Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) announced a $37.5 million partnership to help reconnect communities and promote cross-border relationships in the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. The partnership, Local Impact, will enable communities in the two countries to plan, fund, and manage their own development by using a co-creation process whereby they develop their own solutions in collaboration with USAID and the AKF. Over the next five years, pending annual appropriations, Local Impact could expand to other parts of Asia and Africa.

As part of USAID's New Partnerships Initiative, Local Impact will have a special emphasis on investing in human potential and expanding opportunity and improving overall quality of life, especially for youth, women, and girls. Local Impact will work with local communities to accelerate inclusive economic growth and strengthen basic livelihoods; build local capacity to meet development challenges; and promote pluralism and social cohesion, which foster greater stability and prosperity in the region.

The AKF, a private, not-for-profit international development network, brings together human, financial, and technical resources to address challenges faced by some of the most marginalized communities in the world. It works primarily in agriculture and food security, economic inclusion, education, early-childhood development, health, nutrition, and civil society.

USAID's New Partnerships Initiative aims to increase the Agency's development impact by working with a more diverse range of partners, elevating local leadership, fostering creativity and innovation, and mobilizing resources across the Agency's programs.

For more information on USAID's New Partnerships Initiatives, visit www.usaid.gov/npi.