Jonathan Fox and Jeffrey Hallock, Open government and US development co-operation in Colombia: Lessons for locally led development
“Localization”—direct donor support for national organizations in aid recipient countries—has become a top priority for international development. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) pledged to raise the proportion of direct funding to national organizations to 25% and for 50% of funding to involve “locally led” input. A new study by SIS Professor Jonathan Fox and SIS PhD Candidate Jeffrey Hallock, who are also both researchers at the ,analyzes sectoral priorities, access to project data, and localization trends to inform policy discussion about how USAID can reach its twin localization goals, with a focus on Colombia, the largest US aid recipient in Latin America.
The study aimsto document USAID's sectoral funding priorities, gaps in data disclosure, implementation actions, and direct local funding percentages to make patterns more visible to stakeholders, with Fox and Hallock asking:What are the strengths and limitations of public disclosure of data concerning US aid in Colombia?
Their findings from public data indicate that US funding for peace-related projects increased in the years following Colombia's 2016 Peace Accord, though the security share of total US aid remains high. Funding trends demonstrate that USAID is far behind its localization goals in Colombia, though absolute funding totals to local organizations are increasing. Finally, publicly available project data are not user-centred, require technical acumen to access, and are fragmented across multiple sites.
Fox and Hallock conclude with the policy implication that user-centred disclosures are key to locally led development to ensure informed participation and accountability to stakeholders.
Fox,J.&Hallock,J.(2024).Open government and US development co-operation in Colombia: Lessons for locally led development.Development Policy Review,00, e12796.