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USAID's Global
Development Alliances
Click on a country to learn more about USAID's public-private partnership activities.
View detailed instructions on how to use the GoogleEarth map of USAID partnerships.
Note: You will need to install GoogleEarth to view the map.
Reference in these materials to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement, recommendation, or other such agreement between USAID and another party.
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What's happening with the
Global Development Alliance
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History of the Global Development Alliance
At the start of the new millennium, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) identified an important trend in development funding: the private sector accounted for more than 80 percent of investment in the developing world. The trend marked a reversal from 40 years earlier when public assistance provided for the vast majority of development assistance. Suddenly, the field of development assistance was exploding with a vast array of new actors. Recognizing this change, USAID presented the Global Development Alliance approach to partnerships as a new way to implement foreign assistance
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| In Northern Uganda, USAID and The Coca-Cola Company are providing access to clean water and improving security during water collection for women and other vulnerable community members. An estimated 19,000 internally displaced persons are expected to benefit from this alliance. Source: The Coca-Cola Company. |
In 2001, a team of leading thinkers in USAID developed the Global Development Alliance concept for public-private partnerships. Administrator-elect Andrew Natsios endorsed the partnership model immediately. "The first appeal of this," says Natsios, "was to link the development of civil society and private institutions, profit-making and nonprofit, in the United States with those that were emerging in the developing world." Admitted as Administrator on May 1, 2001, Natsios prioritized the Global Development Alliance initiative. Ten days later, Secretary of State Colin Powell introduced the Global Development Alliance as "a new strategic orientation for USAID."
The Global Development Alliance is
a new strategic orientation for USAID.
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Under Powell and Natsios, USAID forged ahead with a new Business Model for the 21st century: aligning public resources with private capital, expertise and networks to deepen development impact. USAID Career Foreign Service Officer Holly Wise was appointed head of the fledgling Global Development Alliance Secretariat. Under her leadership, USAID built upon USAID's long history of working in partnership with non-governmental organizations (NGO's), foundations, and international organizations. In addition, USAID expanded and deepened its relationship with private sector companies - ties which were previously under-valued.
Building upon the new realities of development assistance and direct investment in emerging economies, the Global Development Alliance model of public-private alliances welcomed private sector partners as full collaborators in the implementation, design, and funding of development projects. No longer the majority stakeholder in the alliances it forged, USAID's approach to alliances united the skills and resources of both public and private sector and applied them to achieve a solution that no one actor could realize on its own.
Soon, USAID began to adopt the partnership model more broadly. Around the globe, USAID developed significant partnerships with local and global organizations that address issues as varied as environmental protection, small and medium enterprise development, and education and youth unemployment. Within the first seven years, the Global Development Alliance has proven itself enormously successful with more than 680 alliances formed with over 1,700 distinct partners, leveraging more than $9 billion in combined public-private sector resources (leveraging on average $2.7 of private sector dollars for every $1 dollar of U.S. taxpayer's money).
The Global Development Alliance has proven itself enormously successful with more than 680 alliances formed with over 1,700 distinct partners, leveraging more than $9 billion in combined public-private sector resources.
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Today, the Global Development Alliance - now a division of the Office of Development Partners - has elevated partnerships from the realm of charitable contributions and corporate social responsibility. Today, partnerships focus instead on the core business interests of private firms and long-term investment of private philanthropy. By engaging around overlapping business and development interests with traditional NGO and host government partners, Global Development Alliances are contributing to long-term, sustainable economic and social growth in developing countries. For instance, with The Coca-Cola Company, USAID is protecting and sustaining watersheds and increasing access to water supply and sanitation in 17 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. The Water and Development Alliance (WADA), addresses a broad range of urgent water resource challenges developing countries face while also contributing to the sustainability of Coke's business which relies upon the availability of clean water.
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On February 26, 2008, USAID Indonesia and Microsoft Indonesia announced the three winners of the iMULAi Innovation Competition in Jakarta. The three winners were chosen out of more than 100 proposals for novel software applications to help solve small business challenges in Indonesia.
Source: USAID SENADA (DAI). |
Additionally, the Global Development Alliance is creating more strategic partnerships through Global Framework agreements These Frameworks with key private sector partners leverage combined assets with greater efficiency and effectiveness for selected development activities. For example, after several years of working in partnership on 16 separate projects, USAID created a Global Framework agreement with Microsoft Corporation in 2007. Strategically, this agreement is also joined by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR). Together, through our combined resources, we are advancing conjoined activities globally in six key areas: health, education, capacity-building, youth empowerment, environmental sustainability, and disaster relief, and humanitarian assistance. Shortly after its signing, the Global Framework successfully implemented a project with USAID Indonesia promoting innovation in small and medium enterprises. The partners also have several joint activities spanning Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
As a leader in public-private partnership thought and practice, the Global Development Alliance serves four main roles:
- Directs the U.S. Agency for International Development towards more strategic alliance building.
- Serves as the leading partnership body in the U.S. Government and a convening power for other Agencies engaged with private partners in the federal government.
- Liaises as a key point of contact for businesses, foundations, or non-profits who hope to become engaged in alliances with the Agency.
- Advances practitioner knowledge and understanding of best practices in alliance building, effective approaches, and opportunity-seeking for ways in which alliances can solve today and tomorrow's development challenges.
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