USAID announces 14 measures to track key localization target

USAID officials used the agency’s quarterly business forecast call with suppliers on Dec. 7 to present a 14-point structure that the agency will use to track one of its key localization targets: A commitment to have 50% of programs be locally led by 2030. This target is less well-known than the promise to have 25% of eligible funding go to locally led organizations by 2025, though it was announced by the agency’s Administrator Samantha Power at the same time. Power and other senior figures within the agency have said they think local leadership is as, or more, important than local funding, and many leaders within the localization movement have said the same. In practice, it means that local leaders should set priorities, say what should be done and how it should be done, define which results constitute success, and say how those results should be measured. But the local leadership target has received less coverage partly because it is a much harder thing to measure, and USAID has spent months consulting with USAID missions and more than 300 organizations — largely local, but also some in the global north — to find suitable metrics. Eventually, the agency decided on a group of 14 good practices, grouped into four broad categories. A program will count toward the target if it follows any two of these good practices, across at least two categories. Other major announcements in the business forecast call included the appointment of Jami Rodgers as director for USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance. Rodgers previously worked in several senior roles at the U.S. aid agency. Officials also released more specifics on the role of the newly formed Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management, or PLR, which was formally launched in October in a merger of the former Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, or PPL, and the Independent Office of Budget and Resource Management, or BRM. Also announced is the rollout of a new translation tool that will give missions and Washington offices access to on-demand translation services for requests for information, requests for application, and final applications in French, Spanish, and Arabic, with plans to expand to other languages. Meanwhile, the creation of a funding feed on the website, WorkwithUSAID.gov, which pulls in USAID-specific opportunities from SAM.gov and Grants.gov every day, is meant to make things easier for potential partners, allowing them to see all USAID opportunities with just one search.