In October and November 2022, USAID’s Bureau for Management (M Bureau), Office of Management Policy, Budget, and Performance (MPBP), conducted six focus groups that involved some of USAID’s Implementing Partner (IP) organizations. USAID conducted the focus groups to learn how it could, from a customer experience perspective, best collaborate with the IP organizations to implement USAID’s Climate Strategy 2022-2030. M/MPBP focused specifically on the Special Objective of that strategy: “Do Our Part: Strengthen operations and approaches to programming to address climate change and further climate justice within USAID and our partner organizations.”
USAID conducted two sets of focus groups: one that focused on operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the other that focused on strengthening diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the workforce that focuses on climate and the environment.
USAID’s goal for the operational GHG emissions focus groups was to understand the actions the IP organizations were implementing and/or planning to implement to improve their energy efficiency, reduce their operational GHG emissions, and to work toward net-zero goals. USAID was also interested in identifying and understanding the barriers the IP organizations are facing in their efforts to reduce their operational GHG emissions.
Through the workforce DEIA focus groups, USAID sought to understand the actions IP organizations were implementing and planning to implement to improve DEIA, and how those efforts would help them achieve their climate goals. USAID was also interested in understanding the barriers the IP organizations were facing in their efforts to improve workforce DEIA.
USAID intended this effort to be an initial dialogue with its IP organizations to socialize the Special Objective; benchmark IPs’ related initiatives; identify additional learning opportunities; and inform actions USAID could take to optimally engage with, incentivize, and support its IP organizations as USAID implements its Climate Strategy.
