A New Localised Vision for Global Development

USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced a series of reforms within the agency for more inclusive and local development. Through diversified recruitment, flexible, and increased funding for locally led development organisations, USAID aims to make aid more local, inclusive and responsive.

The lives of people around the world are now more entwined than ever. When health emergencies and natural disasters create fragility and vulnerability, international development must adapt to changing circumstances. Therefore the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power is pushing for more localisation as a new vision for global development.  

For more than six decades, USAID contributed to the eradication of diseases, reduction of poverty, and helped to transform societies by supporting elections and improving governance. Funding and staff shortages in times of growing and longer lasting crises in the world led to the creation of unsustainable workarounds at USAID. With its new vision for global development, USAID aims to make both funding and recruitment more sustainable.  

To create more inclusive global development, USAID aims to make aid more accessible, equitable, and responsive. The agency’s aim is to diversify and broaden recruitment processes and partnerships. Further, the focus of development programmes will be on the needs and interests of the most marginalised groups. Lastly, the voices of local partners will be in the centre of attention of USAID’s development programmes.  

In the next four years, at least a quarter of USAID’s funds will be directed to local partners. Additionally, by the end of the decade, USAID will spend half of its assistance on programmes with a local lead, Power pledged in her speech. Localisation of development programmes will entail that communities will co-design projects, set priorities, drive implementation or be part of programmes’ evaluation.  

For more information on USAID’s new global vision, please click here.