Samantha Power takes localization global

In its latest attempt to focus on the need for localization, the U. S. Agency for International Development used the platform at the Effective Development Cooperation Summit underway in Geneva to bring together 14 other donor countries to announce support for locally led development.

This is the first time donors have come together to back the approach, which has been a priority for USAID Administrator Samantha Power since she took office.  

Together, the donors committed “to foster locally sustained change that is tied to each country's unique context” and agreed to undertake three major steps: Shift and share power to ensure local actors have ownership, work to channel high quality funding as directly as possible to local actors, and publicly advocate for locally led development.

“[We realized] you have to change the way you think, change the way you act, change the words you use … and you need to show up at the table differently. We need to put resources into changing ourselves before we ask our partners to change,” said Michele Sumilas, assistant administrator at USAID, who announced the statement.

She explained that while localization is the buzzword, the agency is thinking of the issue as a shift toward locally led development through concrete steps such as translating requests for proposals into local languages, which Sumilas said they’ve never done before.

While Power has spoken publicly about the need for localization — she announced in November last year that 25% of the agency’s funding will go to local partners by 2025  — the organization has struggled to define what “local” actually means.

Its attempt to bring other international donors under a common umbrella can be seen as a way to establish the agency —  and hence Power — as a leader in the area.

“The U.S. is such a large player in the development field,” Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs State Secretary Bjørg Sandkjær told Devex. “When the U.S. comes on board so strongly, talking about power shift and localization, it’s an inspiration for the rest of us.” She added: “We should thank Samantha Power for raising the idea, and working with us in Norway to articulate what this should really mean."

Donor countries who haven’t yet endorsed the statement include Germany and Sweden. Asked if the OECD Development Assistance Committee countries had a common approach to the issue, a spokesperson for the chair of DAC told Devex, “We don’t have a statement to share on localisation. While some DAC members have been working together on this topic there is no common DAC position.”

“It’s not too late,” Sandkjær said. “We hope that more [countries] will join us,”

But how will this donor community be held accountable for their commitments?

“We are not looking to create another mechanism [for accountability],” Sandkjær said. “The statement is out there. For us, it means we have to take a very good look at how we work and look through our own processes and our own way of partnering with countries that we support … how we can push decisions closer to the countries and communities.”