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.
“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.”