USAID is a leader in using learning agendas to drive evidence-based decision making, developing its first Agency-wide learning agenda prior to the passing of the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act of 2018. The USAID Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management manages implementation of the Agency Learning Agenda, facilitating better sharing of evidence across regional and sectoral siloes; improving accessibility and awareness of available evidence on Agency learning priorities; strengthening Agency workforce capacity to produce, store, and use quality evidence; and providing thought leadership on the most critical evidence gaps for the Agency. Annually, USAID hosts Agency Learning and Evidence Month to celebrate and share evidence and learning with global development organizations and actors, partners, and leading academics from around the globe.
Contact us at ALA@USAID.gov with questions regarding the Agency Learning Agenda, or to share evidence for use by USAID practitioners connected to Agency learning themes.
2022 - 2026 Agency Learning Agenda
The Fiscal Year 2022 - 2026 USAID Agency Learning Agenda was published in May 2022 as part of the Department of State and USAID Joint Strategic Plan. The Agency Learning Agenda includes a set of nine questions, which cut across USAID’s policy priorities and respond to critical Agency evidence needs:
- OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS | How can USAID better streamline systems, processes and resources to meet long-term needs identified by Missions, while enabling the flexibility to respond quickly to unexpected shifts in context?
- RESILIENCE TO SHOCKS | How can USAID strengthen household, community, and country resilience to climate, conflict, economic, and health shocks, such as COVID-19 and other global pandemic threats?
- RESPONDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE | How can USAID best engage global actors, partner countries, and local leaders to mitigate the climate crisis and support equitable adaptation to its impacts?
- ANTI-CORRUPTION | How can USAID work with host countries, interagency colleagues, and other development actors to address systemic corruption through multisectoral approaches?
- AFFIRMATIVE DEVELOPMENT | How can USAID advance an affirmative, sustainable development approach to mitigate authoritarian or malign influences and actions?
- MIGRATION AND FORCED DISPLACEMENT | How can USAID better address drivers of migration and forced displacement through evidence-informed decision-making?
- LOCALLY-LED DEVELOPMENT | How can USAID engage local knowledge, assets, and practices and align programming with local priorities and metrics for success?
- PARTNERING FOR SUSTAINABILITY | How can USAID’s partnerships with the private sector; local, faith, and nontraditional partners; and other donors contribute to sustainable development objectives?
Featured Agency Evidence Products
2024 Direct Monetary Transfers to Individuals, Households, or Microenterprises for Development Outcomes: Evidence Synthesis and USAID Examples for Design Teams
Market based assistance, specifically Direct Monetary Transfers to individuals, households, or microenterprises have gained popularity globally. This report, produced by the USAID Office of the Chief Economist and the Bureau for Planning, Learning and Resource Management, provides design teams with answers to common questions, examples from USAID Missions, and an evidence synthesis of Direct Monetary Transfers and “Transfer Plus” programs in development settings. “Transfer Plus” refers to an increasingly common practice of layering additional (i.e. “plus”) components alongside transfers, typically inexpensive additional information, services, exercises, or products.
2023 Rapid Literature Review Series
Published in 2023, this series of four rapid literature reviews summarizes select USAID and external literature published from 2018–2022 in response to critical evidence needs identified by Agency staff:
- What anti-corruption approaches are effective at addressing systemic corruption across multiple sectors?
- What development approaches are effective at mitigating external authoritarian influences, actions, or messages?
- What systems-level approaches are effective at strengthening the resilience of households, communities and enterprises?
- In the context of donor-funded programs serving communities where migrants reside, what is the state of evidence on strategies or approaches for engaging directly with migrants and addressing their particular needs (vis-à-vis other community residents)?
Each publication is organized in line with Agency frameworks for each policy area, and summarizes literature that can be used to inform our development and humanitarian assistance strategies and programs. A range of sources is included in each review, including case studies, systematic reviews, impact evaluations, randomized controlled trials, institutional reports, gray literature, and more.
2023 USAID/ Washington Learning Agenda Snapshot
Building and using data and evidence are central to improving USAID’s work and fulfilling our commitments to transparency and accountability. Learning agendas are a tool that can help us realize evidence-driven decision-making in our strategies, operations, and programming by identifying and addressing critical knowledge gaps. Compiled in May 2023, this resource catalogs the subset of active, publicly-available learning agendas managed by USAID/Washington Operating Units.
Featured Agency Learning Events
2024 Agency Learning and Evidence Month: What Works and Where to Find It
USAID’s second-annual Agency Learning and Evidence Month reached over 1,800 attendees, averaging 175 attendees per session. 30 virtual sessions focused on ‘What Works and Where to Find It’ throughout May 2024 provided a forum for the USAID workforce, expert practitioners, and leading researchers to discuss how high quality evidence can drive development and humanitarian impact on key policy priorities. Attendees joined from over 224 organizations and 106 countries to exchange evidence-driven approaches and resources related to global priorities in development and humanitarian assistance. All session materials, including recordings, have been added to the 2024 Event Program and the final report can be found here.
2023 Agency Learning and Evidence Month
In April 2023, USAID celebrated Agency Learning and Evidence Month: a first-of-its-kind, month-long series of 35 virtual learning events - 19 of which were open to the public - providing a platform for the USAID workforce, Interagency colleagues, leading global academics and think tanks, international and local implementing partners, and fellow donors to engage with one another on the latest insights for grounding our development and humanitarian assistance responses in evidence. The 2023 Program of Events is a one-stop shop for all available resources for each Agency Learning and Evidence Month Session.