By MEL Director Liz Mason.

On September 5, 2024, USAID launched its Locally Led Humanitarian Assistance (LLHA) Policy, designed to put local and national actors at the forefront of humanitarian response, risk reduction, resilience, and recovery efforts. This policy builds on USAID’s push towards localization and recognizing the vital role local actors play in shaping more effective, sustainable solutions. 

This blog explores how monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) and human-centered design (HCD) can support the LLHA Policy’s five goals. 

HCD is a problem-solving approach that focuses on a deep understanding of the needs, perspectives, and experiences of the people for whom solutions are being designed. In the context of MEL, HCD approaches align with the LLHA Policy goals by engaging local actors in the design and evaluation processes, ensuring that data collection, metrics, and learning frameworks are relevant and responsive to local needs. By taking an HCD approach to MEL in humanitarian assistance process, USAID can create more responsive, adaptive, and locally driven solutions. 

Goal 1:  Increasing the amount and accessibility of funding for local humanitarian organizations

MEL can help identify where the most significant funding gaps exist, and which local actors face the most barriers in accessing financial resources. Through continuous monitoring and evaluation, such as through the annual Localization Progress Report, USAID can reflect on the effectiveness of different funding mechanisms and assess whether they are truly accessible to smaller local organizations. This data can inform adjustments to the application processes, making them more streamlined, responsive, and equitable to the specific needs of local actors. Additionally, by integrating HCD principles into MEL practices, USAID can ensure that the solutions developed are co-created with local partners, allowing funding models to be more intuitive and tailored to the realities of local organizations.

Goal 2:  Strengthening USAID’s ability to build humanitarian partnerships

By tracking the dynamics of collaboration between USAID and local organizations, MEL offers valuable insights into what drives successful partnerships and where challenges arise. Using HCD techniques—such as participatory evaluation, wherein stakeholders are actively involved in shaping the evaluation process and participating in all stages of implementation—USAID can engage local actors directly in the design of partnership frameworks, ensuring that these relationships are built on mutual respect and shared goals. While evaluation can be challenging in humanitarian contexts, committing to regular evaluation allows USAID to adapt and refine its partnership approach over time, fostering stronger, more equitable collaborations with local partners.

Goal 3:  Increasing capacity strengthening, sharing, and mutual learning in humanitarian partnerships

Capacity strengthening and mutual learning are at the heart of sustainable humanitarian efforts, and MEL helps ensure that USAID’s capacity building initiatives are both effective and responsive to evolving local needs. By continuously evaluating the outcomes of training and development programs, USAID can identify which areas require further investment and where local organizations are gaining the skills needed to lead humanitarian efforts. MEL also facilitates the sharing of knowledge and lessons learned across local actors, promoting a culture of mutual learning. When coupled with HCD’s focus on understanding the lived experiences of local communities, MEL ensures that capacity-strengthening initiatives are codesigned with local input, leading to more relevant and impactful outcomes.

Goal 4:  Advocating for local humanitarian leadership

By tracking the outcomes of locally led interventions, USAID can demonstrate the effectiveness of local leadership and provide a compelling case for its expansion. MEL ensures that advocacy efforts are based on data, highlighting the tangible benefits of local actors taking charge of humanitarian response efforts. Furthermore, by incorporating the voices and perspectives of local actors through participatory evaluation, USAID can ensure that the stories and insights gathered directly inform its advocacy, amplifying the impact of local voices in global forums.

Goal 5:  Leveraging humanitarian diplomacy and policy leadership

Finally, MEL supports USAID’s ability to leverage humanitarian diplomacy and policy leadership by providing continuous feedback on the effectiveness of its policy interventions. By evaluating the outcomes of its diplomatic efforts in the humanitarian donor community and adjusting strategies based on data, USAID can ensure that its policy positions are aligned with the needs and realities of local communities. This iterative process of learning and adaptation, informed by both MEL and HCD principles, ensures that USAID’s diplomatic efforts remain responsive and grounded in the lived experiences of those on the front lines of humanitarian crises.

Conclusion

Leveraging an HCD approach to MEL will be key to ensuring that local voices and perspectives remain at the forefront of humanitarian efforts. By grounding its processes in these approaches, USAID and its partners can foster stronger, more equitable, and locally driven humanitarian responses that are better equipped to meet the challenges ahead.