The people closest to a challenge understand it best.
We work to move the world's development capital and decision-making power toward them.
This is locally led development.
The people who live with a challenge should be the ones who decide how to solve it. Too often, decisions about how to help communities are made far away, by outsiders. Locally led development flips that, putting the knowledge, the money, and the decisions in the hands of the people closest to the challenge.
When Communities Lead
In September 2023, war displaced more than a hundred thousand people in Armenia. The organizations best placed to respond were the Armenian ones already working in those communities. They shifted to running door-to-door needs assessments by the second day. They knew what was needed before the central government and most international organizations did. And because we had worked with these local organizations to design programs that trusted them to lead, they could help immediately, rather than waiting for someone far away to decide.
What we do
Reimagine the system.
New policy, new approaches to financing, and new thinking about what comes after traditional aid.
Put ideas into practice.
Testing new models for getting money and decision-making power to local organizations, including new ways to move private capital directly to locally led enterprises.
Help funders make the shift.
Advising the donors who want to fund differently, and helping them actually do it.
A rare moment to get it right.
Aid and philanthropy are changing. What comes next must put communities in the lead. When the people closest to a challenge are trusted, they build what lasts.
What we're thinking
Network Voices
This Is My "Why": The Power of Locally Led Advocacy in Togo
For Sahaletou “Saha” Yelebo, a local leader and women’s advocate in Togo, the fight for community health is personal. It began with the loss of her mother, and a question she has held since childhood: what if care had been close enough to save her?
Read more →
Ownership and Innovation in Zimbabwe
Biggie (Bigbouy) Chikwavarara, former Senior Advisor and Local Works Coordinator for USAID Zimbabwe, knows firsthand that without opportunity, potential can be hard to imagine. Through Local Works, they were able to challenge traditional top-down development by first meeting communities where they were to listen, talk, agree on priorities, and enable space for true community leadership.
Read more →
Youth-Led Peacebuilding in Pakistan
Zeeste Jahanzaib worked with USAID Pakistan on peacebuilding, youth engagement, human rights, and democracy. It was never work—it is passion. The community-focused approaches Local Works advocated for at USAID were so aligned with what she already deeply believed, and it helped turn a buzzword into a real process.
Read more →
Collective Action in Vietnam
Duong Nguyen worried locally led development might not work in Vietnam, where civil society remains a delicate subject. After 18 years working with USAID/Vietnam, he learned technical solutions weren't enough, leading him to champion collective action as a way forward. Local Works provided seed funding creating space for local actors to lead, mobilize resources, and scale.
Read more →Latest Insights and Resources
Local Capacity Strengthening Policy
Local Works Global is restoring public access to the USAID Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Policy and its companion resources — the policy and a two-page overview in multiple languages — taken offline when USAID closed, and more relevant than ever.
Read more →
Locally Led Development Spectrum & Checklist
A foundational framework of two interconnected tools designed to assess and strengthen local leadership in humanitarian and development work.
Read more →
Local Works at USAID: What It Was, and What Made It Different
Local Works was USAID's flagship locally led development program (2015–2025): patient, five-year funding that helped local communities lead their own development. An overview, country examples, and the primary sources.
Read more →