WASHINGTON — The U.S. Agency for International Development launched a new private sector engagement policy late last year, and since then the agency has been staffing up and drafting plans as it works to implement greater engagement with companies across its geographies and sectors.
There hasn’t been a big push to create new partnerships — though there have been a few announcements. Much of the work in recent months has been on changing USAID’s systems, operations, and culture in line with the policy, said Sarah Glass, acting director of USAID’s Center for Transformational Partnerships.
In the past six months, USAID has identified private sector engagement points of contacts for nearly every USAID mission and all of the sectors and regions at headquarters. That group of people will be leading the implementation and the creation of private sector engagement plans.