USAID’s localization agenda: money, power and partnerships. Sarah Rose interviewed.

In this week’s episode, Sarah Rose introduces us to USAID’s approach to localisation as one of the biggest funding partners amongst bilateral donors. Sarah emphasises the importance of gathering the entire global development community in order to rethink roles and reform practices for localisation to be effective.Sarah talks us through USAID’s journey towards localisation, their time-bound measurable goals, and how to integrate localisation into every aspect of USAID’s work portfolio. USAID is working to tackle barriers to funding, by integrating multiple languages, reducing reporting burdens and risk assessment requirements. We talk about how USAID can think about strengthening their own capacity as an organisation to adapt to localisation efforts and integrate learnings from the Global South or majority world. Sarah emphasises the importance of establishing a “community of practice” amongst USAID to share guidance and support.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.If you’re interested to find out more about Sarah’s work, take a look here:LinkedInTwitterUSAID's localization webpageRelevant resources:USAID's inclusive development webpageMoving Toward a Model of Locally Led Development: FY 2022 Localization Progress ReportUSAID (2022) Localisation at USAID: The Vision and Approach. Washington DC: USAID. USAID's Local Capacity Strengthening PolicyWorkWithUSAID.org