Watch: Can USAID make localization work this time?

The U.S. Agency for International Development is in the midst of a major reform process aimed at making U.S. global development resources and programming more accessible to — and driven by — local partners. Devex asked three experts and development practitioners, who have worked at the intersection of local leadership and donor funding, to share their views on this latest effort to expand USAID’s partner base and ensure its programs are led by the people they aim to serve. The panelists in the Devex Pro Live event included Alex Sardar, the former executive director of the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network, or SEEP Network, who has extensive experience working on USAID-funded projects; Nixon Ochatre, the founder and team leader at Amani Initiative — a Ugandan local organization that works to prevent and respond to harmful practices against children and women; and Gunjan Veda, a senior manager for global collaborative research and public policy at the Movement for Community-Led Development. Here are some key takeaways from the event: What does ‘local’ mean? While USAID Administrator Samantha Power outlined some of the top-line features of this vision in a speech in November, translating it into specific policy changes, hiring decisions, and congressional approvals is still a work in progress. Notably, while Power committed to directing at least 25% of USAID’s resources to “local partners” within the next four years, the agency is still in the process of defining what “local partner” means, Michele Sumilas, USAID’s assistant administrator in the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning, told U.S. lawmakers last month. One key question is whether international organizations that establish local affiliates, operating under national laws and staffed by people from those countries and communities, should count as “local.” “The short answer is no,” Sardar said. “There are wonderfully capable organizations already in various communities. Why are we registering organizations in Kenya and Tanzania? Why are we doing that if not for our egos, if not for our share of the money?” Compliance and exclusion It’s not easy being a USAID implementer. One reason that a relatively small number of organizations receive a large amount of the agency’s funding is that they become good at meeting compliance standards and reporting results in the way the agency requires. For many local organizations, the basic challenge of accessing information about opportunities to work with USAID can lead to exclusion, said Ochatre. “There are very many amazing partners down in the communities who are doing amazing work on the ground, but most of them don’t have access to information,” he said. The evidence base for locally led development Discussions of “localization” can sometimes take for granted that putting local organizations and communities in the lead produces inherently better outcomes. But Veda said the argument for doing so is more than a philosophical assumption; it has been backed by empirical evidence. “From RCTs [randomized controlled trials] to other qualitative studies all across the world in a number of countries, there is absolute empirical evidence that locally-led development or community-led development … is: a) more cost effective; b) it’s more efficient; c) it’s sustainable,” Veda said.