West Africa Regional Program

The US Agency for International Development West Africa Regional Program is a civilian sub-agency that administers development assistance, humanitarian aid, and capacity-building contracts and grants across West African countries and regions. Operating under USAID's broader international development mandate, the West Africa office procures goods, services, and technical support while funding grants to implementing organizations engaged in health, education, economic development, and governance work.

Contract activity remains the dominant transactional vehicle. The office has awarded 541 contracts totaling $830.3 million in combined potential value since 2007, with $435.3 million obligated to date. Recent contract volume has declined sharply: 49 awards in 2021, 37 in 2022, 48 in 2023, 27 in 2024, and 3 in 2025. The most recent contract award closed on 2025-07-29. The competitive landscape is highly fragmented by award count, with undisclosed domestic awardees leading at 54 awards over the last five years, followed by Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees (9 awards), Countertrade Products, Inc. (7 awards), and Intellectechs Inc. (7 awards). However, by potential value, the top five primes captured only 2 percent of combined potential value over the same window, indicating that the bulk of contract work is distributed across 138 distinct prime contractors. Nearly all contracts (99 percent) carry no set-aside designation; only one award each used Competitive 8(a), Total Small Business, or Woman-Owned Small Business set-asides.

Grant activity, while smaller in award count, commits substantially more federal dollars. The office has awarded 68 grants obligating $1.18 billion in federal funding since 2008, with total obligated funds (federal plus non-federal match) reaching $1.26 billion. Grant awards numbered 4 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 8 in 2023, and 7 in 2024, with the most recent grant award closing on 2024-12-03. Cooperative Agreements dominate the assistance-type mix at 84 percent of awards, with Project Grants representing 16 percent. Grant recipients are highly fragmented by both award count and federal-dollar concentration. The top five recipients by award count held 19 percent of recent awards, while the top five by federal dollars held only 9 percent, with Care And Health Program, La Conference Episcopale National DU Cameroun, International Planned Parenthood Federation, International Organization For Migration, and Asso. Cameroun Pour LE Marketing Social leading the largest single grants. Across 53 distinct recipients, the distribution reflects USAID's reliance on regional and international NGOs and faith-based organizations for on-the-ground implementation.