HIGHLIGHTS
- An Abt-led team supports countries in achieving locally led, resilient and sustainable development
- Localization and country ownership are key elements of the approach.
- The team provides technical assistance to build policy, institutional, and investment frameworks.
PROJECT
USAID Catalytic Action through Localized Policy Solutions (CATALYST)
The Challenge
Countries are struggling to transition from high-level climate objectives and plans to concrete investments in agriculture, water, health, and energy security. Unclear policy directives and regulations, insufficient sectoral plans, limited institutional and human capacity, and a lack of bankable project pipelines impede investment that addresses climate risk.
The Approach
USAID CATALYST is a global program that helps partner countries build policy and institutional frameworks that enable greater investment in sustainability and resilience across sectors and at national and sub-national levels. CATALYST partners with local experts and organizations, private sector actors, researchers, and governments to support countries in strengthening the enabling environment for a transition from high-level policy to on-the-ground implementation.
By engaging regional and local actors to define priorities, design projects, drive implementation, and measure and evaluate results, CATALYST ensures ownership and sustainability of interventions. CATALYST aims to advance the economic empowerment of women and youth by addressing critical gaps in understanding and supporting their unique economic needs across policy and investment landscapes.
The team will help countries to:
- Strengthen policy and planning integration by embedding advisors, integrating national climate priorities into subnational and sector planning, and reforming frameworks to incentivize investment.
- Address investment barriers by developing investment plans and bankable projects, creating business cases for nature-based solutions, aligning investment taxonomies, engaging women and youth, and facilitating private sector investment via the Partnership for Catalytic Action.
- Enhance communication and track systems by creating multimedia content, developing use cases for scaling innovations, leveraging digital platforms, and applying metrics and evaluation frameworks.
The Results
The goal of the five-year, $49 million program is to work with partner governments in developing and implementing locally tailored sustainability plans that address climate risks and promote economic growth. Ensuring sustainability of results, CATALYST will promote local ownership of solutions, alignment of development and humanitarian assistance, evidence-based initiatives, and integration of public and private sectors. CATALYST will build on and develop tailorable tools for policy development and implementation while using existing in-country networks and cross-ministerial relationships to provide on-demand policy support.
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