Education Local Capacity Strengthening Toolkit

The upcoming online toolkit will provide practical information, resources, and examples that help enable USAID staff and partners in the education sector, from pre-primary through higher education, to take tangible steps to promote and integrate local capacity strengthening (LCS) into activity design. 

Read the Full Guidance 

The toolkit is informed by review of evidence and consultation with local and international partners and USAID staff around the world. It addresses such topics as: 

• What is local capacity strengthening?
• How to build the foundation for systems and capacity strengthening through country and strategic planning?
• How to engage local actors as part of activity design? 
• What are different methods of context analysis to ground systems and capacity strengthening activities?
• How to develop a robust theory of change for systems and capacity strengthening? 
• What are promising technical approaches for strengthening local capacity?
• What are models for structuring the capacity strengthening of prime and sub-local partners?
• What are approaches for monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) for capacity strengthening in education?

What is Local Capacity Strengthening? 

Local capacity strengthening (LCS) is a strategic and intentional investment in the process of partnering with local actors—individuals, organizations, and networks—to jointly improve the performance of a local system to produce locally valued and sustainable development outcomes. There follow terms, frequently used in this toolkit, which are worth defining.  For additional definitions and acronyms, see the Glossary tab.   

• Local system refers to an education system, consisting of people, public and private institutions, resources, and activities who jointly contribute to improving, expanding, and sustaining learning and educational outcomes. 
• Sustainability means that the education system has the ability to produce learning and educational outcomes over time beyond the project or activity lifespan or USAID’s presence in the country. 
• Education systems strengthening comprises strategies, partnerships, and activities to jointly improve the performance of an education system to produce locally valued learning and educational outcomes over time.

The USAID Education Policy, USAID Local Capacity Strengthening Policy, the USG Strategy on International Basic Education, and the Youth in Development Policy together serve as a compass for the design and management of USAID efforts to support local education systems and strengthen capacity across the education continuum. 

USAID Education Policy Vision 

USAID’s 2018 Education Policy places local capacity and education system strengthening at the heart of its vision. The end goal of local capacity strengthening in education is to strengthen the local education system—whether at national, local, or community levels—to be more resilient to shocks and stressors, and better able to provide high quality education services to children, youth, and learners. 

USAID’s Local Capacity Strengthening Policy guides USAID decisions about why and how to invest in the capacity of local actors and systems to better achieve inclusive and locally led development. The Policy identifies seven mutually reinforcing principles for effective local capacity strengthening, which are important to advancing USAID’s education programming. Through the LCS Policy, USAID commits to collaborating with local actors and partners to define their own vision for success; strengthen their ability to be effective and relevant actors within their local communities and contexts; and elevate local ownership in sustaining development results. 

Check back later this Spring, 2024, for further guidance, resources, and tools for incorporating local capacity strengthening into the design of education activities, as well as examples from USAID missions across the world.