5 Stories of Localization in Action
How localization is happening in Kenya, Burma, Nepal, Uganda, and Paraguay
USAID is working with local partners who bring knowledge, skills, leadership, and resources to address challenges in their own communities.
This locally led approach requires intentional listening, understanding of local systems, building equitable partnerships, engaging in locally led monitoring and evaluation, and supporting local leaders to sustain change over the long term.
Learn more about how USAID’s Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub is advancing locally led development through the stories behind these five standout photos. All of the activities receive funds from USAID’s Locally Led Development Initiatives’ programs.
Since she was a teenager, Amina Ahmed has fished for octopus in her village in Lamu County, Kenya. Here, she’s known as Mama Pweza (Mama Octopus). Her community is one of 10 comprising the Pate Marine Community Conservancy, a member of USAID’s local partner Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT).
Amidst increased demand and over-fishing, Amina and her fellow fishers, most of whom are women, were catching fewer and smaller octopus in fisheries off Lamu’s coast. The women took a leap of faith to reverse the decline: close the octopus fishery for four months, giving up income they would have earned, in hopes the octopus would rapidly grow.
When the fishery reopened, the women caught a much larger harvest of octopus. The octopus closure method ensures sustainable management of critical coastal marine habitats while benefiting the entire community. Since the re-opening of the octopus fishery, Amina has been sharing the approach with other communities.
NRT’s subsidiary Northern Rangelands Trust Trading (NRTT) engages with USAID through the Local Works program.
In Burma’s Kachin State, mornings at a local drug rehabilitation center run by Myaw Lint Yar (HOPE) are for group exercise. Amidst extensive drug use in Kachin, where complex factors including conflict and generational poverty exacerbate the epidemic, community members come to the HOPE rehabilitation center to change their lives.
Internationally recognized as a “complex, multifactorial health disorder,” HOPE knows that drug addiction is both preventable and treatable and takes a holistic, community-based approach to rehabilitation and prevention. The executive director of HOPE, Simon, has been leading the charity clinic for over two decades, growing a strong understanding of the local context and trust amongst the community.
“I have learned that it is easier for the local organizations to build trust with all local stakeholders in the challenging time and social contexts,” Simon explains, which enables them to continue their work. For him, “saving lives, helping the hurting, distributing emergency food is precious, noble work.”
By partnering with USAID, Simon says that HOPE has gained “a lot of experiences and improvement of performance of our local staff, [and] organization[al] development,” making their current work with USAID “well planned for [a] self sustaining project.”
HOPE is expanding their services by partnering with USAID through the Local Works program, representing one of the Agency’s first direct awards to a local partner in Kachin State.
A young woman cradled her baby in her lap, sitting cross-legged with others from her community in the Sunwarshi municipality of eastern Nepal. “All doors to education, jobs, and our wellbeing are closed for us, while other communities are [making] so much progress,” she vulnerably shared.
After two hours of inclusive conversation with the Musahar Dalit community, in addition to sessions with Musahar Dalit communities in other villages, the community made it clear to USAID that they urgently sought a greater sense of belonging in Nepal. According to USAID-supported research, 80% of the landless Musahar Dalit households do not own citizenship certificates and thus cannot easily access services or advocate for their rights.
USAID traveled to 10 municipalities for a listening tour facilitated by a local partner. Listening tours enable space for learning, reflecting, and intentional relationship building between community actors and USAID. With this information in hand, USAID is working to co-design activities with local partners that fit community needs through the Local Works program in Nepal.
Residents in Uganda’s Bushenyi district formed a member-owned health cooperative in 2019. Prior to the cooperative, people often delayed seeking care because they were unable to pay the bill, or were forced to borrow money or sell assets to cover costs. By joining the health cooperative, members gain affordable access to care while doctors who provide care gain a consistent income.
In Bushenyi, a network of local and national government officials, religious medical bureaus, and other leaders now serve as advocates, providing support for health cooperative registration. Today, leaders in Uganda can contact their district health and commercial officers, the Uganda Catholic, Protestant and Muslim Medical Bureaus and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives for support to form health cooperatives.
In partnership with local leaders and the government of Uganda, communities are developing member-owned health cooperatives with support from HealthPartners and USAID’s Cooperative Development Program.
After the outbreak of COVID-19, pandemic lockdowns severely impacted Olga’s social events company. However, with creativity and wit, Olga developed a new plan, opening a nursery from the comfort of her own home to sell plants. With this idea, she turned to USAID’s local partner Fundación Paraguaya for support. In 2020, Olga worked with Fundación Paraguaya through customized training to form a strategy for the nursery. After the training, she received a small loan from Fundación Paraguaya to launch her new business.
Olga’s nursery blossomed. Through the worst of the pandemic lockdowns, Olga was able to continue providing for herself and her family.
“Now I have two consolidated ventures, the nursery that I have been running since the pandemic began and, since we are returning to our normal lives, I have also resumed my social events business,” says Olga, proud of her achievements.
To partner with USAID to advance women’s entrepreneurship and resilience, Fundación Paraguaya submitted a proposal through the Unsolicited Solutions for Locally Led Development (US4LLD) program.
About the Author
Megan “Meg” Smith is a Communications Specialist with USAID’s Locally Led Development Initiatives.
