Watch: Inside USAID's new local funding plan

Samantha Power, administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development, outlined some of the agency’s targets around localization earlier this month, including a commitment to direct 25% of its funding to local partners within the next four years. Only about 6% of the agency’s budget currently goes to such partners, according to Power, despite numerous efforts and initiatives by previous administrators to shift spending. A key initiative to support local partners is the launch of workwithUSAID.org, which aims to gather all the information that they might need to work with the agency. It offers questionnaires to help organizations understand whether they are ready to engage with USAID and a partner directory where groups can list details about themselves. Devex talked to Matthew Johnson, industry liaison at USAID, and Adam Nicholas Phillips, director at the agency’s Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships Hub, to help NGOs understand what they can get from USAID’s new website and what will happen next in the localization process. Among the takeaways from the discussion are that: • USAID is still consulting and talking to partners to reach a definition of “localization,” and this remains an evolving process. • To achieve its localization goals, USAID will need to give more and smaller grants. But doing this will require more staffers. There is a 30%-40% staffing shortfall from the level needed to achieve the localization ambition. • USAID has recognized that to boost localization, it will need to strengthen the capacity of local partners to bid. To help make this happen, it will consult shortly on a “local capacity development policy.” • USAID transferred more authority to its foreign service nationals during the COVID-19 pandemic and is looking to retain that expanded role as part of the push to localize decision-making. • The 25% localization target will not be applied uniformly across all countries, with an expectation that traditional partners will have a bigger role to play in areas with local infrastructure that is less developed.