A Model for Partnering to Address Shared Development Goals

The Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO), which administers a Cooperative Agreement between the USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade – Office of Education and the American Council on Education (ACE) with five other U.S. higher education associations—the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges—serves as a link between U.S. colleges and universities.

The higher education partnership approach has a model for effective international development cooperation. The model draws upon the convergence of interests among equal partners and facilitates opportunities for joint planning, joint implementation, and mutual benefits. The overlap between the institutional objectives of the participating colleges and universities and those of USAID, moreover, helps make the ALO model a promising mechanism for international development cooperation.