View the recording and slide deck from the January 25 "Lessons Learned from USAID New and Local Partnerships" webinar. In January 2021, the USAID Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA) launched a stocktaking review of the 2018 Acquisition & Assistance Strategy (A&A Strategy). As a part of that stocktaking review, a number of case studies were developed from awards managed by various parts of the Agency.

Please join USAID’s Office of Acquisition and Assistance (M/OAA) and the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub (DDI/LFT) for a learning event on Tuesday, January 25, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. In this event, representatives from USAID Missions and implementing partners will share lessons learned from working with new and local partners, and how these experiences will inform future localization efforts and acquisition and assistance approaches at USAID.

Justin DiVenanzo is Director of the Office of Acquisitions and Assistance and Supervisory Contracting Officer with USAID/Rwanda. He joined USAID in 2010 and has served in Liberia, Pakistan, South Africa, and on the Power Africa Initiative during its expansion. He recently shared guidance for implementing partners on LinkedIn that was received with great enthusiasm among members of the partner community. We spoke with him to further understand the context of this guidance and to gather more insights from his extensive experience as a USAID Contracting Officer. 

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to address the root causes of irregular migration, USAID is sponsoring the MujerProspera (WomanProsper) Challenge, a regional challenge to advance gender equality in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

USAID’s Local, Faith and Transformative Partnerships (LFT) Hub invites you to join us for a demonstration of key features of the newly launched WorkwithUSAID.org website.

The USAID Business Forecast provides information about potential funding and partnership opportunities at USAID and offers partners the opportunity to engage with us early in the procurement process. The Business Forecast includes anticipated activities that are still in the planning phase, so the information in it may change over time.

The American Schools and Hospital Abroad's (ASHA's) Fiscal Year 2022 draft Request for Applications (RFA) is available for public comment from December 6, 2021, until January 5, 2022, at 4 p.m. EST on Grants.gov.

USAID is excited to announce the public comment period for its draft Local Capacity Development (LCD) Policy. From December 8, 2021, through January 31, 2022, we are inviting external partners, stakeholders, and other interested parties around the world to review and provide feedback on the draft Policy on USAID’s website.

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) proliferates, more instances of the inequitable design, use, and impact of AI-enabled tools in developing countries are coming to light. Many of these tools and approaches have the capacity for inequitable outcomes across genders due to humans unconsciously embedding bias in AI technology during data collection, model design, or end-use applications. As a result, these tools often pose the greatest risk of harm and missed opportunities to those already marginalized in low- and middle-income countries. To foster an equitable and inclusive digital ecosystem, more efforts are needed to identify innovative and creative approaches to help decision-makers address actual and potential gender biases and inequitable outcomes resulting from AI technology.

On Thursday, December 16, at 8:30 a.m. ET, USAID will host our FY 2022 First Quarter Business Forecast and Partner Update webinar.