How USAID awarded $1.1B in grants to local partners
The U.S. Agency for International Development disbursed $1.1 billion to 490 local organizations in low- and middle-income countries — a total of 972 disbursements in 78 countries. Where did the money go?
Earlier this month, USAID Administrator Samantha Power made two significant commitments targeting localization. First, within the next four years, 25% of all funding would go to local partners — a leap from the current 6%. Second, by the end of the decade, 50% of the agency’s programming would be led by local communities — from design, prioritization, implementation, to evaluation. The U.S. Agency for International Development provided around $21 billion a year of funding in the fiscal year 2020 through a mixture of grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. The first two groups are collectively known as assistance funding. Different datasets suggest that assistance funding accounts for between $14 billion and $15 billion of agency spending. This analysis looks at how much of that assistance funding goes to local organizations based in lower- and middle-income countries. The analysis also looks at where the agency delivered the highest proportion of local funding, and who the top partners were. According to that data, around 40 cents in every dollar of local funding went to organizations based in just one country — South Africa. Where did the money go? USAID disbursed $1.1 billion to 490 local organizations in LMICs — a total of 972 disbursements in 78 countries. We define a local organization as one based in the same country that the grant was spent. A further $68.7 million went to 31 organizations in LMICs to provide services in other countries. A big portion of this — $28.8 million — was awarded to local offices of the United Nations Development Programme. In comparison, $3.9 billion went to non-U.S. organizations based in other high-income economies. This mostly went to multilateral organizations, with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria alone receiving $2.6 billion. Data gathered by Devex suggests that between 7% and 8% of assistance funding is going to organizations based in LMICs — higher than the 6% figure in Power’s speech. In contrast, an initial assessment suggests that less than 3% of all contracts funding goes to organizations based in LMICs. Contracts — also known as acquisitions funding — are not included in the figures used for this article. They will be explored in more detail in a future analysis. Zooming into localization South Africa topped the list of countries with the most locally implemented awards, receiving $438 million — a larger total disbursement than the rest of the African continent combined — which totals $424.2 million. Of the 141 grants to South Africa that were not awarded to U.S. organizations, all went to local partners. Five out of the top 10 organizations came from South Africa, receiving $386.2 million in total: Anova Health Institute, Right to Care, Broadreach Healthcare, Maternal Adolescent and Child Health Institute, and Wits Health Consortium. Anova Health Institute topped the list overall with $139.7 million for only nine grant disbursements. Organizations in other African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe also received a substantial amount of funding, amounting to $244.4 million. Overall, $807 million was disbursed to southern, eastern, and West Africa, while $31.8 million went to North Africa and the Middle East. Central Africa received the least, with only $23.4 million for 40 grants — $3.8 million less than Central Asia, and $5.9 million less than Eastern Europe. All the other regions received a total of $190.7 million for 438 grants. Most of the overall top awards to local partners were in Africa, focusing on controlling epidemics such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Among these were: • $140 million for eight grants under the Accelerating Program Achievements to Control the Epidemic in South Africa awarded to Anova Health Institute, with the biggest single disbursement amounting to $36.6 million. • $36.6 million for the implementation of the USAID-Southern Africa Bilateral Healthcare Program and Treatment Activities awarded to Broadreach Healthcare. • $20.9 million for the implementation of the HIV/AIDS care and treatment activities under PEPFAR in South Africa awarded to Right to Care. • $20.9 million for HIV control through technical, financial, and material support in Zimbabwe awarded to the Organization for Public Health Interventions and Development. <div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1637593195633' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt='USAID Assistance LMIC ' src='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/US/USAIDAssitanceLMIC/USAIDAssistanceLMIC/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='USAIDAssitanceLMIC/USAIDAssistanceLMIC' /><param name='tabs' value='no' /><param name='toolbar' value='yes' /><param name='static_image' value='https://public.tableau.com/static/images/US/USAIDAssitanceLMIC/USAIDAssistanceLMIC/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='language' value='en-US' /><param name='filter' value='publish=yes' /></object></div> <script type='text/javascript'> var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1637593195633'); var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0]; if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='600px';vizElement.style.height='1027px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='600px';vizElement.style.height='1027px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='2177px';} var scriptElement = document.createElement('script'); scriptElement.src = 'https://public.tableau.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js'; vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement); </script> Interactive visualization of USAID’s assistance funding to partners in LMICs (2020). Overall, the current figures offer two contrasting lenses. On the one hand, it highlights the disparity in grant disbursement among organizations based in different countries. But on the other hand, it also shows that localization is working in some places. If the agency can still ramp up its spending in other countries to match its work in southern Africa, it will be able to meet its goal. Janadale Leene Coralde and Raquel Alcega contributed to this article. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free 5-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850+ sources in addition to our analysis and news content.
Earlier this month, USAID Administrator Samantha Power made two significant commitments targeting localization. First, within the next four years, 25% of all funding would go to local partners — a leap from the current 6%. Second, by the end of the decade, 50% of the agency’s programming would be led by local communities — from design, prioritization, implementation, to evaluation.
The U.S. Agency for International Development provided around $21 billion a year of funding in the fiscal year 2020 through a mixture of grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. The first two groups are collectively known as assistance funding. Different datasets suggest that assistance funding accounts for between $14 billion and $15 billion of agency spending.
This analysis looks at how much of that assistance funding goes to local organizations based in lower- and middle-income countries. The analysis also looks at where the agency delivered the highest proportion of local funding, and who the top partners were.
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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.
