Ep 30: USAID and Localization: Progress Report and What’s Next

The Aid Market Podcast

Senior Advisor for Localization in the Office of the USAID Administrator, Sarah Rose joins Mike Shanley to discuss how localization and locally led development works within USAID. Sarah explains how USAID measures success and why partnerships and working with local communities is critical to meeting their goals. She explains how USAID partners with major global aid donors and how they fit within the broader US Government foreign policy context. Sarah shares some success stories where USAID has been able to make an impact utilizing localization and what she is looking forward to seeing in the future. Tune in to learn more about the work USAID does and how partners can continue to drive success.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [1:09] What do the terms localization and locally led development mean to the teams of USAID?

• [3:10] How has localization shifted across administration and how does USAID implement the priorities?

• [8:50] How does USAID measure success of localization work?

• [13:38] What are the changes around locally led development and humanitarian response?

• [18:35] What are some challenges that USAID has faced while trying to implement some ambitious localization activities and priorities?

• [21:20] How does USAID work with major global aid donors?

• [23:50] How do USAID partners fit into localization?

• [29:23] How does Sarah see USAIDs role fitting into the broader US Government foreign policy context?

• [31:38] Sarah shares some success stories where localization has worked.

• [37:11] What is the difference with how USAID and DC headquarters work with localization and partners overseas?

• [42:00] What are some of the future projects and partnerships Sarah is excited about and how will USAID measure success?

• [49:20] What are some key takeaways Sarah would like partners to walk away with from this conversation?

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Local ownership and local leadership is critical for effectiveness and for sustainability.

• Locally led development is important for greater effectiveness, greater sustainability, and importantly for greater equity in development and humanitarian work.

• A joint commitment between USAID and their partners is important because no one team has all the answers or all of the tools or systems. It’s critical that everyone works together toward a common goal and that they learn from one another.

QUOTES:

• [22:38] “This joint commitment is really important because individually none of us has all the answers or all the tools, so it’s really critical to make sure that we’re working toward common goals and to learn from one another as we go as well.” - Sarah Rose

• [30:37] “If we’re talking about investments that we hope will be effective in advancing these priorities, thinking about locally led development is the best way to ensure that our investments, or to maximize the possibility that our investments will really help support some of these lasting development issues or really strengthen local systems to do. That ends up being a really important criteria or context as well.” - Sarah Rose

• [51:49] “We also very importantly and crucially need to continue to be able to listen to those local communities, stakeholders, governments, etc on how they want this to continue to look.” - Sarah Rose

RESOURCES:

Aid Market Podcast

Aid Market Podcast YouTube

Mike Shanley LinkedIn

BIOGRAPHY:

Sarah Rose is the Senior Advisor for Localization in the Office of the USAID Administrator. Prior to coming to USAID, she was a policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, where her research focused on US development policy and aid effectiveness, including localization. Previously, Sarah was a monitoring and evaluation specialist in the health office of the USAID Mission in Mozambique. She also worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation in the Department of Policy and Evaluation.