100 signatures reached
To: USAID Administrator Power
We need more U.S. foreign aid transparency
.png)
We share your concern that too little foreign aid funding reaches local and national organizations that are best positioned to have a faster and more sustainable impact in USAID’s partner countries.
We believe you can be the disruptive leader who reforms USAID so that the U.S. invests in local innovators and market providers who can help us more rapidly achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Now is the time for bold action.
To start, you can immediately require more transparency at USAID. If the winners of large government grants and contracts publish both the percentage of the awards promised to subpartners (and especially local partners) — and what they actually disbursed, American taxpayers could see how much foreign aid actually reached targeted local communities – and how much of it went instead to pay for salaries, fringe benefits, and overhead in Washington, DC. Barring security and safety concerns, all USAID award data should be made publicly available, not just bits and pieces of it.
Transparency does not pick winners or losers. It puts a spotlight on organizations that honor their word to local communities and smaller, diverse, and truly local organizations, just as it serves as an important accountability tool for those that do not.
Thank you for your leadership on this important issue.
Why is this important?
Every year, the United States spends tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid. But too few foreign aid dollars reach local and national organizations in USAID’s partner countries that are delivering faster and more sustainable impact. Too often, larger USAID implementing partners cut smaller, diverse, and truly local organizations out of promised work.
More transparency can help accelerate progress towards realizing Administrator Power’s new vision for global development. It can help us track funding flows to ensure more resources reach targeted local communities. And it can shine a spotlight on larger partners that honor their word to work with more diverse, smaller, and truly local organizations – as well as surface those who do not.