USAID Building Evidence for Decision-Making

The ten-year Building Evidence for Decision-Making (BE4D) program, housed within the Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships, and Innovation (IPI) at USAID, is designed to incentivize evidence generation and use for decision making across USAID operating units and global Missions. Along with our consortium members Causal Design, Foundations of Success, Headlight Consulting, NORC at the University of Chicago, and WI-HER, EI will deliver technical assistance to USAID staff, implementing partners, and local organizations to put evidence into action at all stages of the Program Cycle.   

The BE4D consortium will promote the use of evidence through comprehensive guidance, evaluation, and collaborative processes. This includes:

• Strategy, Program, and Activity Design: Development of theories of change and logic models, review of results frameworks, and planning of evaluations during activity design.

• Performance Monitoring: Development and review of Activity Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plans, selection and/or development of indicators, and assurance of data quality.

• Evaluations, Assessments, and Other Analyses: Conducting impact evaluations, performance evaluations, assessments, auxiliary studies, rapid feedback, surveys, and data analysis and visualization.

• Training, Advising, and Mentoring: Strengthening MEL and collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) capacity for USAID staff and local partners, through training courses and materials in MEL/CLA topics.

• Dissemination and Knowledge Management (KM): Creation of briefs, infographics, success stories, workshops, webinars, and learning forums, along with technical support for KM and organizational learning.

• Collaborating, Learning, and Adaptive Management: Planning, developing, and reviewing learning agendas; conducting stocktaking exercises and pause-and-reflect sessions; and providing technical assistance for adaptive management.

With IPI, Environmental Incentives and the BE4D Consortium will combine efficient, field-test process facilitation with technical assistance and specialized staff to provide USAID with ready access to evidence generated by a holistic and inclusive approach to design and MEL and enriched by effective use of CLA. 

Cover photo by USAID Peru.