligence, intensifying the Beijing-Washington rivalry for global AI leadership. [Bloomberg]

UNICEF reported “a devastating toll on children” in Haiti, where the ongoing crisis has displaced over 300,000, with an estimated one child being displaced every minute since March. [UN News]

The World Bank approved two new programs worth $700 million to boost Jordan's education, health, and social assistance. [Reuters]

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