USAID’s IDEA Leader with Associate Award

Challenge

Development assistance has historically excluded many groups around the globe. To help address this challenge, Education Development Center (EDC) and key partners implemented USAID’s two-year IDEA Leader with Associate (LWA) award in Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada. Areas of focus included economic growth, capacity strengthening, mental health support, and strengthening of local organizations and youth-led organizations.

IDEA worked across five continents and 100 countries to expand partnerships, strengthen local organizations, and generate linkages and cross learning between U.S.-based companies/organizations and local ones. This collaboration helped drive innovation and future opportunities abroad and at home, leading to stronger economic and social ties and broad international diplomacy and goodwill. Through a mapping of 500 youth-led organizations, IDEA helped USAID understand the strategic priorities of youth-led organizations, which in turn led to stronger, more relevant programming across five continents.

Key Activities

The IDEA LWA included the following activities:

• Collaborating with USAID Bureaus, Missions, and Independent Offices to implement short-term programming to build partnerships with local organizations to advance country self-reliance and strengthen in-country capacity
• Tailoring capacity-strengthening interventions, including organizational, systemic, and compliance capacities, as well as strengthen global, regional, and country-based networks
• Facilitating learning and knowledge sharing to advance innovation, strengthen local partnerships, and share best practices

With the flexibility of this funding mechanism, EDC was poised to adapt and/or expand on its achievements to date, thus supporting USAID to further diversify its partner base, increase funding to cost-effective local (including faith-based) organizations, and improve internal governance.

Our Impact

• Mapping of more than 1,500 potential USAID partners
• Co-creating five IDEA Activities with local organizations to advance their capacity strengthening and development priorities
• Providing training to more than 30 service providers serving vulnerable populations
• Improving networking and collaboration among local organizations through 70+ events