WASHINGTON — Officials who have been involved in multiple efforts to improve the U.S. Agency for International Development’s contracting and grant-making processes say they are trying to learn from past experiences — and past mistakes.
As USAID undergoes a broad restructuring under Administrator Mark Green, the agency is hoping to build on earlier attempts to direct more resources through local organizations. The previous administration’s “local solutions” agenda set a top-line target for local spending — 30% — which it then struggled to achieve. But Green’s team says they are taking a broader view of how procurement fits into the entire spectrum of program strategy, design, award-making, and implementation.
“We think ‘local solutions’ was quite successful in doing a number of different things, particularly really driving us to think about local ownership and sustainability,” said Roman Napoli, deputy coordinator for USAID’s transformation task team.