At USAID, we work hard to build a world that is safer, healthier, and more prosperous for people everywhere. Partnering is at the heart of that effort. The New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) helps the Agency partner with new, nontraditional, and local actors to advance shared development goals—while elevating local leadership, strengthening accountability and capacity, and mobilizing resources across the Agency.
Building on the lessons of previous Agency reform efforts, NPI was relaunched in 2019 as part of an effort to implement the principles of the Agency’s 2018 Acquisition and Assistance Strategy, primarily by diversifying USAID’s partnerships and changing how the Agency partners.
NPI seeks to lower the barriers faced by nontraditional partners—including local actors, U.S. small businesses, faith-based organizations, cooperatives, diaspora groups, minority-serving institutions, and civil society organizations, among others—so that the Agency can embrace the diverse potential of the partnering community in pursuit of our shared development goals. To do so, NPI helps make Agency information, resources, and funding opportunities more transparent and accessible to all our potential partners.
NPI recognizes the role that USAID's traditional partners, including U.S.-based implementing partners, play in engaging new, nontraditional, and local partners. We know that development work is strengthened when established implementers partner responsibly and equitably with local organizations to ensure local priorities are centered; empower local subawardees in decision-making; operate responsively and transparently to feedback from local communities; and strengthen capacity for local organizations to thrive.
Six key principles guide how NPI approaches partnerships:
- Promote local leadership. NPI works with local actors and traditional partners to strengthen local and national systems in ways that advance locally led development and align with USAID’s Local Capacity Strengthening Policy.
- Improve equity and inclusivity within partner relationships. NPI proactively seeks opportunities to engage more equitably and increase inclusion in operations and programming, particularly for those communities that traditionally have been underrepresented in partnerships with USAID and other donor agencies—including faith-based organizations, minority-serving institutions, as well Indigenous and diaspora communities.
- Demonstrate accountability to constituents. Recognizing that USAID’s work is “from the American people”, NPI emphasizes the need to be equally accountable to the people in the communities in which we work as well as to the American taxpayer.
- Seek innovative approaches. NPI capitalizes on the full marketplace of ideas and solutions by collaborating with partners from all sectors of society, while developing partnerships that foster mutual accountability and strengthen local capacity.
- Lower barriers to partnerships. NPI identifies processes, norms, and regulations that prohibit potential partnerships and finds ways to mitigate them while maintaining appropriate safeguards on taxpayer resources.
- Identify new and nontraditional sources of funding. NPI fosters partnerships that leverage non-U.S. government funding sources to enhance local ownership and support effective collaboration across the spectrum of humanitarian and development donors.
Connect with us
New Partnerships Initiative Accomplishments
The New Partnerships Initiative (NPI) has expanded USAID’s focus on awards to new and nontraditional partners. To date, NPI has supported 66 awards around the world, representing more than $1.1 billion in potential funding to approximately 150 prime and subawardees.
Other important NPI accomplishments include:
- Designing and launching WorkwithUSAID.gov. This site will help our prospective and existing partners access innovative tools and resources, helping them learn how to better compete for funding.
- As of July 2024, more than 7,000 entities from more than 90 countries have registered in the Partner Directory, of which more than 69 percent were identified as “local” entities.
- We added a Sub-Opportunities Portal to the website that identifies USAID prime implementing partners who are seeking subcontractors or sub-awardees for specialized expertise or on-the-ground support.
- Local Capacity Strengthening Policy
- NPI launched the Agency’s first-ever policy on Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) on October 19, 2022, with over 2,000 individuals and implementing partners.
- As of September 2024, NPI has developed in collaboration with a cross-Agency team over 40 tools, guides, case studies, sector-specific implementation guidance, and trainings to support LCS Policy implementation. In addition, NPI hosts the annual LCS Policy Learning and Feedback Forum, which convened over 1,700 attendees from 108 countries in 2023.
Ideas? Questions? Contact us by email to npi@usaid.gov and sign up here for the Work with USAID newsletter for the latest news and resources.
Please note: NPI is not able to provide funding for unsolicited concept notes or proposals. We do not directly issue awards but rather support Missions, Bureaus, and other parts of the Agency to design awards and apply practices that advance collaboration with new, nontraditional, and local partners.
Resources
Additional links: