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.