How much of USAID’s money went to local grantees in 2023?
In 2021, Samantha Power set a goal of allocating 25% of USAID's money to local partners. Has the agency made progress with just around two years to hit this target?
In 2021, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced her commitment to allocating 25% of USAID’s budget to local partners by 2025. Shortly afterward, Devex was among the first to assess where exactly the agency stands — and how much it would need to get to that goal. Since then, the agency has taken some steps to firm up its localization agenda — from defining what local entails to launching a 14-point measure it will use to track its other target — that 50% of USAID’s programs be locally led by 2030. It has also clarified that its target applies only to eligible spending — that which local organizations could reasonably have competed for. Sources often come up with different estimates of USAID’s local spending, depending on the methodology used. Since we started monitoring how the agency has fared against its targets, Devex’s definition of what constitutes local remained the same. If the place of performance of the award is the same as the location of the LMICs-based recipient, we count it as local. In this article, we analyzed the data from USASpending to see how much of USAID’s total grants and cooperative agreements went to local partners in low- and middle-income countries. USASpending portal gets updated regularly, meaning estimates might vary — albeit minimally — depending on when the data was downloaded. What does the overall data say? As we mentioned in a separate analysis of USAID’s A&A mechanism, the increase in direct payments caused a decline in total spending via grants and cooperative agreements. From $22.1 billion in 2022, the total obligation through grants and cooperative agreements went down to $16.3 billion in 2023. Our analysis shows that of this, around $1.3 billion went to LMICs-based local grantees — the same level as the previous fiscal year — accounting for almost 8% of the total. This is up three to four points from our estimate of local grants and cooperative agreements in 2022. While this may suggest a significant rise at face value, the percentage increase is hugely driven by the decline in total spending on grants and cooperative agreements. Meanwhile, another $93.2 million went to recipients in LMICs for activities in another country. The bulk of money still went to US-based grantees, receiving $12.4 billion, while recipients from other high-income countries received $2.1 billion. Focusing on localization More than half of the local grantees are from lower- and middle-income countries, receiving $667.1 million — a slight increase from the $628.5 million the group received in 2022. Grantees from upper-middle-income countries accounted for more than a quarter, with $347.8 million, while local recipients in low-income countries received $227.9 million. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1712634127122' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Dashboard 1 ' src='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/US/USAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsbygeographyinFY23/Dashboard1/1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' /> <param name='embed_code_version' value='3' /> <param name='site_root' value='' /><param name='name' value='USAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsbygeographyinFY23/Dashboard1' /><param name='tabs' value='no' /><param name='toolbar' value='no' /><param name='static_image' value='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/US/USAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsbygeographyinFY23/Dashboard1/1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /><param name='showShareOptions' value='false' /></object></div> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1712634127122'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='580px';vizElement.style.minHeight='850px';vizElement.style.maxHeight='1600px';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='580px';vizElement.style.minHeight='850px';vizElement.style.maxHeight='1600px';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='1100px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> <i style=font-style: georgia;”>Geographical distribution of USAID local grants and cooperative agreements in FY 2023, based on USASpending data.</i> Sub-Saharan Africa still accounted for the biggest share among regions, with $980 million awarded to local implementers — 75.8% of the total. Grantees from Latin America and the Caribbean also received a significant sum, worth $125.4 million. The rest went to local organizations in East Asia and Pacific, with $59.3 million; South Asia, with $58.6 million; Europe and Central Asia, with $46.7 million; and Middle East and North Africa, with $22.9 million. Kenya maintained its rank among LMICs as the top recipient, with $187.3 million — 14.5% of the total. This is down $27.3 million from what Kenyan local grantees received in 2022. South Africa ranked next, with $160.2 million, or 12.4% of the total — $48.7 million less than the previous fiscal year. Then Nigeria, with $89.5 million, or 6.9% of the total — down $5.1 million from 2022. Overall, 35 countries saw a reduction in the total obligation to local grantees, amounting to $197.8 million. On the other hand, 37 countries recorded an increase in funding, worth $185.8 million. Who were the top local grantees? USAID awarded grants and cooperative agreements to a total of 620 local partners. Overall, 223 local grantees received less funding in 2023 compared to 2022 — totaling $391.8 million. Meanwhile, 149 local implementers received $242.2 million more assistance in 2023 than the previous fiscal year. There were no changes in the total obligation to 14 local grantees, while the remaining 234 organizations were not recipients in 2022. Among the local partners, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, or CIDRZ, received the biggest amount, worth $40.6 million. The organization ranked 13th in 2022. Anova Health Institute, which consistently ranked among recipients, slipped down a notch from 2022, with $38.8 million. BroadReach Healthcare Development — also a consistent top local recipient — ranked next, with $24.3 million. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1712633996065' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='Dashboard 1 ' src='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Re/RecipientsofUSAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsinFY23/Dashboard1/1_rss.png' style='border: none' /></a></noscript><object class='tableauViz' style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' /> <param name='embed_code_version' value='3' /> <param name='site_root' value='' /><param name='name' value='RecipientsofUSAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsinFY23/Dashboard1' /><param name='tabs' value='no' /><param name='toolbar' value='no' /><param name='static_image' value='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Re/RecipientsofUSAIDlocalgrantsandcooperativeagreementsinFY23/Dashboard1/1.png' /> <param name='animate_transition' value='yes' /><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' /><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' /><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' /><param name='display_count' value='yes' /><param name='showShareOptions' value='false' /></object></div> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1712633996065'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='580px';vizElement.style.minHeight='850px';vizElement.style.maxHeight='1200px';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='580px';vizElement.style.minHeight='850px';vizElement.style.maxHeight='1200px';vizElement.style.height=(divElement.offsetWidth*0.75)+'px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='1000px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> <i style=font-style: georgia;”>Recipients of USAID local grants and cooperative agreements in FY 2023, based on USASpending data.</i> The top three local organizations were also the recipients of the largest local awards. This includes: • $36.6 million to Anova Health Institute for the Accelerating Program Achievements to Control the Epidemic, or APACE — a five-year grant funded by PEPFAR through USAID that aims to control HIV in South Africa. • $24.3 million to BroadReach Healthcare, also for the APACE activity in South Africa. • $19.8 million to CIDRZ for HIV prevention in Zambia. • $18.6 million to PATH for the Nuru Ya Mtoto Project — a PEPFAR grant aimed at improving HIV response and services in Kenya. • $17.6 million to the Organization for Public Health Interventions and Development, or OPHID, to support the national HIV program in Zimbabwe. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.
In 2021, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced her commitment to allocating 25% of USAID’s budget to local partners by 2025. Shortly afterward, Devex was among the first to assess where exactly the agency stands — and how much it would need to get to that goal.
Since then, the agency has taken some steps to firm up its localization agenda — from defining what local entails to launching a 14-point measure it will use to track its other target — that 50% of USAID’s programs be locally led by 2030. It has also clarified that its target applies only to eligible spending — that which local organizations could reasonably have competed for.
Sources often come up with different estimates of USAID’s local spending, depending on the methodology used.
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Miguel Tamonan is a Senior Development Analyst at Devex, where he analyzes data from public and private donors to produce content and special reports for Pro and Pro Funding readers. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a Major in International Relations from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
