Skip to main content
Community Contribution

Local Resource Mobilization: A Case Study from USAID/Serbia Local Works

Description

Local Works (LW) supports programs in which USAID and local partners work together to mobilize existing local resources for development, based on the belief that this enhances local leadership of development processes and leads to more sustainable outcomes. This case study investigates how partners in USAID/Serbia's LW Program have mobilized local resources - including money, but also people, their skills and knowledge, physical space, and other assets - in support of development outcomes. Findings around community and government engagement efforts demonstrate the importance of building relationships and networks, sharing knowledge, and clearly communicating possible solutions and the path to change. 

These findings are accompanied by three “Deep Dive” resources: lessons for USAID staff and partners on how to use media and community events for engagement, a tip sheet on measuring local resources mobilized, and considerations for USAID staff and partners on designing locally led development programming.

While this study unpacks lessons learned in the Serbian context, it offers considerations for teams across the Agency that are designing or managing programming centered on civil society strengthening, domestic resource mobilization, or government engagement, among other areas. More broadly, this study highlights the value of local resource mobilization - not only for the output of resources themselves, but for empowering a community to recognize its own assets and use those to advance its own priorities. 

Page last updated