Going Local

By Linn Dorin

For donors, ensuring sustainability and managing risk remains a significant concern when it comes to localizing aid. “Localization is not an end unto itself,” said Elizabeth Warfield, speaking to USAID’s Local Solutions framework. “The endgame is sustainability and country ownership.”

by Linn Dorin & Dr. Lennie Bazira Kyomuhangi-Igbodipe
FULL POST on the Daily Nation

The DEFEE Milk Group is a local initiative that has benefited from a broader trend shaping the global distribution of foreign aid. Over the past 10 years, major development donors have begun giving money directly to developing country governments and local NGOs.

By Linn Dorin & Raj Kumar
FULL POST on The Hill 

The Ebola outbreak highlighted one of the biggest limitations in the world’s current approach to international development: local capacity. Money is critical in an emergency, but it is equally important that a country has the ability to use that money effectively.

by Linn Dorin & Dr. Lennie Bazira Kyomuhangi-Igbodipe
FULL POST in The New Times, Rwanda

As the trend of aid localisation continues, the global community is starting to pay more attention to the impact localization is having for the organisations that receive the aid on-the-ground in developing countries.

By Lorenzo Piccio
FULL POST on Devex

USAID Philippines Mission Director, Gloria Steele admitted that her mission may fall short of meeting its 40 percent local spending target by 2015. But she does expect USAID Philippines to come fairly close and to funnel between 33 and 40 percent of its spending to local actors by next year.

By Tessie San-Martin
FULL POST on Devex

Local, developing country institutions should be the first and default option for delivering U.S. aid where appropriate capacity and conditions exist.

By Amy Yee
FULL POST on The New York Times

Solutions to social problems tend to focus on products, a rush to scale up and buzzwords like “innovation.” But systematic processes to spark change are another essential, though often overlooked, ingredient.

By Stephen Groff
WATCH VIDEO on Devex

Stephen Groff, vice president for operations at ADB, tells Devex his thoughts on how aid donors and organizations implement a localization strategy in a country like Myanmar, where the local capacity is so low.

By Manola De Vos
FULL POST on Devex

With their presence, knowledge and access, national and local aid groups often manage to meet urgent, life-or-death needs where international aid agencies cannot.

By Paul Farmer
FULL POST on Foreign Affairs 

So much is written and said about foreign aid that it has become difficult to contribute meaningfully to the debate about whether it is effective.

By Jonathan Glennie
FULL POST on The Guardian

Should more aid money be directed to organisations and institutions in the recipient countries, rather than via international NGOs and companies?