MEL practitioners and knowledge producers more generally should adopt an approach that is attuned to a realistic model of the stages of the policy process and be ready to seize windows of opportunity to apply evidence. This may require navigating competing demands, recognizing tradeoffs, and making hard choices. They should also embrace methods more appropriate for situations of deep uncertainty and complexity.
As the Center for Global Development’s inaugural Evidence in Policy Fellow, I just finished an extended engagement to help increase data and evidence use in the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance. While at State, I spent much of my time leading and participating in the work of the interagency Global Fragility Act (GFA) Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) group. Based on that experience, I will publish two blog posts analyzing GFA implementation.
The US foreign assistance data for FY 2022 is nearly complete, except for some missing Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation data, and the data reveals some interesting trends. First, FY 2022 did not break the historical record of total obligations, but it came closer than any time since the 1940s, primarily driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What can humanitarians expect from the UN’s Pact for the Future? - The New Humanitarian puts quality, independent journalism at the service of the millions of people affected by humanitarian crises around the world
<p style="text-align:start">American University won a <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD ID=2331399&HistoricalAwards=false">$5.7 million cooperative research agreement</a> from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Accelerating Research Translation program. </p>