Announcing the New Building Evidence for Decision-Making (BE4D) Program
We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Building Evidence for Decision-Making (BE4D) program earlier this year, a ten-year initiative designed to advance evidence-based decision-making across USAID operating units and global Missions. This program is housed within USAID’s Bureau for Inclusive Growth, Partnerships, and Innovation (IPI) and aims to enhance the effectiveness of USAID’s projects by integrating robust evidence and learning into all stages of the Program Cycle. We are co-priming BE4D and will serve as the key impact evaluation and cost analysis (cost-economy and cost-effectiveness) partner for USAID/IPI in this consortium, focusing on delivering comprehensive technical assistance to USAID staff, implementing partners, and local organizations, fostering an environment where impact evaluation and cost analysis evidence is generated and utilized effectively.
About BE4D
The BE4D program is a collaborative effort led by Environmental Incentives (EI) in partnership with Causal Design, and support from Foundations of Success, Headlight Consulting, NORC at the University of Chicago, and WI-HER. Together, we aim to support USAID as a contributor to the global evidence base, to identify and overcome barriers to evidence use, encourage the use of data during program design and implementation, and address evidence gaps in various sectors such as education, economics, market development, democracy, rights, and governance, among others.
Focus on Impact Evaluation and Cost Analysis
One of the core strengths of the BE4D program is our focus on impact evaluation and cost analysis. We provide a comprehensive range of services to support these areas, including:
- Literature and evidence reviews (including USAID’s new Improved Activity Cost-Effectiveness (ImpAct) Review format)
- Impact evaluations (including evaluation design workshops, design support, in addition to conducting the IEs for USAID)
- Cost Analysis (including identifying Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) learning agendas, synthesizing portfolio-level CEA evidence by sector, topic, or country, integrating CEA evidence into activity design, and conducting CEAs)
- Integrating CEAs into impact evaluations (building on our experience with the Humanitarian Assistance Evidence Cycle (HAEC) in providing guidance to integrated CEAs into impact evaluations)
- Training in impact evaluations and CEA (including tailored, hands-on training using activity data)
Results and Impact
BE4D aims to improve the performance, learning, and sustainability of evidence-based development projects and activities. Our consortium’s extensive experience in program design, MEL, assessment, training, technical assistance, and CLA will ensure that USAID’s investments have the desired impacts and result in more effective programming. Through this program, we are committed to enhancing USAID’s capacity to integrate locally-led development and gender considerations into MEL and CLA practices.
We look forward to the positive impacts that BE4D will bring to USAID’s projects and the broader development community. Stay tuned for more updates on our progress and the exciting work ahead!
