ID: 1919
Presenting Author: Erika Clesceri
Session: 711 - USAID’s ESIA Legacy and Looking Forward - Solution Room Session
Status: pending
Over the last two decades, a systematic emphasis on practicality and multilateralism resulted in improvements in nature-positive USAID humanitarian assistance that offers lessons for the future.
Significant improvements in environmental policy implementation were made in the last 20 years of international humanitarian assistance with USAID. Established in 1961 by US President John F. Kennedy, USAID was the largest donor (1961-2025), and the first to require ESIA. With the dismantling of USAID on July 1, 2025, humanitarian awards now managed by the US State Department face an unspecified future for ESIA. USAID staff oversaw an ESIA business practice of well established protocols and responsiveness. This consistency created a broad capacity within NGOs working with communities in lower income economies necessitating disaster assistance. NGOs and the UN humanitarian operational partners partnered with community members across Africa and the Caribbean to implement USAID humanitarian assistance informed by ESIA. We will discuss how to build public trust in ESIA during institutional transitions, such as with USAID. Principles of ESIA in the humanitarian context are well rooted in the emphasis on localization, putting the sovereignty of affected communities at the center of response. USAID led the way to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian assistance, with three top lessons in the professionalization of ESIA: 1) systematic partner institutional capacity building, 2) steadfast commitment to equity and conflict sensitivity, and 3) strategic multilateral engagement for more coordinated global greening practices. In doing so, communities bettered their own lives and enhanced the global standing of the US through the generosity of the American people.
Erika J. Clesceri, Ph.D, with over 34 years in international humanitarian assistance and academic research specializing in practical nature-positive solutions using a multilateral approach.