The Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Policy guides USAID decisions about why and how to invest in the capacity of local partners to better achieve inclusive and locally led development.
USAID recognizes the central importance of partnerships that result in strengthened local communities—a longstanding practice across every sector, country, and context in which the Agency works.
Through the Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Policy, USAID is committing to a unified, cohesive, and systemic approach in which USAID collaborates with local partners to:
- Define their own vision for success;
- Strengthen their ability to be effective and relevant actors within their local communities and contexts;
- Elevate local ownership in sustaining development results.
An Agency-wide Vision for Capacity Strengthening
The LCS Policy builds on decades of USAID experience in capacity strengthening. This policy is an opportunity for the Agency to reexamine its capacity strengthening practices in light of the principles of locally led development, as well as systems thinking and practice, to be a more effective and equitable partner. This policy was developed over three years through a highly participatory process where feedback was intentionally solicited, analyzed, and incorporated, as summarized in this comment report.
LCS Policy Micro-Trainings (5 minutes each)
LCS Insights: Supplemental Policy Documents
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy Implementation Updates - 2024
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy Implementation Updates – August 2023
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy Two-Page Overviews
LCS Policy Sector Specific Resources
Conflict Prevention and Stabilization Bureau LCS Policy Implementation Guidance
Global Health Bureau LCS Policy Implementation Guidance
Management Bureau LCS Policy Implementation Guidance
Locally Led Humanitarian Assistance Policy
- Review Policy Goal 3 on Humanitarian Partner Capacity and Mutual Learning
Education Sector: Strengthening the Capacity of Local Education Systems
Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Bureau LCS Policy Implementation Guidance
DRG Local Capacity Strengthening Case Studies
- Balkan Media Assistance Program
- Civil Society Innovation Initiative & the Greater Internet Freedom Projects
- Governance for Local Development
- Paraguay Mentorship and Collaboration with Local Partners
- Mexico Network-Based Capacity Strengthening
LCS Measurement
Review the Local Capacity Strengthening Measurement Page to learn about the range of tools and indicators available to understand if investments in capacity strengthening are leading to improved performance and better results.
LCS in Action: Blogs and Case Studies
Frequently Asked Questions
Local capacity strengthening is the process of partnering with local actors - individuals, organizations, and networks - to jointly improve the performance of a local system to produce locally valued and sustainable development outcomes.
At its core, the LCS Policy is a mindset and culture shift towards embracing capacity strengthening that supports local actors' ability to deliver and sustain development results – rather than focusing on local actors’ capacity to qualify for and manage awards.
The Agency’s localization efforts aim to put local actors in the lead, strengthen local systems, and be responsive to local communities. The Local Capacity Strengthening Policy helps the Agency advance this vision of localization as one of the guiding technical policies. Additionally, to meet the target of fifty percent of USAID activities being locally led, the Agency is including local capacity strengthening as one of the “good practices” for the Locally Led Programs indicator.
This landing page has access to all of the publicly available LCS Policy resources and is regularly updated with new ones in a variety of languages. If you are an English speaker, we suggest starting with the LCS Policy Micro-Trainings. They are five minute interactive videos that introduce the Policy’s principles as well as examples and resources.
Each October USAID invites stakeholders to the Local Capacity Strengthening Policy Learning and Feedback Forum to reflect on progress, share feedback, and contribute to mutual learning on LCS Policy Implementation. Review the recordings and key takeaways and share your ongoing feedback by emailing lcspolicycomments@usaid.gov
