One of the Department’s most critical functions is to plan for and oversee the use of approximately $40 billion in annual State and USAID programs paid for with foreign assistance funds. U.S. foreign assistance advances U.S. values and strategic interests globally with allies and partners, strengthening security; supporting democracy and human rights; and promoting an inclusive international economic system that provides opportunities for all. The USAID Learning Agenda promotes the generation and use of evidence as USAID advances the Administration’s highest priorities, including responding to the climate crisis, building resilience to shocks including COVID-19, combatting authoritarianism and corruption, addressing the root causes of migration, and strengthening operational effectiveness to catalyze inclusive and locally driven development. The State Department’s Agency Learning Agenda also includes a study of foreign assistance, given the Department’s role in directing, managing, overseeing, and improving foreign assistance efforts worldwide. The Department decided to scope its study of the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance to four sub-sectors of assistance where foreign policy shifts and changing global landscapes over the past decade have necessitated shifting foreign assistance strategies: economic development; security sector assistance; democracy, rights, and governance assistance programs; and diversity, equity, and inclusion assistance programs.
Sub-Questions
• 2.1. What types of State Department and USAID foreign assistance programs that seek to enhance partners’ economic growth have made a sustainable effect in a partner's economic development between 2014 and 2019? Where and under what conditions?
• 2.2. What factors have contributed to the success or shortcomings of State Department efforts to help partners advance the capacity, accountability, and professionalism of their security forces? How can the Department improve the effectiveness of its security sector assistance programs?
• 2.3. Where and under what conditions has the State Department’s foreign assistance led to short-term gains and longer-term effects in democracy, rights, and governance? What types of approaches have had lasting effects and could be replicated or refined in future foreign assistance strategies and programming?
• 2.4. What policies and practices can be most effective in strengthening the role of underserved and underrepresented groups—at the intersections of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, ability, and age—in the formulation and implementation of foreign assistance programs?