USAID to consult on a definition of 'local'

The U.S. Agency for International Development will consult on a definition of “local” as part of its push to increase funding for local organizations, a senior figure said earlier this week. After Administrator Samantha Power announced plans earlier this month to direct 25% of funding to such partners, USAID Industry Liaison Matthew Johnson told Devex that the agency had held a two-day retreat to focus on localization. Several ideas emerged from this, he said, including around the need for a precise definition of what “localization” means. “When we talk about local actors, we really mean deeply local, Indigenous communities.” --— Adam Nicholas Phillips, director, USAID’s Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships Hub “A definition of ‘local’ is in the works right now,” he said. “There are so many different ways of defining what a local organization is. There are partners where their entire staff is local, but they are connected to a larger international organization.” “There’s a policy which is being drafted right now,” he added. He said the policy will be released for consultation in early December. USAID’s efforts to increase localization have been dogged by questions about what “local” means, with some wondering if current contractors might simply open local offices in new countries. But during a Devex Pro event last week, Adam Nicholas Phillips, director of the Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships Hub at USAID, talked about the need to go further than that. “When we talk about local actors, we really mean deeply local, Indigenous communities: women-run co-ops, faith-based organizations, civil society actors that are often sometimes overlooked,” he said. “[This] doesn’t mean that it will not include our traditional actors. But we often talk about making sure that we're reaching new, diverse, and nontraditional actors at the agency.” Phillips said the agency would need to change its compliance requirements and risk tolerance to achieve that. “We need to make sure that our compliance requirements aren’t getting in the way of our ability to partner with effective local actors and that organizations can deliver meaningful results for their communities,” he said. “We know that it’s a two-way street. There is plenty of adaptation to go around with us internally, even culturally in some regards, as well as with some of our partners.”