In November 2021, USAID Administrator Samantha Power announced that 25% of the agency’s funding would go to local actors by 2025. Publish What You Fund, with the support of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) and its members, has undertaken detailed research to establish an independent, credible, and replicable baseline to measure and track funding for the 25% commitment; the research then compares its approach to USAID’s announced approach. The research findings show that the differences in measurement approaches significantly change the funding amounts USAID will need to provide to local organizations to reach the 25% target.

On March 1st, MFAN and Publish What You Fund co-hosted an event to discuss the findings of this research and its policy implications, underscoring why these metrics matter. We were delighted to be joined by:

• Tessie San Martin, CEO, FHI 360 (welcome remarks)
• Alex Tilley, Head of Research, Publish What You Fund (presentation of research)
• Meghan Armistead, Senior Research and Policy Advisor, Catholic Relief Services
• Alix Masson, Senior Advocacy Advisor,  Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR)
• Denise Namburete, CEO, N’weti
• Adam Phillips, Executive Director, Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub, Development, Democracy and Innovation Bureau, US Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Sally Paxton, U.S. Representative, Publish What You Fund (moderator)

You can catch up on the event below:

You can download the presentation of the research findings here.