While the U.S. Agency for International Development has established a four-part strategy to encourage localization, the channeling of 25% of the agency’s budget directly to local organizations by 2025 has understandably monopolized the conversation. Yet, this metric dangerously oversimplifies a highly complex process and the burden on local groups could actually be counterproductive.
Not only does it ignore the political economy constraints of foreign aid, but it could also have unintended consequences that could weaken foreign aid’s credibility and effectiveness. This is an unfortunate and certainly unintentional development. Such a focus risks undermining our collective goal of shifting power to the people, communities, and institutions our foreign aid is designed to support.
The international development community should consider the consequences honestly and objectively and work together without recrimination to seize the opportunity that is underway with the paradigm shift toward more locally led development.
About the author
Benjamin Feit
Ben Feit is the founder of ReThink Associates and president of Pope Solutions, where he advises government contractors and mission-driven organizations. With over 30 years of experience, he has designed, led, and implemented development programs across Africa, eastern Europe, and the Middle East, supporting governance transitions and institutional capacity. A former CEO and chief growth officer, Ben has also driven strategy, growth, and organizational transformation. For the past 15 years, he has taught graduate courses on foreign aid policy and practice at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
