Development leaders to challenge current model of development

Leaders from top international development organizations will gather at 8 a.m. on June 23 in Washington, D.C., to address whether integrated programming creates a greater impact in communities around the globe.

Entitled Integrated Solutions for Meaningful Change, the event is organized by the Locus Initiative, a new coalition of international development stakeholders. It will feature a panel of experts from Aga Khan Foundation USA, Africa Capacity Alliance, FHI 360 and Pact, who will discuss how their organizations are working to eliminate funding silos, identify shared approaches to measurement, and drive adoption of locally owned, integrated solutions. Panelists also will share examples of and lessons from integrated programs, as well as challenge current thinking around conventional funding models. Adeeb Mahmud, director of FSG, will moderate the panel.

The discussion is particularly timely, as the current model of international development is unsatisfying to many organizations working in the sector. Solutions tend to exist in isolation and are often developed without input from local communities — or consideration of their experiences. And with a multitude of actors and projects operating in a given location, results are difficult to compare across projects and funding mechanisms.

With a pivotal year for the development community underway, donors and nongovernmental organizations are searching for ways to ensure our efforts are efficient, effective and producing measurable, sustainable results.

The Locus Initiative aims to help with that goal. Focused on integrated development and a search for evidence-based, local solutions, Locus partners share experiences, research and measurement processes with one another, as well as embark on a shared research agenda to determine the effectiveness of integrated, local solutions.

The panel will be held in the Empire Ballroom at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, D.C. To RSVP for the event, please visit: Integrated Solutions for Meaningful Change on Eventbrite.

For more information about Locus: The Point of International Development, visit www.locusworld.org.

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About Locus – Locus is an initiative of nongovernmental organizations, foundations and consulting firms dedicated to finding new solutions to development challenges, focusing on integrated approaches to development and a search for evidence-based, local solutions. To date, its members include Pact, IRC, FHI360, SNV USA, Africa Capacity Alliance and the Aga Khan Foundation USA. Locus is establishing a research agenda for integrated approaches that helps eliminate funding siloes, identify shared approaches to measurement and opportunities for scaling-up, provide evidence-based recommendations to share with influencers and policy makers worldwide and drive adoption of locally-owned, integrated solutions. Through shared research, pilot projects, global forums, publications, academic courses and a virtual knowledge hub, Locus aims to change the way the international development community approaches funding and implementation.