The challenges facing the most marginalized communities across the globe have only increased in complexity in recent years. With advances in information technology, the widening of economic inequalities and the acceleration of the climate crisis, problems like environmental degradation, geopolitical conflict, and global pandemics are becoming more difficult to address with traditional approaches to humanitarian aid and international development. Furthermore, one common critique of international development work is that it has the potential to replicate neocolonialist power structures by using outsider-driven, top-down decision-making.

Relationships matter. As the Advocacy & Communications Manager for Universal Intervention & Development Organization (UNIDOR), a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in South Sudan, I have been involved in supporting my organization’s partnership relations with United Nations agencies, multilateral aid organizations, bilateral aid organizations, international NGOs, and other national NGOs. Based on these interactions, I have observed that deep and meaningful relationships in the humanitarian and development sectors have the potential to transcend programmatic collaboration to create self-reliant communities that can sustainably solve their own problems.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not neutral; instead, it involves lots of human decisions that profoundly impact how AI systems are designed and implemented. As a result, AI can work well for some and not for others.

When USAID published its ambitious Climate Strategy on Earth Day 2022, it did so knowing that partnerships would be critical to achieving the Strategy objectives, including the Special Objective of Doing Our Part to strengthen operations and approaches to programming to address climate change and further climate justice within USAID and our partner organizations.

When development actors sit at global and regional conferences to discuss the rights and welfare of children in Africa or other regions, do we see African children, especially those from rural areas, sitting at the table? The localization movement calls for a “participation revolution” of communities impacted by foreign assistance to be involved in decision-making —and this must include children.

Before I joined USAID, I worked in development and local capacity strengthening on the implementing side and found myself often frustrated by the donor community’s bureaucratic requirements. I saw too much emphasis on reporting, which distracted grantees from core work or sent support to organizations that prioritized compliance over impact.

The West Bank and Gaza Mission is providing tools to empower local partners to work with USAID as influential changemakers—while also listening to and learning from them to enhance development practices.

To commemorate PEPFAR’s 20th anniversary, this article describes USAID’s partnerships with faith-based and community organizations in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Although it was unknown what the future would hold, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, our staff at USAID/Peru issued an innovative “bare bones" Annual Program Statement (APS) process to drive rapid development results by requesting only a simple two-page concept note.

Big things are happening these days at USAID’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., and at our Missions around the world—and many of them have to do with localization.