USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Quarter 1 Year 1 Progress Report

The program is designed to expand and accelerate two-way trade and investment between African nations and the United States, positioning the continent for future growth. As the flagship effort under the Prosper Africa initiative, ATI will work hand-in-hand with the private sector to identify opportunities that deliver on USAID's impact, bring value to the private sector, and transform markets. The program's approach is sector-agnostic and continental, mirroring the private sector's approach to evaluating market opportunities rather than country-specific ones. Supply chains cut across regions and countries, and the private sector evaluates the opportunities of markets rather than countries. This approach enables USAID to be more responsive to private sector needs than ever. The program will focus on building an efficient, evidence-based continental platform, attracting the private sector to respond to partnership opportunities, and embedding grant calls with opportunities for sustained co-creation throughout. ATI's partnership building principles are centered around a demand-driven approach, ensuring that buy-in responds to real needs. The program aims to engage with the private sector at the speed of business, using clear language, timesaving pitch decks, and rapid time to award. The program also prioritizes pay for results, motivating firms to go the extra mile, and uses grants or subcontracts to pivot to any opportunity. Additionally, ATI's operations are innovation-minded, with a diverse team that has worked on different trade and investment projects continent-wide, allowing for rich information sharing on lessons learned and best practices. In the first quarter, ATI laid the foundation for scaling up U.S. and pan-African operations through localized recruitment, sourcing 1,880 applications across the United States, Kenya, and South Africa. The program also launched a partner-focused grants system, enabling organizations to respond to the Annual Program Statement and USAID/Kenya East Africa addendum, as well as future addenda. Furthermore, ATI developed standard templates and tools, such as buy-in scope of work templates, providing clear guidance to USAID Missions and other USAID teams looking to access the program's services. ATI has achieved several key accomplishments in its first quarter, including expanding the partner network to over 14 committed buy-ins, including Africa WASH and Africa Health. The program has also established a grants manual and annual program statement, which serves as the guiding framework for sourcing, issuing, and managing grants for the entire program. Additionally, ATI has developed a monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan, which elaborates the framework for gathering evidence, measuring impact, and capturing learning. The program has also launched a communications strategy, actualizing the principle that communications is at the heart of ATI's success.