Redefining Our Relationship with Partner Governments

USAID's engagement with partner governments is essential to reducing their need for U.S. foreign assistance. The Agency's self-reliance theory of change posits that partner country commitment and capacity to manage their own development are mutually reinforcing elements of overall self-reliance. USAID's Redefining our Relationship with Partner Governments (RDR) initiative aims to rethink policies, program tools, and operational approaches to strengthen partner government commitment and capacity. The initiative is closely linked to all components of the Journey to Self-Reliance, with a focus on commitment and capacity. Commitment involves strengthening and incentivizing government commitment, particularly policy, governance, and resources. Capacity involves strengthening government systems and using government-owned development models to put the country in the lead. The RDR effort is comprised of four interconnected workstreams aimed at improving USAID's engagement with partner governments. The first workstream, Incentivizing Government Commitment, seeks to include development plans with shared goals, cost-sharing agreements, and specific governance milestones in agreements with partner countries. As countries build greater capacity and commitment, increasingly sophisticated and higher-expectation cost-sharing and governance reforms should be built into agreements. The second workstream, Improving our Programmatic Tools for Strengthening Capacity and Incentivizing Commitment, focuses on programmatic tools such as government-to-government (G2G) assistance that incentivize host country buy-in. These approaches enhance self-reliance when countries manage and integrate externally-funded program activities into national investment and operational budgets. The third workstream, Training and Agency Culture, emphasizes the need for USAID staff to receive training and support to increase engagement with governments and strengthen commitment and capacity. Sustained engagement with partner governments is time-intensive and depends on USAID staff to leverage their unique skills. The fourth workstream, Leveraging Other Development Partners, involves facilitating host country commitment by working with other donors to support governments in managing and financing their development journeys. This includes improving coordination to work towards common goals at the strategic and programmatic levels. USAID's engagement with partner governments is critical to reducing their need for U.S. foreign assistance. The RDR initiative aims to strengthen partner government commitment and capacity through four interconnected workstreams. By improving programmatic tools, training USAID staff, and leveraging other development partners, USAID can support partner governments in their Journey to Self-Reliance.