Share Your Input on the A&A Strategy Implementation Plan

Matthew Johnson is the USAID Industry Liaison and Communications Director for the Office of Acquisition and Assistance.

Do you wish you could share your thoughts on how USAID does business? Now is your chance! 

Last week, USAID Deputy Administrator Paloma Adams-Allen announced our refreshed Acquisition and Assistance (A&A) Strategy (executive summary) along with our Implementation Plan. A previous blog showcased how USAID headquarters and Mission teams are already beginning to put in place key aspects of the strategy, including empowering our A&A workforce, streamlining A&A practices, and engaging with a more diverse set of partners. 

We know that our work with A&A partners is a two-way street, both relying on and affecting the partner community we engage with. We always seek new ways to embrace entrepreneurship and creativity as we expand what’s possible for A&A at USAID (check out our recently launched Sub-Opportunities portal!), but our own ideas are just one piece of the entire picture. 

To help us imagine better ways to use A&A mechanisms to help our partner countries accelerate their progress, we rely on the partner community as a vitally important space to inform us about what works, what doesn’t, and what we still need to try. That’s why your feedback about the Implementation Plan is critical to how this “living document” evolves in the coming months and years. 

Throughout April, we will hold a series of consultations with organizations to discuss the A&A Strategy Implementation Plan. While we are unable to meet with everyone, we want to ensure an open channel for feedback with all organizations in our international development community. 

Below we have outlined a few questions to consider as you review the A&A Strategy and Implementation Plan:

1. What are the top three opportunities for advancing localization that you see in USAID’s Implementation Plan? 
2. What are the primary challenges that you see in USAID's approaches outlined in the Implementation Plan? Are there any actions currently included in the Implementation Plan that should be removed due to inadvertent negative consequences for the partner community?
3. What specific actions do you think you can take as partners or potential partners to assist USAID in achieving the A&A Strategy?
4. What can USAID do to reduce burdens for current partners? 
5. What additional steps can USAID take to lower barriers for potential partners?
6. What additional actions or areas would you like to see included in the Implementation Plan?

We are listening, and we are excited about the productive conversations that we are already having around the A&A Strategy and Implementation Plan.

Please send your thoughts on any or all of the questions above to me and my team at IndustryLiaison@usaid.gov.